Title: The Last English King
Genre: Historical Fiction
Year: 1997
Pages: 380
Origin: a tried and trusted library book
Nod Rating: 3 nods out of 5
All of which makes the Worm’s enjoyment of Julian Rathbone’s
The Last English King all very surprising. Having always enjoyed delving into
the past of 1066 (“and all that!”), the Worm was curious to see how this past
would be re-imagined. Thankfully the author settles the questions of
anachronisms and historical accuracy head-on in his introduction to the book:
‘It may be thought that I have gone too far in this
direction [in use of modern prose], allowing dialogue especially to be un-reconstructedly
modern. Thus, for example, royalty are allowed to use bad language much as they
do today. But why not? Assuming, and I am sure it was the case, that
Anglo-Saxon lords were as quick with the odd expletive as their modern
counterparts, and bearing in mind that, apart from Edward the Confessor, most
of them were pretty rough types, why not make their expletives as modern as the
rest of their speech?’
Pleased with this reassurance, the Worm ploughed into the
book. The story follows two strands in time: one in the modern day of 1070, and
one set in the decades before this. The Battle of Hastings, as can be expected,
is the climatic point: those after it are attempting to deal with its effects,
whilst those before it are on a collision course of history heading towards
that fateful year of 1066. Our principal protagonist is a man named Walt;
crippled from Hastings , he is left to wander Europe whilst considering his past and his allegiance to
Harold of Wessex. He meets others on his journey, before finding an element of
peace. However, the reader is also taken back a series of decades, rummaging
around in the political games of the house of Wessex
By far the more interesting narrative strand is the one preceding
the Battle of Hastings. It is full of double-dealing and personality clashes
(and, in the vain of the majority of other contemporary historical “dramas”, we
are provided with plenty of sex). For the history-buff, it provides another
snapshot into the lives of William the Bastard (soon to be Conqueror) and the
divide in the English nation at the time. The strand set after Hastings
Having finished The Last English King, the Worm remains
sceptical of the term “historical fiction”. However, it was not an experience
to warn him off the genre entirely. If other periods of history are handled in
the same polite and persuasive manner that Julian Rathbone accomplishes here,
the Worm will be sure to strike out once again.
Buy it here
