Makes an Author's Heart Sing!

From Historical Novel Review Online
Historical Novel Society
http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/hnr-online.htm

AN INVOLUNTARY KING
Nan Hawthorne, BookSurge, 2008, $27.99, pb, 648pp, 1419656694

Who knows how many worthy stories from the so-called Middle Ages have been lost to us? It’s a rich period, especially in England, where small nations and armies were constantly clashing and men and women could still be larger than life.

Young Lawrence, the hero of Nan Hawthorne’s sprawling historical novel An Involuntary King, yearns to be larger than life. When his father, the king, is cut down, the crown falls to Lawrence, and he vows to be worthy of it and of his young wife Josephine. But 8th-century Northumbria is a dangerous place for such vows—young Lawrence is soon tested on all sides, and the result is a rousing, involving tale of Saxon war and romance.

Although Hawthorne has done an evident amount of historical research (readers will take away a very pleasant sense of immersion in the medieval Saxon world), the main strength of An Involuntary King lies in its people. In addition to the central trio of Lawrence, Josephine, and the mercenary Elerde who in different ways threatens them both, there’s a huge cast of secondary characters, virtually all of whom are brought to life with colorful details and the author’s sound ear for dialog. Indeed, talk bubbles throughout this book, talk of high state affairs, the outpourings of the heart, and the joking prattle of old friends, and all of it works a kind of magic on the reader. Lawrence and Josephine’s world is one in which that reader will want to linger, and by the end of the book, many of its characters will feel like old friends.

The aforementioned mercenary Elerde won’t exactly feel like a friend, but his impression will be the strongest. He’s the novel’s most memorable creation, and Hawthorne would be well justified in giving him a book of his own some day.

-- Steve Donoghue