White Company

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The great bell of Beaulieu was ringing. Far away through the forest might be heard its musical clangor and swell. Peat-cutters on Blackdown and fishers upon the Exe heard the distant throbbing rising and falling upon the sultry summer air. It was a common sound in those parts—as common as the chatter of the jays and the booming of the bittern. Yet the fishers and the peasants raised their heads and looked questions at each other, for the angelus had already gone and vespers was still far off. Why should the great bell of Beaulieu toll when the shadows were neither short nor long?

User Reviews

Book 2.0
Narration 5.0
2.0
5.0
The book has not aged well in my view. The main reason, I think, in contrast with Cloister and the Hearth lacks tension which propels the reader to the resolution. The characters are amicable but again Aylewood is not Denise. I was also personally a bit appalled by all the merriness around looting and pillaging which was all in good sport and for a mother or a quaint Hampshire church. Speaks more of a Victorian society grappling with its pirate roots rather past then grim realities of the Middle Age.

Usual low brow snipes against at Roman Catholicism or even peddling national stereotypes from superior vantage of Dover cliffs, of course shows to me that Doyle had little care for nuance and even less sympathy for others.

The narration though is superb and done with a lot love and attention to detail. Really enjoyed this aspect.
AlmostSurelyRob 19/08/2025

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