Have a sneak peek between the pages of The Will of God by Julian de la Motte #HistoricalFiction #Crusades #RecommendedReading

The Will of God

by Julian de la Motte

"Deus Lo Vult!"

Gilles is the natural son of the Earl Waltheof, executed by William the Conqueror for supposed treachery. Raised in Normandy by Queen Matilda of England, Gilles is a young servant of Robert, Duke of Normandy, when the first call for a Holy War against the infidel and for the liberation of Jerusalem is raised in Christendom. Along with thousands of others, inspired by a variety of motives, intense piety mixed with a sense of adventure and the prospects of richness, Gilles becomes a key and respected follower of the Duke of Normandy and travels through France and into Italy to the point of embarkation for Constantinople and the land of the Greeks.

In this epic first phase of a long and gruelling journey, Gilles begins to discover a sense of his own strengths and weaknesses, encounters for the first time the full might and strength of the Norman war machine and achieves his much coveted aim of knighthood, as well as a sense of responsibility to the men that he must now lead into battle.

The Will of God is the literal translation of the Latin phrase "Deus Lo Vult"; a ubiquitous war cry and a commonly offered explanation of all the horrors and iniquities unleashed by the First Crusade of 1096 to 1099, when thousands of Europeans made the dangerous and terrifying journey to the Holy Land and the liberation of Jerusalem. It is the first of two books on the subject.

Praise for Julian de la Motte:

"De la Motte has superpowers as a writer of historical fiction; he's a warhorse of a writer bred to stun and trample the literary senses. You won't stop turning the pages of The Will of God."
~ Charles McNair, Pulitzer Prize nominee and author of Land O'Goshen

The courtyard of the Earl Warenne was the usual clutter and muddle of people and diverse objects scattered about. Men and women in the dun and green and grey of homespun cloth blended with the earth colours of the ground, the quagmire, the swamp of churned mud and excrement. They either strode purposefully through it all or else attempted to skirt delicately around the more obvious mounds of rubbish and ordure. The more colourfully attired, house servants and retainers for the most part, avoided the area when they could, preferring other entrances and exits to the Great Hall.

A cart with one wheel off for essential repairs was proving a major obstruction and people cursed as they edged around it and the blaspheming wheelwright and his apprentices with their heavy hammers working on a broken wheel. Across the way, over in the corner of the yard a large pig lay sprawled upon its back, slaughtered out of proper season. For some reason, it had survived the usual November cull. Scrubbed clean of bristles, a butcher was busily at work with his knife and axe, delving expertly for the liver and kidneys.

Despite the cold of the day and the earliness of the season there was a halo of flies circling the butcher and at his feet a coil of grey steaming intestines were attracting the interest of a trio of dogs. Wretched creatures, ribs showing like the staves of ruined boats, they sidled towards the pile of offal and retreated again from the slaughterer.

The butcher’s boy, no more than a child staggered away, burdened with a heavy bucket of blood that slopped over the sides as he moved. There would be blood pudding and sausages made of scraps of inferior meat stuffed within the intestines ready by the afternoon.

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Julian de la Motte

Julian de la Motte is a Londoner. He graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in Medieval History. He was further awarded a Master of Arts qualification in Medieval English Art from the University of York. He studied and taught in Italy for nearly four years before returning to the U.K. and a career as a teacher, teacher trainer and materials designer before taking up a new role as a Director of Foreign Languages and of English as a Foreign Language.

 

Married and with two grown up children, He is now extensively involved in review writing and historical research, primarily on medieval history.

''The Will of God'' [the first of two books on the subject of the First Crusade] is his third novel.

Author Links:

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Shining a bright book spotlight on Marguerite: Hell Hath No Fury! by Judith Arnopp #HistoricalFiction #WarsOfTheRoses #RecommendedReading

Marguerite:
Hell Hath No Fury!

by Judith Arnopp

Marguerite: Queen of England

From the moment Henry VI's new queen, Marguerite of Anjou, sets foot on English soil she is despised by the English as a foreigner, and blamed for the failures of the hundred years war in France.

 Her enemies impede her role as the king’s consort and when Henry sinks into apparent madness, her bid to become regent is rejected. Marguerite must fight, not only for her own position but to maintain Henry’s possession of the crown. 

The ambitious Duke, Richard of York, seizes control of the country, thrusting Marguerite aside and inflating the mutual hatred between the houses of York and Lancaster. But the queen refuses to relinquish power and fights determinedly for the rights of her son, Edward of Lancaster.

The long and bitter civil conflict, that has come to be known as the War of the Roses, commences.

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This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Judith Arnopp

Judith Arnopp at Pembroke Castle

A lifelong history enthusiast and avid reader, Judith holds a BA in English / Creative Writing and a Masters in Medieval Studies. She lives on the coast of West Wales where she writes both fiction and non-fiction. She is best known for her novels set in the Medieval and Tudor period, focussing on the perspective of historical women but recently she has written a trilogy from the perspective of Henry VIII himself.

 

Judith is also a founder member of a re-enactment group called The Fyne Companye of Cambria which is when and why she began to experiment with sewing historical garments. She now makes clothes and accessories both for the group and others. She is not a professionally trained sewer but through trial, error and determination has learned how to make authentic looking, if not strictly historically accurate clothing. A non-fiction book about Tudor clothing, How to Dress like a Tudor, was published in 2023 by Pen and Sword.

 

She runs a small seaside holiday let in Aberporth and when she has time for fun, likes to garden and restore antique doll’s houses. You can find her on most social media platforms.

 

Her novels include:

A Song of Sixpence: the story of Elizabeth of York

The Beaufort Chronicle: the life of Lady Margaret Beaufort (three book series)

The Henrician Chronicle: comprising of:

A Matter of Conscience: Henry VIII, the Aragon Years (Book One of The Henrician Chronicle)

A Matter of Faith: Henry VIII, the Days of the Phoenix (Book Two of The Henrician Chronicle)

A Matter of Time: Henry VIII, the Dying of the Light (Book Three of The Henrician Chronicle)

The Kiss of the Concubine: a story of Anne Boleyn

The Winchester Goose: at the court of Henry VIII

Intractable Heart: the story of Katheryn Parr

Sisters of Arden: on the Pilgrimage of Grace

The Heretic Wind: the life of Mary Tudor, Queen of England

Peaceweaver

The Forest Dwellers

The Song of Heledd

The Book of Thornhold

A Daughter of Warwick: the story of Anne Neville, Queen of Richard III

            Marguerite: Hell Hath no Fury!

Connect with Judith:

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