The Battle of Hastings is over and William the Conqueror is ensuring that any rebellion is crushed. When Edgar, the Aethling, retakes York the Norman revenge is swift. This is the Harrowing of the North, where bands of Normans burn and destroy anything in their way and the people are killed or displaced. In the midst of this mayhem a band of travellers join forces - Merewyn the lady and her maid Tova, the priest Guthred, the bard Oslac and the warrior Beorn. All have secrets and over the course of a week their secrets are revealed.

This is a wonderfully creative take on a historical story. Taking some inspiration from the Decameron, a disparate group of individuals tell their stories, Aitchison has woven a tale of suffering and betrayal at all levels. Each individual has committed a crime in order to survive but with winter closing in and the Normans close behind them, not all will survive. The sense of time and place is really strong and I particularly like the fact that there isn't a conventionally happy ending, just the opening of another chapter for the surviving characters. ( )

For a review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2016/08/09/the-harrowing-james-aitcheson/ ( )

It is the harsh winter of 1069/70, and the Norman army is on the march north to quell the last Anglo-Saxon uprising once and for all. Running to escape the enemy advance, five strangers are thrown together by circumstance: Merewyn, a lady from Heldeby, along with her servant girl Tova; warrior Beorn; Guthred the priest and Oslac, the wandering poet. Together they try to make their way to Hagustaldesham, where the last vestiges of the rebellion are supposed to amass. But the enemy is never far away, and sometimes closer than they suspect …

Known in the history books as The Harrying of the North, The Harrowing is set over the space of just eight days, beginning with Merewyn and Tova setting off from Heldeby and being joined gradually by first one, and then another and another. In the evenings, to pass the time, each one tells the others their history and in the course of it reveals a secret about themself, and it becomes clear that each one has committed a crime of one sort or another – this is very much a company of sinners. These instances feed very much into the Anglo-Saxon tradition of storytelling, and in these cases the pace drops considerably – maybe a little too much – but they open a window on to the past with details of traditions and practices for the readers. In between each tale are set harrowing scenes of indiscriminate slaughter and violence that leave nothing to the imagination. James Aitcheson effortlessly manages to transport the reader back in time, to a dark and violent period in British history, infusing the proceedings with a constant sense of imminent danger and mistrust, along with a real impression of the inhospitable and harsh environment and the hardships faced by the English. His characters are flawed but appear all the more realistic. The Norman army is portrayed as a relentless pursuer, a steady threat at the backs of the small company and every Anglo-Saxon in the north, but it is the merciless cruelty shown by the English, driven by greed, which appeared worse.

Running for their lives, and in constant fear of the enemy and impending death, all class differences are eliminated. By showing that atrocities are committed by both sides, the author poses some important questions: Is the Anglo-Saxons’ refusal to accept foreign rule a just cause to indiscriminately slaughter those who pursue a strategy of appeasement and arguably fraternise with the enemy? Are those English who betray, spy and inform on the rebels and thereby cause innumerable deaths right because they claim to act in the country’s best interests to prevent further bloodshed? The author doesn’t provide any easy answers, but makes it clear that there is no glory in killing and that war is essentially a dirty business. It is not difficult to see parallels to conflicts in the modern day here.

Throughout the book, it is Tova who draws all the characters together, both in action and in the narrative itself. Despite her youth, it is she who emerges as the strongest individual at the end of the novel and who, among all horrors, offers a glimpse of hope.

The author uses the old Anglo-Saxon place names throughout and has very helpfully provided a short list where they are placed alongside their modern counterparts; other Anglo-Saxon terms have also found their way into the narrative, adding some authenticity despite the otherwise modern vocabulary and way of speaking, and though the meaning is mostly gleaned through the context in which they are used, I wish the author had provided another short glossary for them.

(This review was written for Amazon's Vine programme.) ( )