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Harlequin (The Grail Quest, Book 1) Hardcover – 16 Oct. 2000
Harlequins are lost souls, so loved by the devil that he would not take them to hell, but left them to roam the earth. In French the word is hellequin – the name given to the English archers who crossed the Channel to lay a country to waste.
Thomas of Hookton is one of those archers. When his village is sacked by French raiders, he makes a promise to God: to retrieve the relic stolen from Hookton’s church. Escaping his father’s ambitions, he becomes a wild youth who delights in the life of an army on the warpath.
Driven by his conscience and protected by his fearsome skills, he enters a world where lovers become enemies and enemies become friends, where his only certainty is that somewhere, beyond a horizon smeared with the smoke of fires set by the rampaging English army, a terrible enemy awaits him. This enemy would harness the power of Chistendom’s greatest relic: the Grail itself.
Here, in the first book of a new series, the quest begins. It leads him through the fields of France, to the village of Crecy where two great armies meet on the hillside to do battle.
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperCollins
- Publication date16 Oct. 2000
- Dimensions15.9 x 3.7 x 24 cm
- ISBN-100002259656
- ISBN-13978-0002259651
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From the Back Cover
Harlequins are lost souls, so loved by the devil that he would not take them to hell, but left them to roam the earth. In French the word is hellequin – the name given to the English archers who crossed the Channel to lay a country to waste.
Thomas of Hookton is one of those archers. When his village is sacked by French raiders, he makes a promise to God: to retrieve the relic stolen from Hookton’s church. Escaping his father’s ambitions, he becomes a wild youth who delights in the life of an army on the warpath.
Driven by his conscience and protected by his fearsome skills, he enters a world where lovers become enemies and enemies become friends, where his only certainty is that somewhere, beyond a horizon smeared with the smoke of fires set by the rampaging English army, a terrible enemy awaits him. This enemy would harness the power of Chistendom’s greatest relic: the Grail itself.
Here, in the first book of a new series, the quest begins. It leads him through the fields of France, to the village of Crecy where two great armies meet on the hillside to do battle.
About the Author
Bernard Cornwell worked for BBC TV for seven years, mostly as producer on the Nationwide programme, before taking charge of the Current Affairs department in Northern Ireland. In 1978 he became editor of Thames Television’s Thames at Six. Married to an American, he now lives in the United States.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
It was a holy thing, a relic that hung from the church rafters, and it was extraordinary that so precious an object should have been kept in such an obscure village. Some folk said it had no business being there, that it should have been enshrined in a cathedral or some great abbey, while others, many others, said it was not genuine. Only fools denied that relics were faked. Glib men roamed the byways of England selling yellowed bones that were said to be from the fingers or toes or ribs of the blessed saints and sometimes the bones were human, though more often they were from pigs or even deer, but still folk bought and prayed to the bones. "A man might as well pray to Saint Guinefort," Father Ralph said, then snorted with mocking laughter. "They're praying to ham bones, ham bones! The blessed pig!"
It had been Father Ralph who had brought the treasure to Hookton and he would not hear of it being taken away to a cathedral or abbey and so for eight years it hung in the small church gathering dust and growing spider webs that shone silver when the sunlight slanted through the high window of the western tower. Sparrows perched on the treasure and some mornings there were bats hanging from its shaft. It was rarely cleaned and hardly ever brought down, though once in a while Father Ralph would demand that ladders be fetched and the treasure unhooked from its chains and he would pray over it, stroke it and seem to shudder with ecstasy. He never boasted of it. Other churches or monasteries, possessing such a prize, would have used it to attract pilgrims, but Father Ralph turned visitors away. "It is nothing," he would say if a stranger enquired after the relic, "a bauble. Nothing." He became angry if the visitors persisted. "It is nothing, nothing, nothing!" Father Ralph was a frightening man even when he was not angry, but in his temper he was a wild-haired fiend and his flaring anger protected the treasure, though Father Ralph himself believed that ignorance was its best protection for if man did not know of it then God would guard it. And so He did, for a time.
Hookton's obscurity was the treasure's best protection. It was a tiny village that lay on England's south coast where the Lipp, a stream that was almost a river, flowed to the sea across a shingle beach. A half dozen fishing boats worked from the village, protected at night by the Hook itself which was a tongue of shingle that curved around the Lipp's last reach, though in the famous storm of 1322 the sea had roared across the Hook and pounded the boats to splinters on the upper beach. The village had never really recovered from that tragedy. Nineteen boats had sailed from the Hook before the storm, but twenty years later only six small craft worked the waves beyond the Lipp's treacherous bar. The rest of the villagers worked in the salt pans, or else herded sheep and cattle on the hills behind the huddle of thatched huts which clustered about the small stone church where the treasure hung from the blackened beams. That was Hookton, a place of boats, fish, salt and livestock, with green hills behind, ignorance within and the wide sea beyond.
