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Second World War Trilogy #1
The Eighth Champion of Christendom
Book by Pargeter, Dame Edith Mary (Ellis Peters)
286 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
114 people want to read
About the author
Edith Pargeter
48 books192 followersaka Peter Benedict, Jolyon Carr, Ellis Peters (later editions of her work are sometimes published under this pseudonym), and John Redfern
West Midlands Literary Heritage website biography
Novelist. Born September 1913 at Horsehay, Shropshire. Her father was a clerk at a local ironworks. Edith attended Dawley Church of England School and the Coalbrookdale High School for Girls. Through her mother, she grew to love the history and countryside of Shropshire, her home for all of her life.
Before World War II she worked as a chemist's assistant at Dawley. During this time she started writing seriously for publication while gathering useful information on medicines that she would draw upon later when tackling crime stories. Her first published novel was Hortensius, friend of Nero (1936), a rather dry tale of martyrdom that was not a great success but she persevered and The city lies foursquare (1939) was much more warmly received.
During the war she worked in an administrative role with the Women's Royal Navy Service in Liverpool, a relatively brief period away from Shropshire, and for her devotion to duty she received the British Empire Medal. Many more novels appeared at this time, including Ordinary people (1941) and She goes to war (1942), the latter based on her own wartime experiences. The eighth champion of Christendom appeared in 1945 and from now on she was able to devote all her time to writing. She was particularly proud of her Heaven tree trilogy, which appeared between 1961 and 1963, which had as a backdrop the English Welsh borderlands in the twelfth century.
It was not until 1951 that she tackled a mystery story with Fallen into the pit, the first appearance of Sergeant George Felse as the investigating police officer. Her other great character, and the one for which the author will continue to be known the world over, Brother Cadfael, was to follow many years later. The first appearance of this monk at Shrewsbury Abbey was in A morbid taste for bones (1977) and he mixed his herbs and unravelled mysteries in this atmospheric setting for a further nineteen novels. This kept the author very busy for the remaining 18 years of her life, to the virtual exclusion of all other work.
The name "Ellis Peters" was adopted by Edith Pargeter to clearly mark a division between her mystery stories and her other work. Her brother was Ellis and Petra was a friend from Czechoslovakia. A frequent visitor to the country, Edith Pargeter had begun her association and deep interest in their culture after meeting Czechoslovakian soldiers during the war. This was to lead to her learning the language translating several books into English.
She won awards for her writing from both the British Crime Writers Association and the Mystery Writers of America. She was also awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), an honorary Masters Degree from Birmingham University and the Gold Medal of the Czechoslovak Society for Foreign Relations. There is a memorial to her in Shrewsbury Abbey.
After her death in October 1995, The Times published a full obituary that declared that here was "a deeply sensitive and perceptive woman....an intensely private and modest person " whose writing was "direct, even a little stilted, matching a self-contained personality".
West Midlands Literary Heritage website biography
Novelist. Born September 1913 at Horsehay, Shropshire. Her father was a clerk at a local ironworks. Edith attended Dawley Church of England School and the Coalbrookdale High School for Girls. Through her mother, she grew to love the history and countryside of Shropshire, her home for all of her life.
Before World War II she worked as a chemist's assistant at Dawley. During this time she started writing seriously for publication while gathering useful information on medicines that she would draw upon later when tackling crime stories. Her first published novel was Hortensius, friend of Nero (1936), a rather dry tale of martyrdom that was not a great success but she persevered and The city lies foursquare (1939) was much more warmly received.
During the war she worked in an administrative role with the Women's Royal Navy Service in Liverpool, a relatively brief period away from Shropshire, and for her devotion to duty she received the British Empire Medal. Many more novels appeared at this time, including Ordinary people (1941) and She goes to war (1942), the latter based on her own wartime experiences. The eighth champion of Christendom appeared in 1945 and from now on she was able to devote all her time to writing. She was particularly proud of her Heaven tree trilogy, which appeared between 1961 and 1963, which had as a backdrop the English Welsh borderlands in the twelfth century.
It was not until 1951 that she tackled a mystery story with Fallen into the pit, the first appearance of Sergeant George Felse as the investigating police officer. Her other great character, and the one for which the author will continue to be known the world over, Brother Cadfael, was to follow many years later. The first appearance of this monk at Shrewsbury Abbey was in A morbid taste for bones (1977) and he mixed his herbs and unravelled mysteries in this atmospheric setting for a further nineteen novels. This kept the author very busy for the remaining 18 years of her life, to the virtual exclusion of all other work.
