Written by: Julian Rathbone
Submitted By: Lee
OK - I'm using the The Last English King as a reference point for Julian Rathbone's historical canon. Anyone who appreciates the craft of Bernard Cornwell will, I have no doubt, adore works such as Joseph, Wellington's War, Kings of Albion, A Very English Agent, Birth Of A Nation, etc.
The Last English King is a wonderful re-telling of the events leading up to William the Bastard's invasion of England in 1066 as seen through the eyes of the fantastically real Walt - one of Harold II's housecurls who has spent four years wandering Europe and Asia in shame for having failed his lord in his hour of need.
The characterisation is extraordinary - in my mind Rathbone was without peer in this respect. It is impossible not to feel for the inevitable plight of Harold Godwinson and Rathbone works brilliantly within the historical novelist's great challenge that the reader will always know the outcome of major events underpinning the story.
Walt is telling a story - a story of his failure and, within that, the failure of Harold to preserve England for all time. The truth is, of course, that neither failed ... both gave all they had and all anyone can ask but at the end of the day it was not quite enough. The rest, as they say, is history ..... but this book is far more than that.
