Hidden behind the battlements on the roof of the gatehouse crouched Randal the dog-boy, watching for the arrival of Hugh Goch, the new Lord of Arundel Castle. As the cavalcade approached the great gateway, a small thing happened: Randal dropped the fig he had been eating on to the nose of Hugh's mettlesome horse.
It was this incident that first set Randal on the path to a new life: it was the first step in his rise from dog-boy to knight—though the price he had to pay for this final honor was a heavy one.
This exciting story of Norman England moves from castle to manor in the Sussex downland country, and on to the battlefields of Normandy. Once more Rosemary Sutcliff has brought her unique gifts to the telling of an absorbing story set against the background of a turbulent, vividly evoked period of history.
—from the dust jacket
(Jacket design by Robert Micklewright)
Did you find this review helpful?