Review: Ravens Hill by Garth Pettersen
Today, I'm delighted to welcome Canadian author, Garth Pettersen, to Ruins & Reading. I'm sharing my review of his new historical adventure, Ravens Hill. It's an engrossing, intriguing tale that has you turning the pages fast. Check it out!
Ravens Hill is currently on blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club. Find other fascinating posts from this fabulous tour HERE!
Ravens Hill
The Atheling Chronicles
Garth Pettersen
I don't think I've yet read novels set during King Cnute's reign, so this was a welcome 'first’ for me. Oh, and what an intriguing plot!
Ravens Hill is the fifth novel in The Atheling Chronicles. The main character is Harald – bynamed Harefoot – son of Cnute and his first wife, Aelfgifu, Cnute's first wife of Mercian descent. Harald has just returned from a mission, when he is granted a new estate by his father.
Unable to decline the gift, Harald and his beloved wife, Selia, travel to Ravens Hill to introduce themselves to their tenants, and to their neighbours. Abbess Burchwen of the nearby abbey of Saint Aebbe had clandestinely sought Queen Emma's support to be granted the lands left by the late landowner, but Cnute had other plans.
So it was with some trepidation, and much curiosity, that Harald and Selia arrive at Ravens Hill. But on arrival, they find the housecarls arrogant and lazy, and the steward in charge of the túnland, shifty and unimpressed by their arrival.
They are allocated lodgings away from the hall, which suits the couple well. It provides privacy and calm. At first glance, Harald finds the steward, Ricmann Two-Beard, perfectly capable, but something is amiss. He just needs to discover what!
As they explore their new place, it transpires that not only are the housecarls out of control (or perhaps indeed under orders to be so), but an unsolved murder affects the community.
Harald and Selia are determined to get to the bottom of this, thereby upsetting the scheming steward and his henchmen. And soon enough, things begin to happen. The community's mill burns down; attacks take place on unsuspecting people; and then another murder shocks the small community.
Will Harald and Selia manage to gain full control of their granted lands? Will they be able to solve not just one, but two murders? Well, read the book to find out, as you won't regret it!
Ravens Hill is a fast-paced, action-packed ride of a novel. Trust me! You'll be turning the pages fast, as you're keen to know what happens next.
Harald is a very likeable character. Friendly, fair, a capable warrior, and much in love with his wife, Selia.
One person is not happy with King Cnute's decision to grant Harald the hides at Ravens Hill – Queen Emma (of Normandy), who wants the land to go to the abbey. And unbeknownst to Harald, and even Cnute, Emma stops at almost nothing to get what she wants. (I must really read up on her!)
As one dramatic event chases another, Ravens Hill leaves you breathless. It's an utterly gripping storyline, and Harald and Selia's humane touch makes it so different from other historical novels of the era. They have faced the dilemma of not conceiving surviving offspring, and Ravens Hill offers them a clever – if tragic – solution.
Dealing with cheating stewards, murderous henchmen, and troubled girls, I thought Harald and Selia dealt sensitively and sensibly with the issues they had to face.
And it appears that behind Harald's benign façade, there lurks a young man determined to make life better for his tenants, and he's prepared to fight for it. A character usually overlooked by historians and historical fiction authors, Harald comes to life vividly here, as a man aware of his background, troubled at times because of ongoing court intrigues, but also determined. And he is a most devoted husband.
Ravens Hill surprised me greatly. It is a riveting adventure, a murder mystery, and full of political and local intrigues. Oh, and secrets!
There is abundant use of Anglo-Saxon terminology, and also of some – at times hilarious – bynames given to characters that made me chuckle. But no, I won't spoil the surprise. You have to find them in the book!
The research is impeccable, and the author has really excelled himself in showing what life in a rural environment in Anglo-Saxon England was like. Peaceful, well, generally, but there's always something lurking beneath the surface...
Ravens Hill is book #5 in The Atheling Chronicles series, and I've just downloaded book #1, to start from the beginning (when I can get a chance). I can't wait to read more of Harald's adventures.
Highly recommended.
~~~
When Harald, the second son of King Cnute, returns from fighting the king's enemies in Northern Wales, he expects his life to return to normal⸺farming in the Midlands, overseeing his few tenants, evening walks with his beloved Selia⸺an idyllic life, far from the power-mongering of King Cnute's court. But the king has other plans for Harald and his wife—he grants them a large landholding, a gift they cannot refuse.
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