The Forest and the Flames

The Chronicles of Matilda, Lady of Flanders #2

by G. Lawrence

Autumn, 1066
The Battle of Hastings is done. The struggle for England begins.

Matilda, Lady of Flanders, Duchess of Normandy, rules as Regent of Normandy for her husband, Duke William. William has won the Battle of Hastings, but Saxon England does not wish to surrender to him as King. As William sets England to flame, Matilda waits in Normandy for the time to come when she can claim her crown. Through bloodshed, battle and struggle will England be won, but even as Matilda rejoices for her new power, a prophesy is spoken, linking the fates of her children to the wailing voices and horrific images in dreams which come to haunt her. Matilda comes to understand that God is watching, and is not pleased with what He sees. As Matilda battles to save her children, she finds she must stand against her own husband, in order to protect the lives, and immortal souls, of her sons and daughters.

Through heartache, discord, battle, rebellion and slaughter, the fate of England, and the future of the house of Normandy, will be decided.

The Forest and The Flames is book two in The Chronicles of Matilda, Lady of Flanders, by G. Lawrence

The author's thanks to Julia Gibbs, proof reader, as well as Consuelo Parra, the artist who designed the cover, and the model featured on the cover, Jaymasee,deviantart.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Medieval, Historical

486 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 9, 2017

About the author

I am an independently published author, and proud to be so. Living in a little cottage in Wales in the UK, I love where I live as much as I love to write.

The age of the Tudors has been an obsession for me since I was a child, and many of my upcoming books will center on that time, but I also pen the odd dystopian fiction or historical fiction from other time periods. I will be releasing all my titles on amazon, for kindle and then hopefully for print later.

I studied Literature (with a capital L) at University and usually have twenty or more books I'm currently reading. Reading and writing are about mood for me, and I haven't found a genre I didn't enjoy something about so far...

You can often find me on Wattpad or Twitter when I'm not writing...

Reviews

[Lauralee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Forest and The Flames is the sequel to The Heart of the Conqueror. In this historical novel, Matilda of Flanders’s husband, William the Conqueror, has just defeated the Anglo-Saxon king, Harold II. However, the Saxons refuse to acknowledge William the Conqueror as their king. In the meantime, Matilda of Flanders waits in Normandy as her husband embarks on a quest to claim his throne. As Matilda waits for the day to be crowned queen of England, she hears a prophecy that her dare in danger. Matilda of Flanders fights to keep her children safe no matter the cost.

In The Heart of the Conqueror, I found Queen Matilda to be a very unlikable character, and I struggled to get invested in her story. However, in The Forest and The Flames, Queen Matilda has significantly improved as a character. I found her to be a very strong queen. She wants to win the approval of her subjects and be warm to them, especially when her husband commits ruthless deeds. She is a very compassionate woman and is disgusted by her husband’s cruelty towards his people. Matilda is also shown to be a very loving mother who is not afraid to oppose her husband to protect them from his anger. Therefore, Queen Matilda has matured as a character. I couldn’t help but pity her as she struggled to keep her family together.

Overall, this book is about family, loss, and choices. I thought that all of the characters were more developed and fleshed out than the first novel. The Forest and The Flames seemed a more mature book than its predecessor. It did an excellent job in showing the hardships and turmoil of a marriage. I found the plot to be more compelling than the first novel. It is not as repetitive or drawn out as The Heart of the Conqueror. I also liked the historical details, and it is clear that this novel is meticulously researched! The Forest and The Flames is perfect for fans of royalty! I recommend this book for fans of The Forever Queen, The Shadow on the Crown, and The Handfasted Wife!

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off good but then seemed to drag in the middle to the point I was ready to DNF but picked up. Was an “eh” for me.

[Susan Herr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional book!

Great book Gemma! It really brought the Norman period to life for me and helped establish the timeline. I did not realize just how far into English history this family is rooted. Excellent read!!

[Píaras Cíonnaoíth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another exceptionally well-crafted historical fiction...

Author Gemma Lawrence gives us the second of two books about William the Conqueror’s wife: Mathilda. Having read the first installment, I was looking forward to this one, and author didn’t disappoint.

It’s another captivating historical fiction that will easily captivate the reader’s attention from the first page to the last. The author brings to life a gripping story of power, ambition and brutality in a very vivid and convincing way. In addition, the characters are drawn with great credibility and conviction. It’s a moderately fast-paced novel that will keep you engaged from the first page to the last.

