Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war.
In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II. A little magic and a formidable battle begin to reverse the bad fortune.
The king and his family flee, taking refuge in a bog inhabited by gloomy fishermen loyal to no one. In the middle of the contest, Vikings spring a surprise attack and the Saxons are badly beaten.
The loot comes in handy when Uhtred wants to settle Mildrith’s family debt to the rapacious church, but the only way he can square things with Alfred is by winning a battle with Steapa, a stupendously strong, extra-large warrior. On their excellent adventure, the two score copious loot and Uhtred rescues beautiful Celtic queen Iseult, who is also a bit of a witch. Just as he is about to perish from boredom on his farm, Uhtred’s old pal Leofric reappears, and the two chums hatch a plan to go plundering in the West, disguised as Vikings. The bad career move puts Uhtred way outside the sanctimonious Saxon power circle, to the disappointment of the increasingly religious Mildrith. Pious King Alfred is always ready to believe the worst of the pagan Uhtred, who should have skipped rest and recovery at home with beautiful wife Mildrith-now a serious whiner-and gone straight to His Majesty to take credit for the death of the Danish warrior Ubba. Uhtred of Begganburg, Northumbrian narrator of Cornwell’s series opener, The Last Kingdom (2005), returns to court from his triumph at the battle of Cynuit to find that his rightful glory has been usurped by his weasely nemesis, Odda the Younger. Cornwell’s tough medieval saga continues after King Alfred’s realm is reduced to one swamp and a handful of believers.
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