Hookton, like every church in Christendom, held a vigil on the eve of Easter and in 1342 that solemn duty was performed by five men who watched as Father Ralph consecrated the Easter sacraments and then laid the bread and wine on the white-draped altar. The wafers were in a simple clay bowl covered with a piece of bleached linen, while the wine was in a silver cup that belonged to Father Ralph. The silver cup was a part of his mystery. He was very tall, very pious and much too learned to be a village priest, though he was also irascible, impatient and quite probably mad. It was rumoured that he could have been a bishop, but that the devil had persecuted him with bad dreams and it was certain that in the years before he came to Hookton he had been locked in an abbey cell because he was possessed by demons. Then, in 1334, the demons had left him and he was sent to Hookton where he terrified the villagers by preaching to the gulls or pacing the beach weeping for his sins and striking his breast with sharp-edged stones. He howled like a dog when his wickedness weighed too heavily on his conscience, but he also found a kind of peace in the remote village. He built a large house of timber that he shared with his housekeeper and he made friends with Sir Giles Marriott who was the lord of Hookton and lived in a stone hall three miles to the north.
Sir Giles, of course, was a gentleman, and so it seemed was Father Ralph despite his wild hair and angry voice. He collected books which, after the treasure he had brought to the church, were the greatest marvels in Hookton. Sometimes, when he left his door open, people would just gape at the seventeen books that were bound in leather and piled on a table. Most were in Latin, but a handful were in French which was Father Ralph's native tongue. Not the French of France, but Norman French, the language of England's rulers, and the villagers reckoned their priest must be nobly born, though none dared ask him to his face. They were all too scared of him, but he did his duty by them; he christened them, churched them, married them, heard their confessions, absolved them, scolded them and buried them, but he did not pass the time with them. He walked alone, grim-faced, hair awry and eyes glowering, but the villagers were still proud of him. Most country churches suffered ignorant, pudding-faced priests who were scarce more educated than their parishioners, but Hookton had Father Ralph, a proper scholar, too clever to be sociable, perhaps a saint, maybe of noble birth, a self-confessed sinner, probably mad, but undeniably a real priest.
Father Ralph blessed the sacraments, then warned the five men that Lucifer was abroad on the night before Easter and that the devil wanted nothing so much as to snatch the holy sacraments from the altar and so the five men must guard the bread and wine diligently and, for a short time after the priest had left, they dutifully stayed on their knees gazing at the chalice which had an armorial badge engraved in its silver flank. The badge showed a mythical beast, a yale, holding a grail, and it was that noble device which suggested to the villagers that Father Ralph was indeed a high-born man who had fallen low through being possessed of devils. The silver chalice seemed to shimmer in the light of two immensely tall candles which would burn through the whole long night. Most villages could not afford proper Easter candles, but Father Ralph purchased two from the monks at Shaftesbury every year and the villagers would sidle into the church to stare at them. But that night, after dark, only the five men saw the tall unwavering flames.
Then John, a fisherman, farted. "Reckon that's ripe enough to keep the old devil away," he said and the other four laughed, then they all abandoned the chancel steps and sat with their backs against the nave's wall. John's wife had provided a basket of bread, cheese and smoked fish, while Edward, who owned a saltworks on the beach, had brought ale. In the bigger churches of Christendom knights kept this annual vigil. They knelt in full armour, their surcoats embroidered with prancing lions and stooping hawks and axe heads and spread-wing eagles, and their helmets mounted with feathered crests, but there were no knights in Hookton and only the youngest man, who was called Thomas and sat slightly apart from the other four, had a weapon. It was an ancient, blunt and slightly rusted sword. "You reckon that old blade will scare the devil, Thomas?" John asked him.
"My father said I had to bring it," Thomas said.
"What does your father want with a sword?"
"He throws nothing away, you know that." Thomas said, hefting the old weapon.
Product details
- Publisher : HarperCollins; First Edition (16 Oct. 2000)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0002259656
- ISBN-13 : 978-0002259651
- Dimensions : 15.9 x 3.7 x 24 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 393,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 302 in Celtic, English & Welsh
- 4,813 in Historical Fantasy (Books)
- 10,050 in War Story Fiction
- Customer reviews:
About the author
Bernard Cornwell was born in London and worked in television until he met his American wife and moved to the US. Denied a work permit, he wrote a novel and has been writing ever since.
A master storyteller with a passion for history, his current bestselling series, THE LAST KINGDOM, is centred around the creation of England. It is also a major TV series on Netflix, with Bernard playing a cameo role in season three. The fourth season is currently being filmed.
He is also the author of THE GRAIL QUEST series, set in the Hundred Years’ War, THE WARLORD chronicles, set in Arthurian Britain, a number of standalone novels, one non-fiction work on Waterloo and the series with which he began, the SHARPE series.
