Lora Hates Spam

by Elizabeth Chadwick

I've enjoyed Elizabeth Chadwick novels before so requested this one because of the author. This one is about William Marshal, whom I didn't know a lot about before reading, in the time of the Crusades. Marshal's lord orders a raid on church riches in order to pay his mercenary soldiers as a practical move, but afterwards Marshal takes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his lord's cloak to save both their souls.

The beginning was a little slow for me, but necessary to put events into context. Once the journey begins, Chadwick's engaging writing style brought the characters to life and I was soon engrossed and feeling every challenge and setback as if I were there.

I also learned some history I didn't know before, which is what I look for in Historical Fiction.

The political intrigues as an heir is sought for a dying king of Jerusalem captured me like an addictive soap opera. Everyone vying for favour and a ruler playing people, even his own sister, like chess pieces reflects the era too accurately in a time when alliances were made with marriages and positions could be won or lost through a whim of a king.

I lost a little interest as the romance angle played out and found myself wondering if it was a historical element or something the author put in to have a romance angle, but overall the story was interesting and covered a lot of historical ground.