Ravens Hill: Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour.
When Harald, the second son of King Cnute, returns from fighting the king’s enemies in Northern Wales, he expects his life to return to normal⸺farming in the Midlands, overseeing his few tenants, evening walks with his beloved Selia⸺an idyllic life, far from the power-mongering of King Cnute’s court. But the king has other plans for Harald and his wife—he grants them a large landholding, a gift they cannot refuse.
On arriving at their new holding, Ravens Hill, Harald and Selia receive a tepid welcome⸺from belligerent housecarls, a conniving steward, an uncompromising abbess, bitter at not adding their estate to her abbey lands, a priest with roaming hands, and a grieving daughter of the previous landholder, who has entered the nunnery.
Harald and Selia wish to improve the lot of their tenant farmers but they face obstacles at every turn, and Harald’s generosity is seen as weakness. They also learn the lands come with an unexpected millstone—an unsolved murder.
And then the trouble begins.
[Fans of Bernard Cornwell will love Ravens Hill—part of the award-winning Atheling Chronicles series.]
[Fans of Bernard Cornwell will love Ravens Hill—part of the award-winning Atheling Chronicles series.]
The old church was roofless and only a portion of each wall remained, lichen and moss-covered, half-hidden by brambles and bracken. At one end of the ruin, Raedwulf and theother threetúnlandretainers ringed the monk who stoodwith his back to me. He wore abrown woolen tunic with a hood hanging at his back. His head was tonsured, though the baldspot needed shaving. Raedwulf released his hold of the hermit’s garment on my arrival.Raedwulf scowled up at me. “Tún-lord.”“Leave the monk be,” I ordered. Myhousecarlsrode up to join me. Selia and Ricmann camejust behind.While the other men stepped away from the monk, Raedwulf stood his ground. “StewardRicmann told us to turn him off the lands.”“And I am telling you to leave the man be.” I dismounted and handed over my reins. I joinedthe monk and faced Raedwulf. “I have different ways thanThegnWulfrun, and StewardRicmann will soon get to know them. If you find you cannot manage change, then you arewelcome to find hiring elsewhere.” I held Raedwulf’s gaze, then shifted my attention to theothercarls. “That goes for all of you. Do you understand?”The threehousecarlsnodded or muttered, “Aye.”“Raedwulf?” I said, still facing him.I had given not half a glance at themonk who stood beside me. Before Raedwulf couldanswer, the monk said, “Harek? It’s you, isn’t it?”I turned to face the hermit. A familiar gaunt face, heavy brows, and sad, gray eyes. To mymind came a hazy memory of care received in a hermit’s cave many miles to the north.“Brother Widuc?” I grasped his upper arm. “So good to see you again, my friend.”
Buy Links:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/317MEw
Publisher’s Author Page with series links: http://www.tirpub.com/gpettersen
Garth Pettersen is an award-winning Canadian writer living in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, BC, Canada where he and his wife board horses.
Pettersen has a BA in History from the University of Victoria and is a retired teacher. His short stories have appeared in anthologies and in journals such as Blank Spaces, The Spadina Literary Review, and The Opening Line Literary ‘Zine.
Garth Pettersen’s historical fiction series, The Atheling Chronicles, is published by Tirgearr Publishing and is available through most online outlets. Book #4 in the series, The Sea’s Edge, received a first-place Incipere Award. Book #5, Ravens Hill, was released on April 15, 2025.
Author Links:
Website: http://www.garthpettersen.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/garpet011
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/writeandride/
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/garth-pettersen
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/garthpettersen
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15059599.Garth_Pettersen
Comments (4)