The Falcons of Montabard by Elizabeth Chadwick is the story of Sabin FitzSimon who is packed off to the Holy Lands in order to rebound from the scandal of his dalliance with the King’s mistress. He is put under the charge of Eric Strongfist who is advancing his own career by donating his sword to King Baldwin of Jerusalem. Strongfist has a daughter, Annais, and Sabin is warned to stay away from her but circumstances eventually lead him to the fortress of Montabard where Annais is now the chatelaine and upon her becoming a widow and Strongfist being captured by the Saracens, Sabine must make good his vow to protect her and her young son.

Elizabeth Chadwick excels in historical fiction, her research is always spot on and her stories are usually wrapped around a believable romance or relationship. She specializes in writing about the medieval period and in The Falcons of Montabard she delivers a lively story of adventure and love set during the time of the Crusades. ( )

With The Falcons of Montabard Elizabeth Chadwick has delivered yet another excellent work of historical fiction. Taking place primarily in the Holy Land, Falcons tells the story of Sabin FitzSimon, the disgraced illegitimate son of a deceased English earl, who goes to the Holy Land in an effort to redeem himself. While in the Holy Land Sabin not only finds the adventure and redemption he seeks, but love as well. Chadwick brings her characters and the time period to life in a way few authors of historical fiction can. ( )

Young Sabin FitzSimon narrowly avoids the sinking of The White Ship because he’s with one of the mistresses of the king. King’s men find him and after his beating he wakes up finding out the ship has went down and the woman died. Sabin goes to a tavern to drown his sorrow and he gets into a fight where one man dies.
His mother and stepfather has had enough of his wild ways and send him, as a last chance, with Edmund Strongfist to the Holy Lands. Sabin is strongly advised to stay away from Strongfist’s daughter but it might not be the only trouble he has problems staying away.

Another great book from Chadwick and I believe you can never go wrong with her books :)
I loved watching Sabin grow up from being young wild womanizer to loving and caring husband and father and learning honour.

Annais laughed. “You would rather have a honeyed date than a man?” she asked.
Aiesha chuckled. “That depends on the man,” she said. “Your husband could make fat any time he chose!”
pg. 398

I wouldn’t mind either :D

While not being her best book I really loved this book and it’s been some time since I’ve read something from her. ( )

After reading the harrowing Wish Her Safe at Home, I needed a book that was going to be comfort reading, and so I turned to a sure thing: Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Falcons of Montabard, a book that’s been sitting on my bookshelves for ages but was waiting for the right time to be read.

The story opens on November 25, 1120, the eve of the sinking of the White Ship. Sabin Fitzsimon is a young knight who, having seduced one of the mistresses of the king and murdered a man, is put into the service of Edmund Strongfist. Strongfist takes his entourage to the Holy Land, taking with him his daughter, Annais. Sabin is strongly sttracted to Annais, but he has promised his employer, and himself, that he’ll stay away from her. True to form, however, they keep being thrown together, and the result is almost predictable. But getting to that end result is the fun of the novel, for there are many twists and turns before Sabin and Annais can be united.

Whenever I read one of Elizabeth Chadwick’s novels, I always wonder, “how does she do that?” over and over again. The period details of her books are always exquisite, and she truly gets the reader to know her characters intimately. There is wonderful character development in this novel, too. I never get the sense that these are modern people dressed in 12th century clothing, and I always wonder how Elizabeth Chadwick gets to know her period so well—maybe it’s an innate thing by this point? I wish that all authors of historical fiction could write like this! ( )

Sabin FitzSimon, bastard son of Simon de Senslis (hero of The Winter Mantle) goes on Crusade to atone for wild, irresponisble conduct at home. He serves as a warrior-knight to Edmund Strongfist whose daughter Annais he eventually marries. Most of the novel's main characters, and the castle at Montabard, are ficticious but the era is historical -- King Baldwin of Jerusalem and the wars with the Saracens. Good novel, good background on the times and the area called Outremer : outre - mer -- over seas.

Post script from LoisAnn (LindyMc's daughter): I want to add that if anyone is reluctant to read a book with this setting (Jerusalem during the Crusades), set your fears & concerns aside! This is a wonderful book full of the life, characters, plot development and historical interest that we have all come to appreciate and expect from an Elizabeth Chadwick novel.

Remember the old play about a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court? Well, in some ways this is what we get with Falcons. Sabin is a young, brash, skilled knight in King Henry I's court. He is plucked from his 1120's English life and set down into a world that is "same-but-different." For one thing, he learns (as we do as readers) about the beauty of the ancient civilization and cultures of the Holy Land. He learns first hand about an enemy as completely different as possible from the enemies "back home." He also grows and matures and learns about responsibility and honor and love in a way that would have never been available to him if he had stayed in King Henry's court.

A superb book; highly recommended! ( )