The name "Ellis Peters" was adopted by Edith Pargeter to clearly mark a division between her mystery stories and her other work. Her brother was Ellis and Petra was a friend from Czechoslovakia. A frequent visitor to the country, Edith Pargeter had begun her association and deep interest in their culture after meeting Czechoslovakian soldiers during the war. This was to lead to her learning the language translating several books into English.
She won awards for her writing from both the British Crime Writers Association and the Mystery Writers of America. She was also awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), an honorary Masters Degree from Birmingham University and the Gold Medal of the Czechoslovak Society for Foreign Relations. There is a memorial to her in Shrewsbury Abbey.
After her death in October 1995, The Times published a full obituary that declared that here was "a deeply sensitive and perceptive woman....an intensely private and modest person " whose writing was "direct, even a little stilted, matching a self-contained personality".
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 6, 2015
Summary: A historical novel set at the beginning of World War Two exploring the growing realization of the horror of war that "heroic warriors" face. The plot centers around Jim Bennison, an English soldier and Miriam Lozelle, a Jewish refuge farm holder in Boissy whose husband is away at war.
Edith Pargeter's title is an allusion to traditional folklore of Seven Champions of Christendom--Saints George, Andrew, Patrick, Denis, James Boanerges, Anthony the Lesser, and David. All were heroic warriors and popularized in the 1596 Famous Historie of the Seaven Champions of Christendom by Richard Johnson.
Pargeter's historical novel is set in the early days of England's involvement in World War II. Jim Bennison comes from the quiet village of Morwen Hoe. His greatest dream before war was to marry Delia, who tended bar at a local pub. When called up he and the other young men evidence a mix of bravado and a workmanlike, "let's get this done." Little do they know, like young warriors in most wars, what they will face when the blitzkrieg flattens Belgium to the English left, and destroys the French will to fight on their right.
But before all this, Jim and his men are quartered on a farm in the Artois region and the town of Boissy. The woman who runs the farm while her husband fights for France is a Jewish Czech emigre, Miriam Lozelle. A bond is formed when Jim rescues her dog when she strays onto the firing range. Jim wants to come to grips with the enemy. Miriam, who has already faced the Germans in Czechoslovakia, sees further into ugly nature of war. At one point she says to the village priest:
"They believe they know the worst man can do to them, and are armed against it. They know nothing, nothing at all. And we let them go out to be dirtied, and broken, and stripped, and flayed" (p. 84).
This is indeed what happens to Jim as his unit first resists the German onslaught, seeing them butcher civilians. They then head south, ending up near Artois. Only Jim and his close friend Tommy survive, and end up taking shelter at Miriam Lozelle's bombed out farmhouse while recovering from wounds and illness. Miriam and the French underground, at great risk to themselves as a sinister Gestapo agent stalks Miriam, succeed in helping them escape. Once again, we are drawn to consider, through Jim's eyes, this heroic woman:
"Until then he had felt no fear, only a sort of excitement that gripped him by the pit of the stomach when he tried to think ahead; but suddenly his mind made strange contact with Miriam's mind, and he was afraid. It was all the stranger because she was not afraid, unless perhaps for them; for herself she had finished with hoping and fearing. She lived as she must, acting according to her nature, with nothing to lose but a life, and nothing to gain but the satisfying of her heart" (p.212).
The remainder of the book chronicles the escape. Does Jim make it? What happens to Miriam? And what does he find if he makes it home? To write of this would spoil the ending.
What was interesting for me to reflect upon was who was the "eighth champion"? On the face of it, it seemed to be Jim, and yet the more one considers, it seems plausible that the champion was actually Miriam, a heroic warrior in her own way, striving to save "Christendom" even as a Jewish emigre.
The story is hardly unique--the awakening awareness of the horror of war, harrowing escapes, heroic efforts. love and loss. What set this apart is the quiet eloquence of Edith Pargeter's writing that draws us into the story. This is the first of a trilogy of novels written shortly after the war. I hope I can find the sequels.
Edith Pargeter's title is an allusion to traditional folklore of Seven Champions of Christendom--Saints George, Andrew, Patrick, Denis, James Boanerges, Anthony the Lesser, and David. All were heroic warriors and popularized in the 1596 Famous Historie of the Seaven Champions of Christendom by Richard Johnson.
