The House of Lanyon

I read Sarah's review of The House of Lanyon last year and thought it would be an interesting book to read.

I put it on my reading list to read in September. I almost broke my self-imposed rule of waiting until September to read it when, back in April while house-and-grandchild-sitting for us, my mother picked it up and read it. I came back from a trip with Steve and noticed the book was gone. I asked Mother if she'd moved it and she answered, "I'm reading it. Did you like it?" I replied that I had not yet read it and she said, "Oh, it's reeeally good!"

I did wait until this month to read it and I did like it a lot. In some ways it reminded me of The Pillars of the Earth and World without End by Ken Follett, except that I think Valerie Anand's book is better. (It was as good as Down the Common.)

Like the books by Follett, the setting is a small English village and textbook history happens far away with the War of the Roses and the antics of royalty being more in the background. Daily life in the 1400's is what's in view here, and the goings on in the lives of the landowners and the workers of the land. The conflict is between those who own land, and those who would like to own land - specifically, the Lanyon family who want to rise above the Sweetwaters, who are the local gentry. Throw in an overbearing patriarch, a man and woman forced by their respective families to marry when each is in love with another person, and you have enough conflict to make a good story.

The sequel, The House of Allerbrook is now available so I think I'll be looking to find a copy soon.