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Author

Cecelia Holland

20 fiction

Cecelia Holland is an American author best known for historical novels set across medieval Europe, the Viking world, the Crusades and other periods of political and military upheaval. Born in Nevada in 1943, she began writing at an early age and published her first novel, The Firedrake, in 1966. She has since written more than thirty novels, combining detailed historical settings with tightly focused stories of ambition, loyalty, survival and conflict.

Her historical fiction includes Until the Sun Falls, about the Mongol expansion into Europe, City of God, set in Renaissance Rome, The Lords of Vaumartin, Jerusalem and The Secret Eleanor. Holland frequently presents major events through soldiers, courtiers, outsiders and lesser-known participants rather than concentrating solely on celebrated rulers. Her novels are noted for their direct prose, complex characters and unsentimental portrayal of power and violence.

Periods and events

Anglo-Saxon Englandc. 476–1066 CE Battle of Clontarf23 April 1014 Battle of Hastings1066 CE Battle of Hattin1187 CE Battle of the Catalaunian Plains451 CE Borgia Papacy1492–1503 CE Byzantine Empire476–1453 CE Carolingian Empire768–888 CE Christianisation of Scandinaviac. 800–1200 CE Construction of Stonehenge3000–1600 BCE Crusader States1098–1291 CE Danish Conquest of England1003–1016 High Medievalc. 1000–1300 CE Holy Roman Empire962–1500 CE Islamic Golden Agec. 750–1258 CE Italian Wars1494–1559 CE Medieval England after the Norman Conquest1071–1300 CE Military Ordersc. 1119–1500 CE Mongol Invasions1206–1368 CE Norse Exploration of the North Atlanticc. 870–1100 CE Rise of Normandy and the Duchy of Normandy911–1066 Roman-Hunnic Wars395–453 CE The Anarchy1135–1154 CE Viking Age793–1066 CE Viking Age Scandinavia793–1066 CE

Historical fiction

Historical fiction series by Cecelia Holland (2 series)

Kinghood in Order

by Cecelia Holland 2 books 4.0(570)

The Kinghood books are two independent medieval novels linked by their examination of contested rule rather than by recurring characters. Hammer for Princes follows an experienced Anglo-Norman earl through the final phase of the Anarchy, when King Stephen and the future Henry II struggle over England. The King’s…

The Life and Times of Corban Loosestrife in Order

by Cecelia Holland 6 books 3.9(518)

The six-volume Corban Loosestrife saga begins in tenth-century Ireland when a Viking raid destroys Corban’s family and carries away his twin sister, Mav. His pursuit takes him through Dublin, Jórvík and Denmark before the family attempts a new life across the Atlantic. The later volumes shift much of…

Historical fiction

Standalone historical fiction by Cecelia Holland (12 books)

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