The Golden Bird

“The Golden Bird” is a magical, vibrant tale of love and power, guilt and grief, set in France towards the end of the tenth century. As A.D. 1000 and the prophesied Day of Judgement approached, Count Fulk of Anjou feared secretly for his soul. A man of strife, he fought to destroy his enemies at Conquereuil and Langeais, but he battled no less grimly with his conscience. His story, interwoven with the rich colours and textures of life at his court of Angers, is seen through the eyes of his young master-mason. Rollo had spent his childhood at the abbey of Jumièges in Normandy, where he lived and worked until Count Fulk sent for him, hearing of his uncanny, untutored gift with stone. Fulk’s state of Anjou was threatened on all sides, and he needed Rollo to create forts, castles, garrisons. Buildings for war. After the sheltered existence of the monastery, Anjou was another world. Witchcraft, intrigue, bloodshed, and the teeming, uproarious, irreverent life of the court; all these were strange and new to him. But Rollo came in time to belong, falling deeply in love with one of the women of Angers. The Count, driven by fiercer needs, had no more dangerous enemy than himself. Before Black Fulk’s struggles were over, he would pay a price for his warring nature – and one of the most precious members of his court would be lashed to the stake to burn.