Welcome to the Book's Delight and a stop on the Coffee P...

 

Welcome to the Book's Delight and a stop on the Coffee Pot Book Tour for author Julian de la Motte. I have a great excerpt for you, so make sure you read all the way to the end!
The Will of God
by Julian de la Motte


Publication Date: May 13th, 2025
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages: 292
Genre: Historical Fiction

"Deus Lo Vult!"

Gilles is the natural son of the Earl Waltheof, executed by William the Conqueror for supposed treachery. Raised in Normandy by Queen Matilda of England, Gilles is a young servant of Robert, Duke of Normandy, when the first call for a Holy War against the infidel and for the liberation of Jerusalem is raised in Christendom. Along with thousands of others, inspired by a variety of motives, intense piety mixed with a sense of adventure and the prospects of richness, Gilles becomes a key and respected follower of the Duke of Normandy and travels through France and into Italy to the point of embarkation for Constantinople and the land of the Greeks.

In this epic first phase of a long and gruelling journey, Gilles begins to discover a sense of his own strengths and weaknesses, encounters for the first time the full might and strength of the Norman war machine and achieves his much coveted aim of knighthood, as well as a sense of responsibility to the men that he must now lead into battle.

The Will of God is the literal translation of the Latin phrase "Deus Lo Vult"; a ubiquitous war cry and a commonly offered explanation of all the horrors and iniquities unleashed by the First Crusade of 1096 to 1099, when thousands of Europeans made the dangerous and terrifying journey to the Holy Land and the liberation of Jerusalem. It is the first of two books on the subject.

Praise for Julian de la Motte:

"De la Motte has superpowers as a writer of historical fiction; he's a warhorse of a writer bred to stun and trample the literary senses. You won't stop turning the pages of The Will of God."
~ Charles McNair, Pulitzer Prize nominee and author of Land O'Goshen

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Julian de la Motte

Julian de la Motte is a Londoner. He graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in Medieval History. He was further awarded a Master of Arts qualification in Medieval English Art from the University of York. He studied and taught in Italy for nearly four years before returning to the U.K. and a career as a teacher, teacher trainer and materials designer before taking up a new role as a Director of Foreign Languages and of English as a Foreign Language. Married and with two grown up children, He is now extensively involved in review writing and historical research, primarily on medieval history.
''The Will of God'' [the first of two books on the subject of the First Crusade] is his third novel.

Author Links:

Publisher's Author Page • FacebookAmazon Author Page • Goodreads
Excerpt:

Gilleslay, legs crossed and arms behind his head which rested upon his saddle. Hegazed up at the vast spectacle unfolded above him. His left side, facing thefire, roasted uncomfortably whilst his right side froze, one of the manyvagaries of life on campaign. His mouth was sour and acrid from a combinationof poorly cooked and very elderly mutton and local wine, thin, sour and acidic,unwilling gifts from the last village that he and his small command hadvisited.

 

Inthe jagged and flickering shadows on the other side of the fire his men alsorested, seemingly oblivious to the splendour and majesty above them. Ralph,commonly known as 'the Contentious' was once more expressing his views andopinions to a largely uninterested audience. Ralph, a man from the badlands onthe Normandy Brittany border, seemingly had a view and opinion on most things.Gilles allowed himself to listen for a while. Ralph had been on the lists ofthe Duke as long as Gilles could remember, as thickset and stocky as hismaster, he had been publicly whipped on a number of occasions for his views andthe loose tongued manner in which he voiced them, particularly for thoserelating to dogma and religion. Currently he was treating his largely indifferentcomrades to his views on the Holy Trinity. His almost casual remarks would havehad a churchman apoplectic with rage and reaching for his bell and candle.

 

Aflaring as a shrub of furze caught and crackled in the flames. Mixed withrosemary, it gave off a strong and aromatic scent amidst the brushwood, afurther deterrent to the swarms of midges. Along with snakes, large blackspiders with a life threatening bite and venomous toads that seemed to lurkunder every rock, they appeared to be a speciality of the region. The suddenblaze illuminated the usually genial features of Ralph in stark chiaroscuro ashe relentlessly continued to warm to his theme. Gilles surrendered his thoughtsto the skies above him, a vast dome of black nothingness, blacker than anythingelse he could imagine and dotted with countless shining stars more numerous, itseemed, than grains of sand upon the beach. Despite the oppressive heat of theday, in this strange and alien country the nights were bitterly cold. Gillesshivered and pulled his riding cloak more tightly about him. The horses stoodand fidgeted in the dark, tethered to a set of crude hitching posts hammeredinto the ground. Occasionally one or other of them stamped the ground or raisedits ears in alarm. There were, after all, wolves in these high hills and theysensed their presence.