Falls the Shadow — Sharon Kay Penman

"This day we fight for justice, for Christ's poor, for the weak of England, for the promises broken and the trust betrayed...."

This was Simon de Montfort at his best, on the eve of the famous battle of Lewes. A man ahead of his time, he was a disinherited aristocratic Frenchman who talked his way into an English earldom and into marriage with a sister of the English king, Henry III. A charismatic, obstinate leader, de Montfort became outraged at Henry's incompetence--and his inability to keep his word. Simon the Righteous soon found himself the champion of the common people, earning the undying hatred of the king who demanded blind loyalty.

This is Simon de Montfort's story--and the story of King Henry III, as weak and changeable as Montfort was brash and unbending. It is a saga of two opposing wills that would later clash in a storm of violence and betrayal, a story straight from the pages of history that brings the world of the thirteenth century completely, provocatively, and magnificently alive.

Above all, this is a story of conflict and treachery, of human frailty and broken legends, a tail of pageantry and grandeur that is as unforgettable as it is real...