Above all, it is about two extraordinary men whose dreams were so large and so antithetical that they were destined to clash in a conflict that brooked no compromise.įor Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, the dream of an independent and united Wales was all-consuming and would cost him dearly. But it is also a story of broken fortunes and grim vengeance, of the poisoned love between two brothers and the rare love between a man and a woman who overcame nearly insuperable obstacles to form a bond that would never break. The Reckoning is a novel about a Celtic society on a collision course with a formidable feudal realm ruled by the most predatory of Plantagenet kings. He has named his charming but untrustworthy brother Davydd as heir, knowing full well the dangers.Īnd so the players are in place and the game – if life and death, love and war can be a game – poised to play itself out to its bloody finale as English and Welsh cross swords in a reckoning that must mean disaster for one side or the other. Once plighted to Simon’s daughter, Ellen, but released from that troth by her father’s death, Llewelyn has never married.

For his Welsh ally Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, ruling uneasily over his fractious countrymen, they have meant a tense, unstable truce with Edward, now casting covetous eyes on Wales. In truth, though Henry wears the crown, his son Edward rules the kingdom.įor Simon de Montfort’s family, these years have meant anguish and exile. Five years have passed since the brutal slaying of Simon de Montfort assured this puppet king his throne. England, 1271: The last year in the reign of Henry III.

The Reckoning by Sharon Kay Penman