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The Champion

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The Champion

By: Elizabeth Chadwick
Narrated by: Jill Tanner
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Summary

Alexander and Hervi de Montroi, half-brothers with no inheritance, meet in France. Hervi is a professional jouster and Alexander, fleeing the beatings of an English monastery, needs a trade. Despite misgivings, Hervi takes him on as his squire, introducing him to the travelers' immoral lifestyle. He befriends a girl, Monday, taking care of her after her parents die until, pregnant with Alexander's child, she leaves, finding shelter in a castle as a seamstress. Noticed by King John, she becomes his mistress in England, bearing his son and gaining a house.

Meanwhile, Stefan has returned to England too, in the pay of an earl—they meet again at court and, now older, fall in love. They have the King's blessing, but Monday's grandfather, now heirless, sees her as a way to gain power. She escapes his kidnapping to be reunited with Alexander on the land granted to him by the earl.

©1997 Elizabeth Chadwick (P)2024 Recorded Books Historical Historical Fiction Medieval England Royalty
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I loved this book. I loved Monday's tenacious attitude. Alexander had the same tenacity. It always makes me feel sick thinking how awful it could be for women at that time, and I'm always heartened when I think there were fierce females who wouldn't conform.

Not so Blue Monday

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This is an enjoyable tale of a young tourney knight and a young woman whose family also follow the tournament circuit, starting in the 1190s. Their lives cross with the famous figures of the time such as the Lionheart, King John and William Marshal. Its all very enjoyable but the audiobook is marred by the narrator’s bizarre pronunciation of the word “grimace” (which crops up surprisingly often). For some reason she puts a second M in the word making it grim mace. After a while it becomes really intrusive and nibbles away at your (or at least my) enjoyment of the book.

Good story marred by bizarre pronunciation

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I take it back! After leaving a previous review of Jill Tanner's reading, I vowed I wouldn't listen to another book read by her, but she did this book proud. Great storyline, full of adventure, romance and villains, I'm really glad I gave it a go. There are the occasional strange pronunciations of words by Jill (grimace being one of them), but I can put up with that. Hope I can find another Elizabeth Chadwick story as good as this one.

Really enjoyed this.

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Narrator's inability to pronounce some words correctly.eg. grimace, shortlived,indicates poor preparation.Audble listeners deserve better considering the cost.Some narrators clearly are reading their books for the first time,so phrasing,pronounciation and intonation can be poor.Also ,why do some authors bring Americanisms...gotten....into their narrative in historical novels?

A good story

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Loved the placement of the story in an interesting period in history and seen from a different viewpoint. Some odd pronunciations but nothing that spoilt the listen.

Engaging storyline

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