The Reckoning

The violent clashes between thirteenth-century England and Wales continue and now there are new, dangerous players in the game.

King Edward has brutally crushed the people's hero Simon de Montfort under his harsh heel, and now sets his greedy sights on Wales. Unscrupulous, all-powerful, fearless, the lethal warrior king burns for mastery over all of Britain, dreaming of a crown unfettered by opposition.

Great Llewelyn II, Prince of Wales, carries on his grandfather's proud dreams of an independent, united Wales, but the light of liberty is fading. And his beloved bride Ellen, daughter of Simon de Montfort, first disowned and exiled, is then cruelly imprisoned at Edward's pleasure. Llewelyn's love for Ellen is a bond that will not be broken - but Edward's vengeance and lust for power know no bounds. And his own untrustworthy, jealous brother Davydd would force Llewelyn into a battle he cannot win ... but cannot afford to lose. As the game of love and war prepares to play to its end, England and Wales cross swords in the final reckoning ...

Concluding her magnificent sequence of novels on the death throes of independent Wales, Sharon Penman weaves a superbly dramatic story of abiding faiths, broken dreams - and enduring hearts.