Norah Lofts was an extremely popular writer of historical fiction where I grew up in England. I remember picking up this book up from my mother’s coffee table when I was bored one Sunday fully expecting to toss it aside within the hour, only to become engrossed in the tale.

Knight’s Acre (the first of a trilogy) tells the story of Godfrey Tallboys and Lady Sybilla who set out to build a manor home. Godfrey is a man of many qualities, including his martial prowess, loyalty, and honesty, but he is also gullible and recklessly naïve. Soon after moving into their new home, Godfrey is hoodwinked into fighting in a disastrous foreign war that ends with him being imprisoned, leaving Sybilla to fend for herself and her children as best she can.

Some of the difficulties Sybilla faces are quite mundane—planting a garden, growing a crop, furnishing the house, figuring out where everyone should sleep, and choosing what cakes to serve distinguished guests. But she must also fend off unwanted advances from suitors who presume her husband to be dead, and protect her family from brigands wandering the countryside, all whilst Godfrey seeks to engineer his escape and make his way back home.

From the cover, I expected the book to be a bit of a saccharine romance, but it wasn’t at all. There was romance, sure, but it was not the heart of the story. The author’s world is not a world full of swooning damsels. Rather, it is a very real world, as befits her almost scholarly attention to historic detail. It is harsh, unfair, and at times brutal. You cannot presume a happy ending with Lofts. And for any happy ending that comes, there may be a heavy price to pay.

Norah Lofts seems to be a somewhat forgotten writer, given the quality of her work, and how prolific and popular she once was. She deserves more attention.

I have enjoyed other books by this author (notably Gad’s Hall), but for some reason this one novel has stuck with me. ( )