The book description gives a sneak preview: ‘Autumn, 1066: The Battle of Hastings is done. The struggle for England begins…

Matilda, Lady of Flanders, Duchess of Normandy, rules as Regent of Normandy for her husband, Duke William. William has won the Battle of Hastings, but Saxon England does not wish to surrender to him as King. As William sets England to flame, Matilda waits in Normandy for the time to come when she can claim her crown.

Through bloodshed, battle, and struggle will England be won, but even as Matilda rejoices for her new power, a prophecy is spoken, linking the fates of her children to the wailing voices and horrific images in dreams which come to haunt her. Matilda comes to understand that God is watching and is not pleased with what he sees.

As Matilda battles to save her children, she finds she must stand against her own husband, in order to protect the lives, and immortal souls, of her sons and daughters. Through heartache, discord, battle, rebellion, and slaughter, the fate of England, and the future of the house of Normandy, will be decided…’

Exemplary and praiseworthy, this work had me engrossed from the beginning. It’s an impassioned historical fiction interwoven with true-life history. The story flowed from scene to scene with ease, and the author shows exceptional ability when it comes to storytelling. There are plenty of intense moments in this page turner that will take the reader on a truly captivating and spellbinding journey.

It’s one of those books that comes along occasionally that makes you want to read it non-stop until you get to the end. Although this is a somewhat ‘meaty’ read, it’s unlikely that it could be finished in one or two sittings. Nevertheless, for those looking for an interesting, three-dimensional and stimulating read, this would be a rare find. I’m giving nothing further away here. And this, I hope, will only add to the mystery and enjoyment for the reader.

If this book is anything to go by, I’ll certainly be looking forward to reading more from Gemma Lawrence in the future. It also has a distinctly cinematic feel to it and I could easily see it being adapted for the Silver Screen. A well-deserved five stars from me.

Special mention also to Marnye Young for her excellent narration. An exceptionally talented lady with a gifted voice for storytelling.

[High Queen of Elfhame · Rating 2 out of 5]

~BOOK:~

Just could not get through this one. I don’t know if the author purposefully made the main character annoying, unlikeable, unrelatable, and unrealistic.. but that’s what Matilda was.

We get it! Matilda is beautiful, she has a great body, and she knows it. She loves power (in case you didn’t catch on from the 145 times the word “power” was used in the book, or the 6+ times it appeared on the same page). She loves having sex with her husband. She thinks she’s perfect. We get it!

It felt like this was an over-exaggerated parody of a snobby, conceited person, but with conflicting traits.
-Her extreme vanity didn’t really make sense, considering Matilda of Flanders was a very pious person and would have considered such vanity a sin.
-One minute she’s thinking about how to make a grand entrance with delicate slender body.. the next she’s complaining because everyone’s staring at her.. only to go into detail about how pleased she is with her luxurious furnishings 3.5 seconds later.
-There are multiple mentions as to how wise & great of a ruler she is, but barely gives any examples/details as to why. Though, being as vapid and shallow as she was, I’m not sure she would’ve had enough time to be wise or to rule, while constantly occupied with all those thoughts of her beauty & basking in the envy and admiration of others. (I know I sound super exaggerative.. but that’s seriously how overdone it was in the book.)

It all felt very surface-level, and got really boring with absolutely no substance to the story. No character development, and spends more time describing food than important historical events that occurred during her time.
I honestly had to keep going back and replaying multiple chapters, multiple times, because I realized I’d zoned out for the last 4 or 5.

——————————————————————

~AUDIOBOOK:~

At first, I was excited to listen to these two books about Matilda of Flanders, because there are very few available about her or her predecessors. I also thought the narrator had a pleasant voice..

However, since Matilda’s character was soo annoying, the narration started to add to the irritation. The way she drags out & emphasizes the last syllable of multiple words, doing this weird raspy trailing thing, gives every sentence an air of braggadocio.

I guess I can’t really blame the narrator, as she was probably just trying to portray the self-obsessed character from whose point of view the story was told.

But it the constant over-emphasis was off-putting for statements/descriptions such as:

“My chair and William’s had backsss, armrestsss and cushionnss, but the rest of the company sat on stooools, which could be easily moved awaaay, along with the tablesss, when the hour for daancing arriiived.”