For exciting news, tour and publication details, and exclusive content from Bernard visit www.bernardcornwell.net and like his author page on Facebook/Bernard.Cornwell
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Yes, there are moments when you feel as though Richard Sharpe were about to shoulder a longbow alongside Thomas of Hookton, but the pacey writing kept me interested long enough to ensure that I then read further novels and historical non-fiction accounts of the same period. If for nothing else, for his ability to get me re-acquainted with my love of history and historical literature, I thank Mr Cornwell, and many of you will too.
After reading Harlequin I can say I am both satisfied and slightly disappointed. If ever there was a book that was a love child between two series, Harlequin falls into the category.
It combines some of the best elements of the Arthur series but is also spoilt by some of the weaker elements of the Sharpe series. Well, when I say weaker elements, I refer to the things I find annoying but know full well, others love about Cornwell's writing.
You see, the great thing about the Warlord Chronicles is the legend of King Arthur has so little/vague evidence of the time period. This meant that Bernard was not constrained in his writing in order to ensure historical accuracy. He was free to write each scene and battle as he imagined it. He was able to introduce the hint of magic into the story whilst still ensuring credibility. He was able to flip the personalities of the characters. In short, he could write what he wanted and the result of this was a masterpiece.
With the Harlequin and indeed the Sharpe books, although they are great reads, they are also historically accurate. Most of the time, Bernard manages to expertly weave this into the story effortlessly. However, at times like in the Harlequin, in order to impart to the audience exactly what really went on in the battles etc, he sometimes lapses into a few pages of description regarding the movement of major figures in history who have not featured prominently in the story. I find this results in me being thrown out of the great story telling slightly. Only slightly mind!
The Harlequin then focuses on Thomas of Hookton. An archer who's town is destroyed whilst he was supposed to be defending it. Thomas is a good character to root for, but also frustrating at the same time. He is very Sharpe like in that he loves battle and has a sense of honour and loyalty to his fellow soldiers. However, this commitment to the army gets in the way of him fulfilling the numerous personal vows of vengeance he makes. Sometimes you just want him to get on with his personal quest.
The supporting cast as you would expect from a Cornwell novel is strong. Will Skeet in particular is likeable as the hard nosed but fair leader of the archers, as is Father Hobb who acts as Thomas' conscience. There are some characters that drift in and out of the narrative with no resolution but this is to be expected in the first book of a trilogy. There is also the customary villain of the story who continues to haunt Thomas.
The trilogy is about the quest for the Holy Grail. It is mentioned in this first novel and I particularly like how the characters deal with it. For instance, in a world so grounded in the harshness of war, Thomas does not debunk the Grail's existence but chooses to bury his head in the sand over the whole mythos surrounding the artefact. The fact that the character openly recognises that he does not have the mental capacity of will to comprehend such a thing of power is a nice touch and helps to improve the Grail's credibility.
Overall then, Harlequin is a good Cornwell book. Which means it is better than about 80% of the books out there. My rating: 8.4
This book is about the Hundred Years War between King Edward III's England and France, and this tale is set in the Middle Ages, in the year AD 1342.
Main protagonist of this series is Thomas of Hookton, who's an English archer (hellequin in French given to all English archers) in the army for King Edward III.
When Thomas of Hookton's village is sacked by French raiders, he promises himself to retrieve the relic stolen from his village's church and so he's heading to France to enter the war and hear of the holiest of relics being, the Grail itself.
What is follow is brutal warfare between England and France causing devastation, brutality and savagery, and that will end in this particular book with the gruesome and decisive Battle of Crecy.
Highly recommended, for this is a superb start of this particular series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Great Hundred Years War Opening Scene"!
This is the first in Bernard Cornwell’s series of books known collectively as The Grail Series. Like most of Cornwell’s books it is historical fiction and in this instance it covers the period known as The Hundred Years War between England and France.
Thomas of Hookton gives up his studies at Oxford following the attack on his village of Hookton in Dorset by Bretagne raiders where both his parents are killed. Thomas vows vengeance against the raiders and signs up for the Kings army as an archer and ends up fighting for his monarch in France.
In a violent and brutal account Thomas is part of the taking the city of Caen where English archers engaged in a blood lust of killing and slaughter with many victims on both sides. Throughout this period Thomas is reminded of his revenge vow and although he wonders how he can carry it out fate seems to intervene to assist him in his quest. The book culminates in the Battle of Crecy where a beleaguered and hungry English army take a stand against a bigger French Force with significant resources.
Integral throughout the book is the fixation on chivalry. It appears to be a contradiction in terms at a time of murder and mayhem that honour and integrity are seen as something that is worth upholding. In addition to the violence Cornwell captures the reality of the period where land, property and plunder are seen as legitimate reasons for going to war irrespective of the loss of human life in the process.
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Il mio primo libro di questo autore. Credo che continuerò la saga.
Amazon come sempre ha offerto un ottimo servizio.