Hope and Glory

Depicting the 12th-century wars between England and France, Katherine Sutcliffe pens a potent, passionate tale. Roland de Gallienne, an English knight known as the Black Flame, allows his weary soldiers to rest in a French Abbey, where a cloaked figure tries to murder him in his sleep. He learns the perpetrator is Hope of Chateauroux, a French woman held captive by the evil abbot for the riches she earns as a healer. Roland steals her away, determined to discover her murderous motives and her true powers. Horrors of war, a cannibalistic enemy and numerous beheadings give the book a gory, realistic tone. Meanwhile, a fortune-telling hag and Hope's visions lend subtle, credible foreshadowing to this compelling story. (Feb.)