Justin Hill (1)

"The dreams we all had which sparkled for a short while in the hot sun of Eritrea"
By sally tarbox on 11 December 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
Justin Hill went out to Eritrea as a volunteer aid worker in 1996. The country had just emerged from thirty years of conflict with neighbouring Ethiopia, and Hill writes of the aftermath: the damaged buildings but far more importantly a damaged people. Countless deaths; people with horrifying tales to tell; and a sense of malaise as the long fought-for show more and dreamed-of independent Eritrea fails to materialise.
As former fighters get the top jobs, there remains a sense that conflict is something to aspire to; warfare remains a glorious state.
Hill's account concludes with his evacuation as war starts to break out anew...
Having read two accounts of Eritrea in the 30s by Italian doctor/ administrator Alberto Denti di Pirajno (qv), which portrayed a rather magical place, it was sad to read Hill's contrasting its time as an Italian colony with the country today:

"The Italian aristocrat Duke Denti di Pirajno had reported lions here in the 1930s; and I saw a village called Elephant Water- but all the big game was long gone. The war had seen to that; when soldiers weren't killing each other they turned their guns on the wildlife around them. They'd left the land barren: dust and stones, devastated by a virulent plague of human beings."

A beautiful country but a seemingly hopeless situation.
B/w photos. show less

This is a re-read of this historical novel set in the time of Anglo Saxon King Ethelred and Danish invader King Canute, just over 1000 years ago, prompted by the author's co-hosting of a podcast about the writing of historical adventure fiction. The main protagonist here is young Godwin Wulfnothson, better known later in life for his rivalry with King Edward the Confessor and being the father of King Harold II of Battle of Hastings fame. Its a very well written and absorbing novel, and I show more liked the contrast between the scenes of politics and battles, and the domestic life of Godwin's estate. It is a colourful and turbulent time in English history, replete with struggle for the future of the English nation, and sadly much less well known that the more famous invasion by William of Normandy 50 years later. Great stuff. show less

3.5 stars

After Godwin’s father falls out with Alderman Eadric, he is held as hostage at King Ethelred’s court. The king’s son Edmund saves his life and they become friends. Godwin rises from being the second son to be the king’s right-hand man. They have the same vision of England and Godwin stays loyal to him even when things go from bad to worse.

I’m having some troubles writing this review but I’m not sure why is that.

To say this was action packed is an understatement. There show more was battle after battle and while I do like battles it really took the center stage when someone dies it’s told in great detail. The problem is that I didn’t get to really know the characters besides Godwin or what they were thinking. Lot of back-slapping and other manly activities but I kept missing for something else. I did like Kendra who first nursed Godwin’s father in the end and became Godwin’s mistress after that. But I would have liked to know what happened to her later on.

I know this gives the idea that I hated the book but I did enjoy it. It just had the action as the main point instead of historical things. I liked Godwin and Edmund but Knut was just like a spoiled brat. Haven’t read many books about this era and some of the characters were so different from what I’ve thought them to be. show less

I thought this was well written, but at times I found it a little ponderous and sometimes lacking the passion proclaimed on the cover. Having recently read Ryan Lavelle's biography of King Ethelred, I was a bit disappointed with the wholly negative and one sided depiction of his reign as a complete disaster offered here, which overlooks the successful repulsion of lesser Viking incursions earlier in the reign. The novel ended well, though, and I will read the inevitable later novels in the show more series. The author evokes the sense of a time period well. Godwin comes over well and Kendra was an attractive character.

I was a little annoyed by some aspects that contradicted the known facts, e.g. Ethelred's mother lives until 1013 here when she is believed to have died around the turn of the millennium. Okay, historical records are scant for this era, but had she lived and plotted an extra 15 years or so, there would be some trace in the historical record. The future King Edward (the Confessor) was a few years older here than generally believed. Finally, I couldn't help noticing a discrepancy - Edmund's wife Ealdgyth is small and dark on page 228 and fair haired on page 368. 4/5 show less