The Reckoning
by Sharon Kay Penman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sharon Kay PenmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-14
ISBN: 0312382472
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Book Reviews of The Reckoning
Book Review: Continuing historical fiction
Summary: 2 Stars
This third novel of a trilogy is set during the reign of King Edward I. While the novel includes some real people, places, and events, it relies heavily on fictional characters and fictional interactions, and uses some fictional genealogy. The character Nell, as mentioned in my review of the previous novel, is a creation of the author's imagination. The novel should not be used for studying history or genealogy.
The main problem that I had with the novel is that is gets tedious and seems to go nowhere in particular as people are caught up in feuds and disputes of one sort or another. All the royal families in Europe, along with Norman nobels in England, Princes of Wales, Kings of Scotland, and Kings of Ireland, were interconnected many times over by various marriages. Wars tended to be between relatives. It was like being a member of a large family whose members continually fought with each other. My brother referred to it as a spiderweb. Fratricide was not that uncommon. I would note that the present British royal family is descended from Norman kings, Saxon kings, Scotish kings, Irish kings, and Welsh princes, along with various royal families from the continent. The Welsh princes did not die out. The families were absorbed.
When we prepared my father's family history, we ended up with a 5 1/2 page bibliography in addition to input from 27 organizations and individuals (genealogists, medievalists, family historians, etc.). We still did not find everything, and new information occasionally comes to the surface (see "History/Genealogy of Family Camfield," Thomas Warner Camfield, 1996). It is fascinating looking at ones ancestry, and you have to take the bad with the good. Family trees sometimes have people hanging from the limbs. You get saints and villains, kings and commoners. People died in battles, were hanged or beheaded, and a couple may have been burned at the stake.
Our mother's family history deals more with the Scotish side. We generally had ancestors killing each other (see "The Royal and Ancient Heritage of Family Colquhoun and Descent to Some Common Calhouns," Thomas W. Camfield, 1995). It also has an extensive bibliography and list of contributors. Both books are available in selected libraries.
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