WhiteExodite on Nostr: Book Recommendation: Wulf the Saxon, by G.A. Henty. When I was younger, my family got ...
Book Recommendation: Wulf the Saxon, by G.A. Henty.
When I was younger, my family got a huge collection of Henty books, and we still own them. I read a few at the time, but always felt it was kind of dry and lacked the excitement of Hardy Boys and the like. I decided on a whim to return to one of them, and I feel like I can recommend the other Henty books as well if they are of the same quality.
Wulf the Saxon covers the ascent of Earl Harold of Wessex to the thrown of England, local confrontations with the Welsh, and finally the invasion of Norway and the Normans under Harald Hadrad and Duke William. We follow a young saxon named Wulf from his humble beginnings as a redblooded page to a wise Earl, as he finds himself from the beaches to Normandy all the way to the climactic battle of Hastings in 1066. It's a bittersweet story of duty, valor, and nobility, battles and romance. The brotherhood the Saxons have is displayed in a moving way, like the one handshake from Predator stretched out into an entire book. Though it's tragic for England, as this does follow the historical account, the fictional tale gives it a respectful retelling for both sides, only slightly biased towards saxon earldom over norman feudalism. Regardless, it's a story of adventure, battles, and duty towards the people of England.
I own the book, but I listened to a LibroVox audiobook of this one. It's free on Youtube, being public domain for decades now, but you can also find it on their website:
https://librivox.org/wulf-the-saxon-by-g-a-henty/
When I was younger, my family got a huge collection of Henty books, and we still own them. I read a few at the time, but always felt it was kind of dry and lacked the excitement of Hardy Boys and the like. I decided on a whim to return to one of them, and I feel like I can recommend the other Henty books as well if they are of the same quality.
Wulf the Saxon covers the ascent of Earl Harold of Wessex to the thrown of England, local confrontations with the Welsh, and finally the invasion of Norway and the Normans under Harald Hadrad and Duke William. We follow a young saxon named Wulf from his humble beginnings as a redblooded page to a wise Earl, as he finds himself from the beaches to Normandy all the way to the climactic battle of Hastings in 1066. It's a bittersweet story of duty, valor, and nobility, battles and romance. The brotherhood the Saxons have is displayed in a moving way, like the one handshake from Predator stretched out into an entire book. Though it's tragic for England, as this does follow the historical account, the fictional tale gives it a respectful retelling for both sides, only slightly biased towards saxon earldom over norman feudalism. Regardless, it's a story of adventure, battles, and duty towards the people of England.
I own the book, but I listened to a LibroVox audiobook of this one. It's free on Youtube, being public domain for decades now, but you can also find it on their website:
https://librivox.org/wulf-the-saxon-by-g-a-henty/