By Sarah Austin
There are some novels where the historical setting provides the backdrop to the story, and others where the period determines almost every choice the characters are able to make. 'Pilgrims & Strangers' by Sarah Austin most certainly belongs to the latter. Set during the turbulent final years of the twelfth century, this is a beautifully observed story of love, family, duty and belonging, where the expectations of society, the authority of the Church and the obligations of lordship are every bit as important as the desires of the people caught between them.
Fulk de Stannerswell is a wonderfully engaging protagonist. A younger son who never expected to inherit, he is far more accustomed to the pleasures of Count John's household than the responsibilities of managing an estate. There is something immensely likeable about Fulk even when he is behaving badly, and Austin wisely resists making his transformation too easy. He can be selfish, impulsive, arrogant and spectacularly foolish, but he is also capable of great kindness and fierce loyalty. The man he becomes is shaped gradually by responsibility and by the people who come to depend upon him, making his development one of the great pleasures of the novel.
Elena of Eckham is equally compelling. Her strength never comes at the expense of vulnerability, and her independence does not prevent her from sometimes needing other people. Her disability is handled particularly well. It is a practical reality that affects the way she moves through the world, but Austin never allows it to become the sum of who Elena is. There are things she cannot do easily, occasions when she needs assistance and moments when her determination to manage alone works against her. There are also plenty of occasions when she finds her own way around an obstacle. Elena is proud, stubborn, intelligent, loving and wonderfully human, and she very quickly became a character I cared deeply about.
The relationship between Fulk and Elena is beautifully written. Austin gives them time to understand one another, and their feelings develop through conversation, disagreement, humour, friendship and the ordinary business of living alongside each other. Their differences are as important as their similarities, particularly during the early stages of their relationship when Fulk still has a great deal to learn about the power his position gives him. There is a maturity to the way their feelings are explored, especially in the novel's understanding that finding happiness after bereavement does not mean that an earlier love suddenly ceases to matter.
Family gives 'Pilgrims & Strangers' much of its emotional heart. Austin is particularly interested in the difference between the relationships created by blood and those created through love, loyalty and choice. Motherhood is explored with great sensitivity, as is fatherhood, and the children are never treated as convenient additions to the adult story. They have their own attachments, fears and loyalties, and their presence changes the emotional weight of many of the decisions made around them. Some of the most moving scenes in the novel are not the dramatic ones but the quieter moments when this rather unconventional family is simply together.
Hugo is especially memorable. Austin gives him an emotional journey every bit as carefully considered as those of the adults around him. His understanding of grief, family, loyalty and manhood changes as he grows, yet he is never made unnaturally mature simply because the story requires it. There is something particularly touching about the way his relationships develop while still allowing him to hold tightly to the people he has loved and lost. His story became one of the aspects of the novel I found most affecting.
The supporting characters are superb. Anselm is an absolute delight, with the unenviable task of advising a lord who does not always appreciate being advised. His loyalty to Fulk never prevents him from telling him precisely what he thinks, and their exchanges provide some wonderful moments of humour. Blytha, Milda, Ivo and the wider household are equally well drawn, giving Stannerswell the feeling of a genuine community rather than a castle populated by characters who appear only when required. Bemond, a scruffy stray dog with a personality all of his own, very nearly steals every scene in which he appears.
The medieval world surrounding these characters is exceptionally convincing. Austin understands that lordship brings obligations as well as privilege, and the running of Stannerswell is presented through manor courts, tenants, harvests, finances and the countless responsibilities attached to landholding. These details never feel unnecessary because they are fundamental to Fulk's changing understanding of what it means to be a lord. Stannerswell gradually becomes more than an inheritance; it becomes a place filled with people for whom he feels responsible.
The position of women is explored with equal care. Questions surrounding widowhood, wardship, marriage, dower and inheritance have enormous implications for Elena, and Austin makes the restrictions surrounding her feel personal rather than merely legal. A woman's security can depend upon decisions made by men, while reputation has consequences that are not shared equally between the sexes. These inequalities are never forced into the narrative through modern commentary. Instead, they emerge naturally from the situations the characters face.
Religion is woven just as convincingly through the story. Faith influences how people understand illness, disability, death, marriage, sin and forgiveness, and Austin never treats medieval belief as something that can simply be put aside when inconvenient. The portrayal of leprosy is particularly powerful. Fear and prejudice sit alongside charity, compassion and religious duty, while the people living with the disease are never reduced to symbols of medieval suffering. Their humanity remains at the forefront.
The political uncertainty surrounding Richard I and his brother John adds another layer to the novel. Fulk's connection to John means that events taking place far beyond Stannerswell can have very immediate consequences at home. Personal loyalty, feudal obligation and political survival do not always point in the same direction, and Austin uses that conflict extremely well. The politics remain firmly connected to the lives of the fictional characters rather than overwhelming them.
The depth of historical detail throughout is impressive. Food, clothing, travel, household arrangements, childbirth, religious observance, farming and the workings of a medieval estate all contribute to the authenticity of the setting. There is clearly an enormous amount of research behind this novel, but Austin never appears to be displaying that research for its own sake. The reader simply inhabits the world alongside the characters.
What impressed me most was the emotional complexity of the novel. Love is never presented as something simple or easily contained. People can love more than once without diminishing what came before. Grief can exist alongside happiness, and loyalty can become painfully divided. Austin also understands that suffering does not automatically make someone virtuous, just as making mistakes does not make someone irredeemable. Her characters are allowed to be contradictory, to fail each other and to make choices that are sometimes difficult to forgive.
At over five hundred pages, 'Pilgrims & Strangers' is a substantial novel, but I never felt that Austin was in a hurry to move her characters from one significant event to another. She allows relationships to develop through ordinary life, giving the reader time to become genuinely invested in the people of Stannerswell. This makes the darker and more emotionally demanding sections of the novel incredibly powerful, because by then these characters no longer feel like strangers.
'Pilgrims & Strangers' is a beautifully written and deeply absorbing novel that captures both the harsh realities and the warmth of family life in medieval England. Sarah Austin has created characters who are flawed, complicated and immensely easy to care about, while the depth of her historical research gives their world remarkable authenticity.
Richly researched, wonderfully paced and full of heart, 'Pilgrims & Strangers' is historical fiction at its finest. Sarah Austin has created a remarkable novel filled with characters who remain with the reader long after the final page.
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Sarah Austin is a historical fiction author with a lifelong fascination for the past and a particular passion for the medieval period. Inspired by the novels of Jean Plaidy, her interest in history developed further following a visit to Pembroke Castle in 1995, which sparked an enduring fascination with the castles, communities and people of medieval England.
Austin went on to study at the University of Nottingham, graduating with First-Class Honours and specialising in medieval history. She has now studied the period from 1066 to 1330 for almost thirty years, continuing to research the social, political and everyday realities of medieval life.
Her academic background and love of storytelling come together in her historical fiction. Rather than fictionalising prominent historical figures, Austin creates fictional characters and imagined settings within an authentic historical timeline, occasionally allowing real figures from the past to make an appearance.
For Austin, medieval history is not a distant, two-dimensional world, but one filled with people experiencing the same love, loss, ambition and emotions that remain familiar today.
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