Book description
Continuing the outstanding success of The Last Kingdom, The Pale
Horseman is the second installment of Bernard Cornwell's fantastic
series, following the fate of Alfred the Great ,and the forging of Britain.
It is the lowest time for the Saxons. Defeated comprehensively by the
Vikings who now occupy most of England, Alfred and his very small group
of surviving followers retreat to the trackless marshlands of Somerset.
There, forced to move restlessly to escape betrayal or detection, using
the marsh mists for cover, they travel by small boats from one island
refuge to another, hoping that they can regroup and find some more
strength and support.
Only Uhtred remains resolute. Determined to discover the enemy's
strategies, he draws once again on his Viking upbringing, and attempts
to enter the Viking camps. His plan is to become accepted by their
leaders, and to sit in their councils and uncover their plans. But once
there, the attractions of his many friends among the Vikings coupled
with his disillusion with the Saxons' leadership and anger at Alfred's
criticism of his own conduct, draws him back again to his allegiance to
the Vikings.
The Pale Horseman, an even more powerful and dramatic book than The
Last Kingdom, brings both Uhtred and the Saxons' dilemmas vividly to
life. Praise for The Pale Horseman:
'Bernard Cornwell is a literary miracle. Year after year, hail, rain,
snow, war and political upheavals fail to prevent him from producing the
most entertaining and readable historical novels of his generation.'
Daily Mail
'Cornwell's narration is quite masterly and supremely well-researched.' Observer
'It is stirring stuff, and few writers are better qualified than
Cornwell to do justice to the excitement of the times…Ninth-century
Britain and a master of storytelling - it is a marriage made in heaven.'
Sunday Telegraph
'Cornwell's mastery of historical sources and his aptitude for battle
scenes is well established…the language, and particularly the dialogue,
is raw and unarchaic, rich in insults and Anglo-Saxon expletives.' Times
Literary Supplement Bernard Cornwell worked for BBC Television for
seven years, mostly as a 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.
