Title: The Rest of His Days
Author: Pamela Taylor
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN: 978-1685133955
Pages: 298
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda
Pacific Book Review
A simmering tale at its best, The Rest of His Days is a novel written by author Pamela Taylor and is set in the 14th century in medieval England. Guy Bickerstaffe considered himself an industrious and upright man. His reverence for God and the King of England formed the core of his beliefs and his goal was to spend his days on earth in diligent service to the kingdom. Guy had promised Will’s dying mother that he would take care of his cousin upon her demise. During this same time, politics was at play in England as the king, Edward II, was forced to relinquish his crown in January 1327 by his wife, Isabella in favor of his son, Edward III.
Guy decides to take Will on as a man at arms in his troop responsible for guarding the deposed king. Will was a carefree man, spending most of his days in taverns, drinking and dallying with barmaids, traits that Guy found to be quite unsettling. His friendships with some of the people in these places bothered him the most, but he would often give them a blind eye since his cousin was a capable soldier. When Will is involved in a treacherous act that causes madness, mayhem and harm in not only Guy’s life but also the lives of nobles and the sitting king, Guy is forced to take another oath to seek retribution from his cousin for the havoc Will had caused. With his career as a knight, honor and personal life now in tatters, his obsession now becomes restoring his lost honor and redeeming his lost glory.
Pamela Taylor has masterfully captured the details of the time period accurately, including their customs, manners and their traditions. She manages to offer a fresh new perspective on the mystery surrounding the fate of Edward II of England. Her work unequivocally resonates with modern readers even as it reflects the way of life and conflicts of the medieval time period. Taylor has a sense of power on her characters and inserts the perpetual human emotions and you can feel that the author understands her world cold.
Told creatively and with excellent research, The Rest of His Days boasts of cinematic and full-rounded descriptions, the result being a potent and atmospheric plot bound to have a place in the shelves of historical fiction enthusiasts. Pamela Taylor’s taut and inventive story has tapped into a hidden and less examined niche in history, an element that gives her novel an added elegance.
