Book Review of A Knight's Reward

Young Mother Hides From Abusive Husband in Catherine Kean's Romance

Feb 1, 2008

Love, lust, courage, and loyalty propel the characters in this enthralling tale of romance set in England in the Middle Ages.

Book Review:

A Lady Scarred and Scared

In 1194 Moydenshire, England, Gisela Anne Balewyne runs away from her violent husband taking only her small son and her skills as a seamstress to help her start a new life. Scarred from her husband’s drunken attack with a knife, she vows to keep her true identity a secret as she works night and day sewing glamorous clothing for people far richer than herself, a commoner. With the help of a kindly neighbor, she takes care of her son, Ewan, a tiny warrior eager to fight for his mother.

For four months, her plan goes smoothly until a scruffy peddler follows her through the marketplace, causing Gisela to fear that he is a spy for her husband. The peddler does turn out to be a spy, but instead of working for her husband, he works for the lord of the land on a secret mission to recover stolen silk. Under the beggar’s clothes, he also happens to be Dominic de Terre, Gisela’s first love who left her for the Crusades.

A Knight Seeking Truth

Now a brave and respected knight, Dominic is thrilled to discover his former love, and employs her help in finding the stolen silk. Her secretive habits, desperate situation, and strange behavior, however, make him suspicious, despite his growing desire to rekindle their earlier romance. As much as he wants to believe her, Gisela’s loyalty is unclear.

Complicating the already difficult situation is Crenardieu, a French merchant who hires Gisela to sew garments from a beautiful luxurious blue silk – exactly like the missing silk stolen from Dominic’s best friend and employer, Lord Geoffrey de Lanceau. Because she so urgently needs money for herself and her son’s freedom, Gisela delays telling Dominic about her project for the Frenchman.

Romantic Novel is a Romantic Tapestry

As in her previous Medieval romances (Dance of Desire, A Knight’s Vengeance, My Lady’s Treasure), Catherine Kean presents well-developed characters that you will care about. Her attention to historic detail (the towns, houses, customs, clothes, foods, weapons, manners, speech, etc.) makes her novels rich and textured. Her plots are intricate enough to contain a few surprises without bogging readers down with unnecessary characters or unrelated subplots that serve more as distractions than means of advancing the story. Once again, Kean weaves together a beautiful romantic tapestry with her newest novel, A Knight’s Reward.

The copyright of the article Book Review of A Knight's Reward in Historical Romance Fiction is owned by Leslie C. Halpern. Permission to republish Book Review of A Knight's Reward in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.