2013: Historical novels of my youth, revisted.

[bibliogramma]

In 2013, Some of the historical novels I read were actually re-reads of books I had first read a rather long time ago. First among these were the Brothers of Gwynedd series by Edith Pargeter. I've long been entranced by the history (and mythology) of Wales, an interest that probably goes back to my first explorations of the King Arthur myths, or perhaps to the publication of Evangeline Walton's four-part adaptation of The Mabinogion published in the early 1970s.

In any event, the bloody and tragic story of the last Prince of an independent Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd has long been a favourite subject of mine, one I first read about in Pargeter's quartet. Sharon Kaye Penman has also written an excellent series of books about the disastrous wars with England and the final conquest of Wales, but there's nothing wrong with having several versions of the same story. 

Edith Pargeter, The Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet
Sunrise in the West
Dragon at Noonday
The Hounds of Sunset
Afterglow and Nightfall


When I was young, Rosemary Sutcliff was one of my favourite authors, and with the recent film based on the book, The Eagle of the Ninth, many of her books are becoming more available again, which means that this is the perfect time to re-read some of the books I loved. And even though these two series, set in a more historic Roman Britain and a far less historic court of King Arthur, were originally ibtended as yiung adult books, Ifound that despite the years, I enjoy them still.

Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles
The Eagle of the Ninth
The Silver Branch
The Lantern Bearers

Rosemary Sutcliff, The King Arthur Trilogy
The Sword and the Circle
The Light Beyond the Forest
The Road to Camlann