A powerful baron rules England, creates Parliament, and wages war with his wife’s brother King Henry the III

“Writers have morbid imaginations and we are always looking for creative ways to kill characters off,” says Falls the Shadow author Sharon Kay Penman.

     Penman was searching for the site of the battle fought by Llewelyn ap Gruffydd against his own brothers in 1255. “We knew that it was fought on the Llyn Peninsula, so I went to the Caernarfonshire Archives. They could not have been more helpful, translating Welsh for me and hauling out detailed maps.”

     The Llyn Peninsula is one of north Wales’ most beautiful locations, with much of its coastline maintained by the National Trust. “We concluded that the battle must have been fought at the Bwlch Mawr Pass, so I got into my car, took my maps, and headed out,” says Penman. “I'd been delighted to find a river on the map, thinking I could have some of the soldiers drown as they fled.”

     “To my great disappointment, I discovered that the river was so shallow a snake couldn't have drowned in it,” says Penman. “Now maybe it had been a raging torrent in the 13th century, but my Welsh readers would know it as this meandering stream, and I could envision them laughing hysterically as they read of soldiers being swept away in the river’s surging current.”

     “But then I spotted a wonderful sign…warning of quicksand!” says Penman.

     In Falls the Shadow, Simon De Montfort 6th Earl of Leicester becomes the voice of the common people and opposes his wife’s brother, King Henry III. A powerful English baron, after the rebellion of 1263-1264, de Montfort becomes the de facto ruler of England. He calls the first directly elected parliament in medieval Europe. As his wife Nell keeps safe the castle at Dover, de Montfort faces a final confrontation with Henry the III in the battle of Evesham.

     Penman brings the locations and characters alive. The historical facts are woven into the story so well. Penman tells more then the story of Simon De Montfort. There are also Llywelyn Fawr, who ruled most of Wales, and the London Mayor Thomas FitzThomas, the man who stood up for the rights of the Jews in London.

     Sharon Kay Penman has written eleven books. Seven are historical sagas and four are medieval mysteries. Penman was born in New York City and lives in New Jersey.

     Falls the Shadow tells a story of royal intrigue, battle, and the rise of democracy. There are a few times when the story bogs down, but it soon is back on track.

Falls the Shadow by Sharon Kay Penman, Trade Paperback, 592 pages, Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (August 19, 2008) Language: English ISBN-9780312382469