The Last English King by Julian Rathbone

He was difficult to pigeonhole because his scope was so broad.

The prolific author Julian Rathbone was a writer of crime stories, mysteries and thrillers who also turned his hand to the historical novel, science fiction and even horror - and much of his writing had strong political and social dimensions. His great-uncle was the actor and great Sherlock Holmes interpreter Basil Rathbone, although they never met.

(Nov.Julian Christopher Rathbone was born in 1935 in Blackheath, southeast London. However, Rathbone defends his decisions convincingly in an author's note, and his narrative presents an interesting interpretation of a tumultuous period in English history. Rathbone takes considerable historical liberties, writing in contemporary vernacular modern prose and painting King Edward as a man more interested in Harold's fetching brother Tostig than in the sister, whom he is slated to marry. The story suggests that Walt at last finds redemption through the retelling, despite the novel's tragic ending (revealed in the book's first chapter), but Walt's friendship with Quint also provides important consolation. Quint's impressive knowledge of religion and philosophy and his anachronistic grasp of the tenets of modern psychology help fill in the blanks of the story that Walt recounts: of the reign of King Edward, the ascent of William the Bastard and King Harold and the historic battle for the throne of England. In Byzantium, Walt encounters a traveling ex-monk and scholar, Quint (''nothing more, nothing less''), and together they embark on a vividly described journey through the medieval eastern end of the Mediterranean. Instead of returning to the wife and child who desperately need him in Norman-ruled England, Walt condemns himself to wander, since his desire to live and return to his wife and home are what caused him to fail his King. Battle scarred and numb, Walt is plagued with guilt for merely losing his hand and not his life when Harold is killed at Hastings. This richly detailed historical novel tells the story of the great Norman-Saxon battle of Hastings in 1066, as remembered by Walt Edwinson, or the Wanderer, one of King Harold Godwinson's bodyguards. Though better known for his political thrillers, British writer Rathbone is also the author of several mainstream novels, two of which (Joseph and King Fisher Lives) were shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

The Last English King by Julian Rathbone