#bookreview ~ Conquest: Daughter of the Last King #HistFic #Norman #Wales @TraceyWarr1

Conquest:

 Daughter of the Last King

By Tracey Warr

 

1093

The three sons of William the Conqueror – Robert Duke of Normandy, William II King of England and Count Henry – fight with each other for control of the Anglo-Norman kingdom created by their father’s conquest.

Meanwhile, Nest ferch Rhys, the daughter of the last independent Welsh king, is captured during the Norman assault of her lands. Raised with her captors, the powerful Montgommery family, Nest is educated to be the wife of Arnulf of Montgommery, in spite of her pre-existing betrothal to a Welsh prince.

Who will Nest marry and can the Welsh rebels oust the Normans?

Daughter of the Last King is the first in the Conquest Trilogy.

What did I think of the book?

The Norman invasion did not stop at Hastings.

It was where it began...

Nest Ferch Rhys, daughter of the King of Deheubart, has a future to look forward to. She is betrothed to Prince Owain ap Cadwgan, and one day, when she is all grown up, her husband will be the King of Powys.

But then the soldiers came.

They slaughter her kin and take her to Cardiff Castle as their special guest. Now she has to pretend gratitude towards people that she hates and she has to find the courage to live and prosper under the watchful eyes of the enemy.

Conquest: Daughter of the Last King by Tracey Warr is a compelling tale and a realistic account of what life was like for a Welsh King's daughter, in a Norman court, in the 11th Century.  This book is rich with historical detail, it is very obvious that Ms. Warr has spent a great many hours in researching this fascinating era. The story itself was refreshing, and the writing was very elegant. This is certainly a sit-down-and-finish book.

I adored the characterisation of Nest. She is a brave and courageous heroine who I came to adore. My heart broke for her when she was so cruelly snatched away from her family, but despite it all, she manages to keep hold of her dignity and grace. She is treated very much as a pawn by the Normans — I am not going to give away any spoilers, but I will say that how some of these powerful men treated her was nothing short of appalling. But she kept her head held high and her dignity intact.

Conquest: Daughter of the Last King is a very well written book and one I certainly enjoyed.

I Highly Recommend.

* I received a copy of this book, from the publishers, for review consideration.*

Links for Purchase

Amazon US Amazon UK

About the author

Tracey Warr's historical novels, Almodis the Peaceweaver, The Viking Hostage, Conquest: Daughter of the Last King, and Conquest: The Drowned Court are published by Impress Books, and based on incidents in the lives of real medieval people. Her writing awards include Author’s Foundation Award, Literature Wales Writer’s Bursary, Rome Film Festival Book Initiative, Santander Research Award, and the Impress Prize for Fiction shortlist.

Her future fiction novella, Meanda, is published as an ebook in English and French.

She also writes on contemporary art and is the editor of The Artist’s Body (Phaidon) and co-editor of Setting the Fell on Fire (Editions North) and Remote Performances in Nature and Architecture (Routledge). Her essays on contemporary artists have been published by Black Dog, Palgrave Macmillan, Merrell/Barbican, Tate, Manchester University Press and Intellect.

She writes articles and reviews for Times Higher Education, Historical Novels Review and The Displaced Nation.

Before becoming a full-time writer she was Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Art at Oxford Brookes University and Dartington College of Arts, and Guest Professor at Bauhaus University, Weimar and Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam. She is currently teaching art history for St Francis University’s Study Abroad programme in Ambialet, France.

She is a member of the Society of Authors and the Historical Novel Society. 

Connect with Tracey…

Website Twitter