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Fiction

The Forest Laird, by Jack Whyte

The Forest Laird

By Jack Whyte

Penguin Books
ISBN: 9780670068463

Publisher’s Synopsis: In the pre-dawn hours of August 24, 1305 a.d., in London’s Smithfield Prison, the outlaw William Wallace, who is to be executed at dawn, is visited by a Scottish priest who has come to hear his last Confession. So begins The Forest Laird, the first book in Jack Whyte’s masterful new trilogy.

Wallace’s story leads us through his many lives—as an outlaw and a fugitive, a hero and a patriot, a rebel and a kingmaker. He is the first heroic figure from the Scottish Wars of Independence brought blazingly to life in Jack Whyte’s new trilogy, the Guardians, and will be followed by his two compatriots Robert the Bruce, King of Scots; and Sir James Douglas, known as The Black Douglas. Their exploits and escapades, desperate struggles and medieval savagery, high ideals and fierce patriotism are the stuff of legends, and the soul and substance of these epic novels.

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See our interview with Jack Whyte

Book Review: Braveheart through a glass darkly – “The novelist also succeeds in weaving history into the story as it crackles along. Our narrator explains that he is “forced, if some future reader is to understand my tale . . . to identify the people and events that were to shape my unfortunate cousin’s destiny.” Such skillful crafting enables Whyte to paint a convincing portrait of a society emerging from feudalism, and to make sense of the shifting alliances of noblemen, peasantry, clergymen and the rising new class of burgesses, or merchants and managers.”

Jack Whyte’s website – also features other novels by this author

Was Braveheart the true hero of Sherwood Forest? – from Medieval News

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