The Chick – Linnet de Montsorrel, battered wife of Giles de Montsorrel. Her main concern is to protect her son Robert.
The Dude – Joscelin de Gael, Mercenary solider he is the bastard son of William de Rocher but is favoured by his father and so fights with his jealous half brother Ralf, the heir. He has had to make his own living using his sword in Normandy, but he is now required at home to help protect Nottingham Castle from rebels against the King.
The plot in 10 (ish):
Giles: hey get away from my son and wife *falls off horse, dead*
Sheffif of Nottingham: I need someone to look after the boy and the money, do you want the postiion it comes with a wife and castle?
Joscelin: wow thanks, ok, but only if she says yes
Linnet: yes, but I must keep to the strict morning period, so not consummation of marriage till then!
Joseclin and Linnet *sigh*
Joseclin: I must go a fend off the rebels from the north
Joseclin: I must go a fend off the rebels from the east
Joseclin: now that I am done with all the fighting, we will go into Nottingham for a nice peaceful shopping trip *Rebels attack* God damm it! *wife and family saved*
Linnet: your father is injured we must take him back home so he can die peacefully in his own bed
Ralf: not so fast! Your staying here and I'm going to have you hanged! Guards!
*Joseclin escapes**Ralf dies*
The End
The Book:
Joscelin is returning home after fighting for King Henry II. When he comes across Giles de Montsorrel and his wife on the road with a broken wheel he helps them get into London and out of the rain. A few days later he sees Linnet at the fair with her son and talks to her. Giles is a very jealous man and attacks Joscelin with his uncontrollable horse. Joscelin protects himself but causes the horse to accidentally kill Giles. Giles' son now is in a precarious position and requires protection to ensure that his inheritance is not used to fight the King as his father would have done and so the Kings second in command offers the position of protector to Joscelin, which will include a wife (Linnet) and land which he could never dream to achieve as a bastard son and so he takes up the opportunity. Now Joscelin no longer has to worry about where his next meal comes from but he has tenants and a family to look after and protect.
Joscelin's Mother - Morwenna was his fathers one true love who died when Joscelin was young. William mourned her death and built a memorial for her, which vexed his wife Agnes and she developed a hatred for Joscelin. His half-brothers also have hated him because he is favoured by their father and so wish to put him in his place.
Joscelin must have muscles of steel to survive this book. He seems to constantly be fighting and very little time to recuperate. A guy just cant catch a break! He is either protecting Linnet and Robert or fighting the rebels to protect the King's rule.
Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with a man wielding his sword, but I think the story and relationship between the characters suffered. It seemed to jump from one fight to the next and so they were away from each other, how do you build a relationship on that? and when he returned the author seemed to skip over those quiet times, to the next requirement of his sword. I would have liked to have read more about him teaching Robert to ride or getting to know the tenants and letting Linnet get to know Joscelin and realise he is nothing like her first husband and see the relationship blossom myself.
Joscelin was a nice character to read about although I think it would have been interesting to hear how he felt about his mothers death. How she affected him and how his fathers reaction to her death affected him.
I didn’t really connect with Linnet, we know that she was beaten by her husband, but thats about it. Why did she marry Giles? Was her father a friend of the family? Did she think he was a nice person at the start? Where are her parents? I think it is quite unusual that we know more about the hero's background than the heroines.
I did think the story between Linnet and her father in-law was not required. Giles seemed to be a pretty nasty piece of work from the beginning, so to add daddy issues just seemed to push it a bit too far, especially as his father's motivation seemed a bit flat. Her father in-law showed her the pleasures of sex, just because he could. I think it would have provided more of a connection between her and Joscelin if her provided the sexual awakening. When Joscelin does find out, it does apparently affect him although all that time of conflict is skipped over by the author because there is not a physical fight and when he admits it to her, he gets over his little problem by just moving the bed, its that simple!
This was I think the first novel I have read which is set in this period (1173) and I loved Elizabeth Chadwick's descriptions of the castles, tunnnels, clothes and life in this period. I took a while to understand the names of everything, but she described it brilliantly and you got a great picture. But I think I liked this book more for the skill with which it has been written rather than the actual story and characters.
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