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Winter Pilgrims

Kingmaker, Book 1

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Winter Pilgrims

By: Toby Clements
Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
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About this listen

February 1460.

In the bitter dawn of a winter’s morning, a young man and a woman escape from a priory. In fear for their lives, they are forced to flee across a land ravaged by conflict.

For this is the Wars of the Roses, one of the most savage and bloody civil wars in history. Where brother confronts brother, king faces king and Thomas and Katherine must fight just to stay alive....

©2014 Toby Clements (P)2016 Bolinda Fiction Historical Fiction Royalty War Scary Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

"An enthralling adventure story, honest and powerful. The Wars of the Roses are imagined here with energy, with ferocity, with hunger to engage the [listener]." (Hilary Mantel)
All stars
Most relevant
It has been a long time since I have read or listen to such a well written beautifully thought out story, Thank you so much and I hope you are busy writing your next book :-)

simply beautiful

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I am very interested in this period of history and also enjoy a pacy plot led tale - this book ticks both those boxes! Unputdownable! I was making excuses to walk the dog and do the housework so I could continue listening to this well-knitted and well-narrated book. I will definitely be looking out for more from this author!

Fantastic!

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What did you like most about Winter Pilgrims?

I loved the details of daily life. What a struggle ordinary people had and how commoditised they were. I didn't want the book to end.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Katherine. How different her life would have been if she had lived today. And we still don't know her secrets.

What does Jack Hawkins bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Listening instead of reading means I can immerse myself in another world whilst pottering about working in the house, garden, or on a journey. He brings the characters to life.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not really - it was a super thought provoking tale though.

Any additional comments?

I would definitely buy again if there were others added to the series.

A gripping story woven into our history

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The story-lines were recreated around me so well ... it felt real ~ thoroughly enjoyed

Making History so Vivid; & Well-presented

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I usually prefer to read factual history books and I took a gamble on this series. I accidentally got books 2 and 3, thinking they were books 1 and 2, so I then had to go back and read Winter Pilgrims. On the plus side, Jack Hawkins is a superb voice actor ( apart from the overly caricatured Welsh accents) and the context is well described. The cousins war period of English history is fascinating and horrific and these books do an excellent job of putting the reader in the thick of it. And therein lies one of the problems - violence in all its graphic detail is actually the main character, to the point that it detracts from plot development. We know that war is bloody and terrifying but does every plot element have to descend into blood and gore? Suspension of your credulity is also required if you are to buy in to the Katherine/Kit/Margaret scenario. In reality, there is no way that she could have pulled off pretending to be a teenage boy - for all the blood and gore, the author is surprisingly reticent about the reality of menstruation. I am pretty sure they didn't have tampons in the fifteenth century so 'Kit' must have had a hell of a job concealing her monthly period. The fact that both Thomas and Katherine came from the same religious institution and have little in the way of family background makes them curiously 2 dimensional - they are just a device to link all the violent episodes together. Still, I enjoyed it enough to get all 4 books and I am just about to move onto book 4. Overall though, the series is not as good as I had hoped for and feels a bit like teenage boy fiction.

Mixed feelings

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