I Am The Chosen King
Helen Hollick
Sourcebooks, Mar 1 2011, $16.99
www.sourcebooks.com
ISBN: 8781402240669
In 1043 Edward is crowned king of England. He is a weak monarch, but honors the loyal Godwinesson family, whose patriarch is the Earl of Wessex, by naming the son Harold as the Earl of East Anglia. After his father dies, Harold becomes the Earl of Wessex. As Harold rises in power, he remains in love with his hand-fast wife Edyth Swannhaels as his ambition in life is to be a good family man. However, unlike Harold, his avaricious siblings envy his success; while greedily demanding more power and wealth regardless of what happens to their people. His sister Edith marries one of his rivals to replace the late weak Confessor on the throne, William of Normandy as her ambition is to be queen, which coincides with his ambition to be king at any cost to others. Their brothers (Swegn and Tostig) see opportunity for personal advancement and riches with greedy William of Normandy on the English throne unlike if their blood remains the king. Confrontations are coming culminating at Hastings
This is a super historical fiction that provides for the most part a Saxon (predominantly that of Harold) focus to the two and a half decades between the coronation of Edward (over a century later known as the Confessor) to the Battle of Hastings. Readers obtain a glimpse into an educated people, not the barbarians easily defeated by the Normans. The cast is terrific though there is a bias towards Harold being heroic in life and death while William being savage. This Lost Kingdom – 1066 (see The Forever Queen) affirms that "to the victor go the spoils" including the history books that follow.
Harriet Klausner
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