Fletched Feathers

Bernard Cornwell has produced another masterful piece of historical fiction. This tale begins in Hookton, England and slogs through Western Europe during the Hundred Years War of the mid 1300s.

The Archer’s Tale reads with such unparalleled authenticity that Cornwell could not possibly have composed it at a computer. He must surely have penned it with an ancient goose quill.

Easter morning should have been a time of great rejoicing in the small church at Hookton. In the year of our Lord 1342, however, it was not the glorious Resurrection that greeted those living in the obscure fishing village. Rather it was the terror of the French raiders – and their mercenary Genoese crossbowmen – that rose with the dawn. Those warriors swarmed up from the sand and shale beach – and the townspeople were cut down in their homes, slaughtered in their lanes, and butchered in their church.

In a matter of hours the French returned to the sea from which they came. As they headed back to their Norman shore, their four small boats were filled with the paltry treasures of the English town. One of their craft also held the relic. To some this might have looked like just another wooden shaft – a lance. “But it was not any old lance. This was the very lance which St. George had used to kill the dragon.” [P.9]

All the inhabitants of Hookton perished that morning – all except for young Thomas. The dead littered the ground. But not every corpse was English. Not all the raiders had managed to return to their boats. Among the dead were four Genoese – each sprouting an ash shaft with white goose feather fletching.

In the spring of his 18th year Thomas had ceased to be just another English bowman. He had become “The Archer” – and this is his tale.

Bernard Cornwell is a master storyteller. The Archer’s Tale raises questions to ensnare all manner of reader. The author, however, does not explicitly broach these queries. Rather, Cornwell somehow entices the reader to pose his or her own ambivalence.

Intrigue – How did “the relic” come to hang in the simple church at Hookton?

Adventure – Can Thomas survive the march of English King Edward III’s forces across France?

Romance – Will Thomas win the hand – and heart of the Lady Eleanor?

Treachery – Is any depravity or duplicity beyond “The Harlequin”?

Loyalty – Why would a French nobleman like Sir Guillaume d’Evecque protect an enemy archer like Thomas?

History – Were the English archers key to the debacle that took place on a hill between Wadincort and Crecy?

Vengeance – Who is Vexile and does he escape Thomas’ retribution?

Bernard Cornwell has earned rave reviews for his seventeen-volume saga of Richard Sharpe and that rifleman’s adventures in the Napoleonic wars between 1799 and 1821.

He garnered similar acclaim for his four-book chronicle of Nathaniel Starbuck' escapades during the 1861 – 1865 years of the American Civil War.

In The Archer’s Tale Cornwell’s writing stays true to form. His literary style is deceptively simple. The detail in his descriptive phrases paints a vivid word picture for the reader.

Cornwell creates characters that ensnare the reader. For some you cheer – and for others you cringe. Even the most noble of heroes seems to have human failings. And most – not all, but most – of the villains seem to have at least a few drops of blood mixed with the ice water coursing through their veins. For some you will feel love. For some you will feel hate. But you will feel!

Through his words you can almost feel the fog seep through your clothes. You can smell the welcoming aroma of a cooking pot at days end – or the nauseating stench of a bloated corpse. The whisper of a single arrow’s flight is merged with the sound of hundreds of others until they clang off armor or slice into unprotected flesh. The dialog is authentic without becoming overly obscured by archaic phrases or meanings. Through the medium of Cornwell’s prose, you are transported back 660 years. Close your eyes and you are there in 14th century Normandy.

I am much taken with Cornwell’s narrative style displayed in The Archer’s Tale. Some of the story’s plot elements are straightforward – the reader knows just where the author is headed. But there are others that twist and turn – with hidden layers of meaning that come to the fore when least expected. Cornwell kept me planted in my most comfortable chair. During three hundred and seventy-four pages I emerged only to refill my cup or empty my bladder. A compelling read!

To disclose much of the plot of The Archer’s Tale would be a distinct disservice to potential readers.

Suffice it to say that Cornwell has done it again. And I – for one – hope that The Archer’s Tale is but the first volume in another great series.

You can learn more about Bernard Cornwell and his writings at http://www.bernardcornwellbooks.com/.

The Archer’s Tale
Harper Collins 2001
ISBN 0-06-621084-4

© 2002 Gungian