The Reckoning (Penman novel)

The Reckoning chronicles the reign of England's King Henry III in Penman's final volume of the series that began with Here Be Dragons.

Ellen dies in childbirth in June 1282 at the royal home Abergwyngregyn, on the north coast of Gwynedd, just a few months after fighting breaks out again in Wales.

Her body is carried across the Lafan Sands to the Franciscan Friary of Llanfaes, Anglesey, and a month later the members of her personal household are given safe-conduct to travel to England.

[2][3][4] A Library Journal review notes Penman's attention to detail in which she "combines an in-depth knowledge of medieval Europe ...re-creating the complex events and emotional drama of the 12th century.

According to the review, Penman "sustains the reader's interest" and brings a good understanding of medieval life to her fiction though she does "sometimes overwrite, infusing melodrama where the situations themselves make dramatic embellishments excessive.