Grade: 8th through adult

 

Summary:

For seven nights in April of 1066 a great comet flashed across the English sky. And in that fateful year, there was a momentous phenomenon, the Battle of Hastings, which began a new chapter in the history of England and the world.

 

This book recreates the heroic drama of which Hastings is the final scene. The story sweeps through the centuries, from the first plundering raids of the Vikings at the very end of the 8th century---their more purposive return to conquer and settle the land---their founding of the Duchy of Normant---to the culmination at Hastings more than two hundred years later, when the shining prize of England was won.

 

Out of this creative victory emerged a nation that through nine hundred years has remained unique and immune to invastion. But it is to the early generations of Norse invaders that England hows much of its heritage of vigor and culture.