The Castle

In 1106, Blanche, the Norman widow of the earl of Trent, and her English steward Miles Edwulfson attempt to take control of her estates after the earl’s death. Their position is threatened by Aimerie, a baron building an illegal castle and extracting money from nearby manors to support wider ambitions. The novel centres on Miles and Blanche as they resist private lordship, predatory taxation and the political instability of Anglo-Norman England under Henry I.