Crusade follows the story (albeit a bit loosely as it is hard to know exact details of the crusade as the official history on the topic is somewhat lacking) and focuses in particular on two characters who are part o the crusade: Georgette a peasant girl and Robert, an orphan who has been brought up within an Abbey. I enjoyed getting both a male and female perspective in this story and loved seeing how their stories finally linked up and intertwined as the novel progressed. I thought both main characters were very sweet and I enjoyed finding out more about them.
I was particularly interested to read this book as I am yet to have found another work of historical fiction what focuses on the children’s crusade. I have seen others that looks as crusades more generally but I think the children’s crusade is particularly interesting and a topic that can really draw in young adults as they can relate to the people involved in the main story line. I teach High School history so this book is an utter god send for me. It is also good as it is quite broad in its focus covering not just ideas about crusades but also a variety of aspects of medieval life including medicine, home life, towns and villages and the influence of the church more generally.
One aspect the book does really well it that it explores the nature of religion and the diversity of faith and people’ attitudes to other faith. The ideas but forward are still very much relevant to a modern audience and give the reader much to think about.
I certainly see why it has been compared to the work of Crossley-Holland and Laird – there are certainly similarities in both the writing style and the content matter and I imagine if you’ve enjoyed work by either of these two authors you will enjoy Press Wulf’s foray into medieval historical fiction.
A thoughtful, well written novel which both entertains and educates the reader by providing an exciting storyline and awesome characters along with posing intelligent and thought provoking questions about medieval life which are still relevant and poignant to a 21st century reader.
