Price: £4.99
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 8-10 Junior/Middle
Length: 208pp
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The Drowned Sword (The Abbey Mysteries)
Hereward and Gwyneth are a couple of Medieval mystery kids, the latest in that line of junior sleuths who can outwit adults up to no good. It is Glastonbury 1190 and their parents’ inn is popular both with pilgrims and the craftsmen engaged in building the famous Abbey. But their village is far from peaceful – King Richard is away and treasonous plots abound. History and aspects of Arthurian legend are woven together in a very satisfying, if occasionally gruesome, thriller which will keep readers on the edge of their seats while imparting something of a sense of life in twelfth-century England.
This is one of a series but there’s no indication of the order in which the books should be read, which is a shame, as it’s clear that the plotting is building to a climax and to get the most from the series the books should be read in a particular order.