Shadow on the Crown

Shadow on the Crown
Patricia Bracewell

Set in England when Vikings are on the brink of invasion, this is an epic tale of seduction, war, and unrequited love from an outstanding new voice in historical fictionThe year is 1001 and England is under threat. The air off the southern coast hangs heavy, thick with the fear of Viking sea raids.For England’s King Æthelred the night sky is heavy with a dark portent. England’s future hangs in the balance, its path determined by a struggle for the King’s own heart. Two women – Emma, his Norman bride and Elgiva, his Anglo Saxon mistress – will stop at nothing in their battle for the King’s favour and the Queen’s Coronet. But the sky speaks of a royal death and ahead of all three is a journey fraught with danger and deception.

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Harper

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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2013

Copyright © Patricia Bracewell 2013

Map © Matt Brown 2013

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014

Cover photography © Richard Jenkins

Patricia Bracewell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while at times based on historical figures, are the work of the author’s imagination.

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Source ISBN: 9780007481767

Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007481750

Version: 2015-09-29

For Lloyd, Andrew, and Alan

The English Court, 1001–1005

Æthelred II, Anglo-Saxon king of England

Children of the English king, in birth order:

Athelstan

Ecbert

Edmund

Edrid

Edwig

Edward

Edgar

Edyth

Ælfgifu (Ælfa)

Wulfhilde (Wulfa)

Mathilda

Leading Nobles and Ecclesiastics

Ælfhelm, ealdorman of Northumbria

Ufegeat, his son

Wulfheah, his son (Wulf)

Elgiva, his daughter

Ælfric, ealdorman of Hampshire

Ælfgar, his son

Hilde, his granddaughter

Ælfheah, bishop of Winchester

Godwine, ealdorman of Lindsey

Leofwine, ealdorman of Western Mercia

Wulfstan, archbishop of Jorvik and bishop of Worcester

The Norman Court, 1001–1005

Richard II, duke of Normandy

Robert, archbishop of Rouen, brother of the duke