In making that challenge, Simon forfeited life, but became legend. In Simon’s challenge lie the seeds of England’s greatest gift: parliamentary democracy. It was nothing less than a courageous stand against arbitrary power and as such, it was centuries ahead of its time. Yet it is also the story of one man’s refusal to surrender his vision of a just and righteous society, for Simon’s clash with Henry was no mere struggle for wealth and glory.

Filled with the stench of battle and the stink of betrayal, awash in intrigue and deception, it a tale of lost hopes and broken dreams. It was inevitable that he would clash with Henry.įalls the Shadow is a tapestry drenched in the color of its times, rich in drama and human foible. Uncommonly able and dangerously outspoken, a fierce battle commander and a ruthless ally willing to risk all in defense of honor, Simon de Montfort embodied the chivalric code, stirring passions - for good and for ill - in all he brushed. Theirs would be a singular union: founded on a lie, defended by intense carnality, yet preserved by a fidelity unimaginable in an age of shifting allegiances based on self-interest alone.

Widowed at fifteen, she swore a holy oath of chastity - then broke it to wed an upstart Frenchman, scandalizing the pious and infuriating the powerbrokers, who saw her as a rich prize rashly stolen by a lesser earl - a foreigner at that.Īnd Falls the Shadow, finally, is the story of Simon de Montfort, youngest son of an influential French family, entitled to inherit neither land nor titles - who talked his way into an earldom and marriage with the King’s sister.

Unable either to rule or to subdue, he would retreat into querulous impotence.Īnd this is the story of Nell, Countess of Pembroke, youngest daughter of King John, favorite sister of King Henry. Instead, he inherited a crown - and with it, all the problems left unresolved by the untimely death of his father, King John. But for an accident of birth, he might have been a visionary architect, content in the role of paterfamilias. Falls the Shadow is the story of Henry III, cursed with the Plantagenet temper but lacking the Plantagenet will: faithful son of the Church, faithless liege lord father of England’s most famous warrior-king, wretched ruler of a rebellious realm.

Falls the shadow by sharon kay penman