Dawn Wind

Name: Dawn Wind
Rating: 4.6 (191 reviews)

by Rosemary Sutcliff

First published 1961

Amazon

4.5(191)

Britain, 577 CE. Fourteen-year-old Owain wakes among the bodies after the British defeat at Aquae Sulis, associated with the Battle of Dyrham. With his father, brother and the old order of his people destroyed, he wanders through a landscape being reshaped by Saxon conquest. A half-wild girl briefly becomes his companion before illness and necessity separate them.

Owain is eventually made a thrall in a Saxon household, where years of labour replace the simple hatred with which he entered captivity. His relationship with Regina and his obligations to the family that owns him complicate the meaning of freedom. The novel presents cultural change through daily dependence and personal promises, showing how survival can create loyalties across the division between conquered Britons and settlers.