THE DRAGON AND THE BOOK
By
A substantial if slow moving period story of England in King Alfred's time-in which the Dragon is the invading Dane and the Book an illuminated manuscript of Psalms made especially for the King by the monks of Edingarth. After the invasion, the young novice Wilfrid is entrusted with the book which is to be taken to Alfred. His mission takes him on the road to Alfred's constantly changing headquarters. He faces dangers; meets friends; and becomes an envoy during a temporary truce and is instrumental in the conversion of the Danish leader's wife. A successor to Three Golden Nobles (1951), this is again a medieval novel with perhaps less movement but a knowledgeable sense of the period. The author's pictures are also historically true.