And the constant whispering makes me SUPER uncomfortable.

[Terry Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second of two books about Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, and picks up the story just after the Battle of Hastings.

I didn't know much about this period of history before; everyone knows of this most famous of historical dates, but I knew nothing about the problems that followed. In this second book, Gemma Lawrence softens Matilda as she grows older and wiser, but does not attempt to glorify the harshness and brutality of the time, nor the terrible brutality that William forced upon the north of England; it was odd, in a way, to be reading a book in which one is rooting for the adversaries of the protagonists. Of course the Anglo-Saxons rebelled. That William had been promised the crown by Edward the Confessor meant little to them. Matilda was partly English, and made many bold steps to calm the waters and bring about peace in the land.

What I loved about this book was not just the story, but how much I learned about the history of the time; this is no watery piece of fanciful fiction. Gemma Lawrence shows what the towns, villages and landscape were like, how the people of the 11th century ate, travelled, dressed, cured their ills and lived their day to day lives, which were ruled by the ever-controlling church and its tales of the wrath of its ruler. I thought, several times, how much more effective a ruler Matilda could have been had she been able to give her time and wealth to the people who needed it, instead of spending so much of both on appeasing this unseen being.

Matilda was an unusual woman of her time, the first to be recognised as a queen of England, and her marriage to William was unusual, too, in that the marriage was a happy one and William was faithful to her; indeed, after her death, he went into a terrible decline and returned to his brutal ways. Also well documented in this book is his lifelong feud with his eldest son, Robert 'Curt-hose' (love that!).

At the end of the book there are notes about truth versus fiction and what happened to the graves of Matilda and William, and the continuing stories of their children... Gemma Lawrence talks of Matilda's granddaughter, also named Matilda, the daughter of Henry I of England and the first woman to be named as heir to the English throne. She says she hopes to write her story one day, too; I hope she does.

I loved this book; if you liked the first one, you're in for an even bigger treat.

[terina salerno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gemstone!

I have long known of William the Conqueror’s military and political exploits, but I was ignorant to the love he bore his wife. Ms. Lawrence’s 2-book epic told from Mathilda Plantagenet’s perspective is a fascinating read. Beyond the historical account of William the Conqueror, née William of Normandy, née William the Bastard, rise to fame, fortune, renown, infamy, and ignominy, Ms. Lawrence breathes life into Mathilda-a wife, mother, Duchess, Regent, and Queen.

Ms. Lawrence’s portrayal of Mathilda is even-handed, which is difficult in a first person perspective. Mathilda grows as a person. She is introduced to the reader as a self absorbed young girl on the brink of womanhood who believes she knows all life’s secrets. As the books progress, she learns what we all learn: ambition and accomplishment must be tempered with grace and humility and forgiveness; that family can be irrevocably broken but it may be healed as well if all are willing to restore trust; and God gives us free-will to accept or reject Him. If we reject Him, then we do so knowingly and freely. If we choose to accept Him, then we must do so freely and with the knowledge that we must govern ourselves in accordance with His rules not our own. It is this last lesson that shows Mathilda’s true growth into her own personhood. She makes decisions that pit her against her husband, the King, but the decisions are correct.

I enjoyed this story and both books. I know any reader will as well.

[Karen Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly modern Matilda!!

Who hasn't heard of the battle of Hastings or William the conqueror, but how many had heard of Matilda, I certainly hadn't until I discover these two books, I enjoyed the portrayal of the brutal times and the author does a superb book on creating the tension, friction and atmosphere. I could have done without the love scenes, I didn't feel they added anything to the story, other then perhaps the word count, but in fairness that's a minor complaint as overall I enjoyed both of these books.

Matilda was a queen but certainly not a woman of her time, when all things are considered and I felt the author did a good job of giving her enough depth and dimension to feel her grow.

I was always intrigued about how/when the Plantagenet era began, and feel that I have a sense of where Empress Matilda got her grit and determination.

Overall, I think both of these books are a good read. They are well researched.

[Violet Heart · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a mesmerizing story this is! Through the voice of Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, Ms. Lawrence transports us into the world of early medieval Europe. The lavish descriptions allow you to experience this period as though you are there. Ms. Lawrence brings historical figures to life, and we are given the gift of understanding their challenges, triumphs, frustrations, and joys.

In The Forest and the Flames, Ms. Lawrence uses fictional license to drop us into Matilda’s life. We share her happiness and sorrow, her pride and disappointment. We experience the ups and downs of her marriage, the struggles of conscience she faces as a woman who wielded tremendous power, and her journey from a young woman who shared her husband’s hunger for domination to an older woman whose family became first priority.

The writing is beautiful and sometimes breathtaking. I couldn’t put this book down.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story to get lost in

The first book about Queen Matilda, Heart of the Conqueror, was often difficult to stick with because the first-person narration from Matilda was rather...excessive. She was a proud woman when she was young, aware of her beauty and intelligence. I kind of wanted more stuff to go wrong so the story would be more interesting. Everything worked out well for her and her family in the first book.

Not so much in this one. I found Matilda grew and changed as she had kids and her main focus became their futures. I loved her as a character by the end, and cried real tears as she died.

This second book was the better of the two, with more depth of character. Both books are beautifully written and obviously lovingly and meticulously researched. They are what historical fiction should be.

I’m loving Gemma Lawrence’s books on Kindle Unlimited, and cant wait to start another.

[Deyanira C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the previous one

This part covers Matilda's life as Queen of england until her death, this part is less about the sex and the passion but more about power and family problems.

Matilda is still impossible to love as a main character but her life now is far from being perfect, she has to deal with the conflicts between her son and her husband at the same time that England become her kingdom, despite that the book is more balanced, become boring in some parts and William never stop being the patetic pet.

It is entertaining but could be better, Matilda of Flanders was very important as a queen and has a very interesting story but here I couldn't portrait nothing else that a mean bitch in high school.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely breathtaking.

Gemma Lawrence continues to demonstrate impressive writing and prowess as a vivid storyteller. A sequel to “The Heart of the Conqueror,” “The Forest and the Flames” lives up to the expectations set by its predecessor, providing even deeper character developments within a powerful, soul stirring narrative. This bittersweet chronicle of history is delivered masterfully from start to finish.

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

If it’s possible, I believe I like this book even more than the first! This is likely because Matilda and William both mature - in their character, morality, and their deep abiding love for each other. Really enjoyed learning more about them as people, including their relationships with their family, as well as all of their challenges with obtaining (& especially maintaining) power. Outstanding book!!!!

[JoAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great historical fiction book from Gemma Lawrence, this one about Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. Well written and engrossing, she tells the story of Matilda, a strong wife, mother and first female regent of England. I enjoyed every facet of her story. Looking forward to more from Gemma!

[Author Raven Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful duet

I binged this book and book 1 today in several hours. I loved how the author brought the account of this amazing woman to life; I had never heard of her before! The romance between Matilda and William was a bonus, making this an irresistible blend of historical fiction and romance.

[margaret davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book by Gemma Lawrence

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who really loves history. The characters are amazing, especially Matilda and William as you can really feel how much they mean to each other.

[Kathryn Simoes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I thoroughly enjoyed both of the books about Matilda of Flanders and The Empress Matilda by G Lawrence. I was interested and captivated the whole time. I was sad when they ended, I wanted more. I will look for more books by her for sure!!

[Karen Hackett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this story!

[Maureen D. Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched

I enjoyed learning more about William through the story of Matilda his wife. I look forward to more books by this author.

[Allison O'Malli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Writer is amazing ! I was back in that time period, which I have not had in a lot of in other books (using modern words ect ect)
Absolutely loved it so much! Thank you!

[Jen Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely read

I was impressed by the storyline. The characters 'rang true.' I enjoyed jumping into the life of Matilda. Thank you for opening my eyes to another amazing queen.

[Vicki Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written

I carried away reading about Matilda, the series was hard to put down!! I plan on reading more G. Lawrence.

[Susannah Morey · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read

I love reading this author because of her ability to describe surroundings and events so thoroughly that I feel I’m there.. I learn history in a very personal way.

[Allison R. Hutchison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of historical fiction

This may be the best historical fiction book I have ever read, and I have read hundreds. Likewise, the audiobook has perhaps the best narrator I have ever heard in Marnye Young, and I have listened to many dozens. (I am a retired librarian.) I just love being able to switch seamlessly between reading a Kindle book and listening to the corresponding audio book on Audible.