Tag: Lindsay Townsend

#DFRAT Excerpt and Giveaway: Dark Maiden by Lindsay Townsend

Posted July 2, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 8 Comments

As demons haunt medieval England, Geraint and Yolande rely on their love to survive.

The 1300s are a time of pestilence and unease, plagued not just by disease but by demons and the restless dead. Yolande wanders England and Wales, armed with her blessed bow and sacred herbs, laying the spirits to rest and driving the demons away. She’s bound to serve for a time of seven—though she knows not what that means.

Geraint the Welshman travels the countryside, juggling and tumbling to earn his keep. When he meets Yolande, he’s caught by her fierce yet sweet nature and vows to stay by her side. As they journey closer to Yolande’s final trial and face foes ever more cunning and dangerous, Geraint and Yolande have only their mutual love and trust to help them survive. 

Excerpt:

Geraint picked up the crucifix. It was plain and heavy and he had a sense that it was very old. “Why not go yourself? Or is there sickness at the convent?”

“Not at all, not at all.” The older man had the grace to look embarrassed. “Let me say only that Yolande is less tolerant of men such as myself.”

“You tried to trick her once,” Geraint translated. “Has she a husband, father or brother that you are so terrified?”

“None, none, but she needs none. She expels devils. She carries the bow of Saint Sebastian.”

Geraint was intrigued. He was wandering nowhere in particular so he could visit the convent. The nuns would feed him too. “Is there a message?”

The pardoner inclined his head toward the cross. “That is the message, I was told. Not for the likes of me to question, I was told.”

“And how shall I know her?”

“Very tall for a woman, slim, pretty if you admire dark girls, and with her bow usually slung across her back. She wears men’s clothes.”

“Aping men? The church has not moved against her for that? Or the sheriff?”

“Not in these times, with so many dying of the pestilence and the whole world preparing for the last days. Let any judgment of her be the final one, before God, I say.” The pardoner shrugged, avoiding his eyes. “Will you take it?”

Geraint glanced at his long fingers wrapped around the feet of the wooden Christ and ignored the warning prickle at the back of his neck. “Seems I already have.”

* * * * *

The following morning, passing the bread and cheese that the sisters had generously given her to a beggar outside the convent walls, Yolande sensed someone watching. She turned, forced to take a rapid backward step as a stranger trod on her shadow. She had not heard his approach.

“Mistress Yolande?”

“You have the advantage, mister. You know my name.” She smiled to take any sting from her words. “May I know yours?”

Greetings and courtesy were important to her. Each gave clues as to character and wishes. She had once known a demon, beautifully polite, who would have ripped the flesh from her bones had she not bound him by his own rules of manners.

The stranger bowed, a good sign. He muttered something in a language she did not know, which was not good. She moved a little closer, ready to boot him in the balls if he did anything unsavory.

“Geraint Welshman, at your service.” He crouched then looked straight at her. “I am just taking something from my pack, if it please you.”

She grinned at him to prove she was unafraid, her body heavy and languid as she itched to go onto the balls of her feet, ready to scrap. A quick stab to those astonishing black-blue eyes, a swipe at his knee and Geraint the Welshman would be groveling in the hard-packed mud.

Which would be a shame for such a glorious face. He bent his head, showing his trust of her, to rummage in his pack. He was a good-looking brute, not too muscled but as lean and wiry as herself. There was a soft jangle of bells within his patched shoulder-pack, revealing him as a wandering entertainer, a less deadly mirror of herself. They were even about the same height.

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Guest Review: A Knight’s Captive by Lindsay Townsend

Posted January 19, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 1 Comment


Judith‘s review of A Knight’s Captive by Lindsay Townsend

In the year 1066, England struggles against Norman invaders and two strangers cross paths on a piligrimages fraught with peril – only to discover a love worth any danger.

Battle-weary knight Marc de Sens has never encountered a woman like Sunniva of Wereford: beautiful, brilliant, and miles above the curs who call themselves her kin. Alas, she is promised to another and Marc’s obligation is to his three orphaned nieces. But when Sunniva’s circumstances suddenly change, Marc learns the truth about her “betrothal”.

A rough-hewn knight so gentle with children intrigues Sunniva, who never knew a kind word or caring touch from any man until Marc rescued her from the grimmest of fates. When her loutish father and brothers are killed, Sunniva is finally free, but her troubles are far from over. Although Marc has appointed himself her protector, he has a dark secret – as well as an uncanny ability to disarm her completely…

A Knight’s Captive by Lindsay Townsend. Set in the time period of William the Conqueror (1066) this is a very readable novel about a battle-weary knight from France going on pilgrimage with his three young nieces, seeking release of his spirit because of all the gore and horror of the Crusades as well as his guilt over not saving his brother and sister-in-law in a recent fire–one that made their three daughters orphans. In the group of pilgrims Sir Marc de Sens encounters a cruel father and brothers of a young woman named Sunniva, one who is thoughtfully accepting the demands and curses of her male relatives while artfully responding in words of humor and good grace. Her maturity and persistent good spirits attract the knight and over a course of weeks they are thrown together more and more. He, of course, is not only attracted to her sweet spirit and apparently acceptance of her lot in life, but — what else — her lovely physique. He finds he is wanting to protect her from those who would have abducted her for sale to a brothel, and having done so, becomes her protector on frequent occasions, not the least of which is protection from her twin half-brothers who were beating her and attempting to rape her and who have learned their manners from their father, believing that women are there to receive and glory in physical and mental abuse.

This book is kind of different — it is thoroughly researched historically and for that I am truly appreciative. However, it seems cast in the mold of the classic Greek tragedy for a time — things just seem to go from bad to worse as the country seeks to accept and adjust to the defeat of King Harold, the Saxon ruler, to the begin of the reign of the Normans. (The people really didn’t accept that change for several hundreds of years in reality.) The book is well written in many ways and I would say that the culture and politics of the times carries the story along as well as the activities of the main characters.

I have to own up to liking this knight. He is a grand mixture of anger at the mistreatment of the fair sex while demonstrating a gentility of nature and expression toward his nieces as well as patience with the latent memories which cause them all to be subject to nightmares and the trauma of knowing that their parents died a horrible death. Townsend doesn’t back away from the avarice that is so well-documented among the courts of the Dark Ages and puts the main characters square in the middle. Their relationship is the bright spot in the book and I like that. de Sens, Sunniva, and the three girls really do form a family and their bond in the midst of some very trying circumstances stands out beautifully.

I really did like this book. I can’t say it was my favorite all time read, but I know that when I was called away because of my responsibilities elsewhere I did want to get back to the book as soon as possible. Of course, who wouldn’t like to read rather than do office work?

I would happily give this book a rating of 4 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Zebra. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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