Pargeter's historical novel is set in the early days of England's involvement in World War II. Jim Bennison comes from the quiet village of Morwen Hoe. His greatest dream before war was to marry Delia, who tended bar at a local pub. When called up he and the other young men evidence a mix of bravado and a workmanlike, "let's get this done." Little do they know, like young warriors in most wars, what they will face when the blitzkrieg flattens Belgium to the English left, and destroys the French will to fight on their right.
But before all this, Jim and his men are quartered on a farm in the Artois region and the town of Boissy. The woman who runs the farm while her husband fights for France is a Jewish Czech emigre, Miriam Lozelle. A bond is formed when Jim rescues her dog when she strays onto the firing range. Jim wants to come to grips with the enemy. Miriam, who has already faced the Germans in Czechoslovakia, sees further into ugly nature of war. At one point she says to the village priest:
"They believe they know the worst man can do to them, and are armed against it. They know nothing, nothing at all. And we let them go out to be dirtied, and broken, and stripped, and flayed" (p. 84).
This is indeed what happens to Jim as his unit first resists the German onslaught, seeing them butcher civilians. They then head south, ending up near Artois. Only Jim and his close friend Tommy survive, and end up taking shelter at Miriam Lozelle's bombed out farmhouse while recovering from wounds and illness. Miriam and the French underground, at great risk to themselves as a sinister Gestapo agent stalks Miriam, succeed in helping them escape. Once again, we are drawn to consider, through Jim's eyes, this heroic woman:
"Until then he had felt no fear, only a sort of excitement that gripped him by the pit of the stomach when he tried to think ahead; but suddenly his mind made strange contact with Miriam's mind, and he was afraid. It was all the stranger because she was not afraid, unless perhaps for them; for herself she had finished with hoping and fearing. She lived as she must, acting according to her nature, with nothing to lose but a life, and nothing to gain but the satisfying of her heart" (p.212).
The remainder of the book chronicles the escape. Does Jim make it? What happens to Miriam? And what does he find if he makes it home? To write of this would spoil the ending.
What was interesting for me to reflect upon was who was the "eighth champion"? On the face of it, it seemed to be Jim, and yet the more one considers, it seems plausible that the champion was actually Miriam, a heroic warrior in her own way, striving to save "Christendom" even as a Jewish emigre.
The story is hardly unique--the awakening awareness of the horror of war, harrowing escapes, heroic efforts. love and loss. What set this apart is the quiet eloquence of Edith Pargeter's writing that draws us into the story. This is the first of a trilogy of novels written shortly after the war. I hope I can find the sequels.
August 12, 2008
With "The Reluctant Odyssey" and "Warfare Accomplished," Edith Pargeter has written one of the best accounts of WWII as told from the vantage of Jim Benison, a British infantryman. Set in England, France, Libya, Malaya, Singapore, and back to France, Belgium and Holland, to Germany and final victory. Written almost contemporaneously with the action, the novels convey an immediacy missing from almost every account of the war. Imogen, the girl who has loved him from childhood, Miriam Lozelle, a remarkable Jewish refugee from Czechoslovakia who hides him from the Germans in France, and Leong Ah Mei, the Malaysian nurse whom he rescues from the Japanese are the women who love him. "Warfare Accomplished" contains a powerful description of a desperate and doomed German attempt to escape through the the inferno of the Falaise Gap. Vivid characterizations of both his comrades-in-arms and the combat they see. Highly recommended.
December 28, 2017
It has been said in other reviews, but Edith Pargeter was a genius. Her command of the English language is stunning. With this trilogy, the author provides a "you are there" experience with respect to WWII from a British infantry soldier's point of view. One of the finest novels I've ever read, if not THE finest. A stunning masterpiece!
April 20, 2015
Pargeter was a genius. This book is about war and war is completely awful, but Pargeter does not glorify it in anyway. In fact, she blows away the smoke of innocence about war in her story of a young soldier who naively heads into France before Hitler's invasion and is confronted with war in all its ugly reality. At the same time, she does not teach through her story that therefore the Allied cause was therefore meaningless. And it's riveting storytelling, as usual for E.P.
One of the most fascinating features of this short series of 3 books is that Pargeter wrote them almost concurrently with the historical events. She lived them with the rest of Britain and then was fast off the dime to get a good story out.
Recommended but not for the faint of heart.
One of the most fascinating features of this short series of 3 books is that Pargeter wrote them almost concurrently with the historical events. She lived them with the rest of Britain and then was fast off the dime to get a good story out.
Recommended but not for the faint of heart.
December 28, 2016
This trilogy is also the route my grandfather took during WW2. Very poignant.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews