1066: What Fates Impose
by G. K. Holloway
Publisher: Matador, 9 Priory Business Park, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire,0RX, UK
ISBN 978-1-78306-220-1
Available at Amazon
"The more things change, the more they stay the same" is a sentiment we frequently hear, but this book definitely challenges that view. There are times when change is in the air and nothing happens, but there are times (and this book is set in those times) when the world seems to shift without warning, when old traditions just seem to disappear and what was obvious one day no longer applies the next.
For those of us educated "across the pond," English history was pretty much a matter of memorizing dates, places, and names, and not many of those. The Battle of Hastings we knew about, and William the Conqueror, but little was said about the changes of the times, the forces that brought about the war, or the personalities involved. Most of us, sadly, know about the problems of succession in monarchies from watching "The Lion in Winter" and that takes place many years later. 1066 brings us into the castles of the key characters and lets us see their personality differences, their strengths and weaknesses and watch the history play out. We are a fly on the wall as they go through their lives, learning about the times and the leaders as we go.