The Forest Laird
A Tale of William Wallace
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The Forest Laird is the tale of William Wallace, the great hero of the Scottish Wars of Independence. Jack Whyte has pulled back the curtain of history and has given us a riveting story of Wallace's struggles against the tyranny of the English.
In the predawn hours of August 24th, 1305, in London's Smithfield Prison, the outlaw William Wallace—hero of all the Scots and deadly enemy of King Edward of England—sits awaiting the dawn, when he is to be hanged and then drawn and quartered. This brutal sundering of his body is the revenge of the English. Wallace is visited by a Scottish priest who has come to hear his last confession, a priest who knows Wallace like a brother. Wallace's confession—the tale that follows—is all the more remarkable because it comes from real life.
We follow Wallace through his many lives—as outlaw and fugitive, hero and patriot, rebel and kingmaker. His exploits and escapades, desperate struggles and victorious campaigns are all here, as are the high ideals and fierce patriotism that drove him to abandon the people he loved to save his country.
William Wallace, the first heroic figure from the Scottish Wars of Independence and a man whose fame has reached far beyond his homeland, served as a subject for the Academy Award–winning film Braveheart. In The Forest Laird, Jack Whyte's masterful storytelling breathes life into Wallace's tale, giving readers an amazing character study of the man who helped shape Scotland's future.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this new take on the legend of Scottish rebel William Wallace, author Whyte (Order in Chaos) begins at the very beginning. The narrator, Wallace's cousin Jamie, remembers him as an angry young orphan who grew up shaped by Ewen Scrymgeour, a once-outlawed archer, and Bishop Wishart of Glasgow, a kind but ruthless patriot who nurtured Wallace's hatred of the English. Since little is known of Wallace as a historical figure and many of the stories about him conflict, Whyte uses all the myths in turn. First Wallace is a bereaved child abused by the English, then a lord's son raised to lead men, then a happy outlaw in the greenwood with his beloved wife, Mirren. Although he is the book's protagonist, Wallace himself is curiously remote, as if Whyte can't bring himself to write about his childhood hero with much intimacy. Regardless, Whyte has produced a smart, no-nonsense work of historical fiction that will appeal to Scottish history buffs, readers of authors like Bernard Cornwell, and fans of Whyte's Arthurian and Templar novels.
Customer Reviews
Well done
Well written, fictional account of the life of William Wallace. Great detail and storyline.