The sheriff of Nottinham

by Richard Kluger

Has there ever been a less lovable character in folk literature than that craven creature, the nameless Sheriff of Nottingham?

He remains to this day, fed by Hollywood versions of the legend, the hateful, impotent foil to that celebrated bowman, Robin Hood.  Now, with his novel, The Sheriff of Nottingham , Richard Kluger turns the timeless tale on its head in a vivid,compassionate narrative based upon authentic and quite startling history.

Through a fusion of art and documented fact, Kluger portrays a far different sheriff.  Philip Mark, a soldier of fortune from Touraine in the heart of  France and actually cited by name in the text of the Magna Carta as objectionable to the king's barons, is a complex figure, a man with a heart, a conscience, and deft political instincts.  Posted to Nottinghamshire in 1208 as the crown's chief law officer, he is answerable only to King John himself, a monarch who has been handed down to posterity - perhaps not altogether fairly - as an unredeemed tyrant presiding over a tumultuous age.

In vital, dramatic colors, Kluger paints a panorama of that England at the dawn of modernity and its principal players and events.  Here are dark intrigue and adroit statecraft, hand-to-hand combat and sharp wits in collision, an avaricious ruler  attempting to seduce his sheriff's wife on Christmas night, and the hatching of the Magna Carta itself at Nottingham Castleone fine September eve in 1213 (along with the reasons why Philip Mark is specifically mentioned in that immortal document).

Storytelling at its most gripping comes in the novel's powerfully moving centerpiece.  Thirty sons of Welsh warlords are consigned to Philip's castle as royal hostages on the orders of the king to ensure that their volatile fathers behave themselves back in chronically rebellious Wales.  The boys are treated with respect and kindness by the sheriff and his family until a year later when King John thunders into the castle courtyard at the head of his entourage and, in a fury over a new Welsh uprising, roars at Philip, "Hang the hostages - hang them all - and at once!"  How Sheriff Mark responds to this grim command forms the moral core of the novel.

In The Sheriff of Nottingham , Kluger has woven an engrossing medieval tapestry that transports the reader beyond the mists of time and legend to witness the struggle of a singular character seeking to act honorably in a time ruled by savage impulse and civil uproar.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Fantasy, Medieval

Hardcover

First published February 4, 1992

About the author

Richard Kluger is an American social historian and novelist who, after working as a New York journalist and publishing executive, turned in mid-career to writing books that have won wide critical acclaim. His two best known works are Simple Justice, considered the definitive account of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 landmark decision outlawing racially segregated public schools, and Ashes to Ashes, a critical history of the cigarette industry and its lethal toll on smokers, which won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction.

Born in Paterson, N.J., Kluger grew up in Manhattan and graduated from Princeton University, where he chaired The Daily Princetonian. As a young journalist, he wrote and edited for The Wall Street Journal, the pre-Murdoch New York Post and Forbes magazine, and became the last literary editor of the New York Herald Tribune and its literary supplement, Book Week. When the Tribune folded, Kluger entered the book industry, rising to executive editor of Simon and Schuster, editor-in-chief of Atheneum, and publisher of Charterhouse Books.

Moved by the cultural upheavals sweeping across the U.S., Kluger left publishing and devoted five years to writing Simple Justice, which The Nation hailed as “a monumental accomplishment” and the Harvard Law Review termed “a major contribution to our understanding of the Supreme Court.” It was a finalist for the National Book Award, as was Kluger’s second nonfiction work, The Paper: The Life and Death of the New York Herald Tribune. It was followed by Ashes to Ashes and three other well received works of history,
Seizing Destiny , about the relentless expansion of America’s territorial boundaries; The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek, about a tragic clash between white settlers and tribal natives in territorial Washington, and Indelible Ink, about publisher John Peter Zenger and the origins of press freedom in America.

Of his seven novels, the most widely read were Members of the Tribe, warmly praised by the Chicago Tribune said, and The Sheriff of Nottingham, which Time called “richly imagined and beautifully written.” He also co-authored two novels with his wife Phyllis, a fiber artist and herself the author of two books on needlework design. The Klugers live in Berkeley.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. The story was somewhat interesting but so slow and the author uses a lot of archaic language. I suppose he was trying to create a mood, but it just sent me running for a dictionary every few pages. Also, the lives of medieval people were so pathetic I just couldn't take it anymore. Who really wants to read about the truly dark part of the dark ages? where was the swashbuckling?? It was no fun at all. I read about 75 pages.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sheriff of Nottingham tries to offer a "see the other side" version of the Robin Hood legend. It is heavily based in history, so there is "old" language. Overall, I enjoyed the book. The one flaw, and for me it is an almost fatal flaw, was the fact that the Sheriff becomes more sinned against than sinning. Kluger borders on making him a saint and that makes the character a bit unbelievable.

[Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has taken a series of historical facts as the structure for this story and has used his creative skills to flesh them out with a really well told tale. It is a great way to retell history with a well-paced story that is quite believable. The characters and the dialogue all worked well - I really enjoyed it. As for those naysayers who complain about unfamiliar words and need a dictionary to find out what those terms mean - well, use the dictionary and add to your knowledge. Don't expect to be spoon-fed! Great job, Richard Kluger - I hope you write more like this one!

[Daniel M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this earlier in the year and only gave it three stars at first. It was well written but frustrating. I was poised to hand off my copy but something kept staying my hand. A couple months later and I'm still thinking about it and warming to it.

[Alberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot. The events that drive the lives of the characters (even the unlikely ones) are supported by historical facts. The author did a great job at recreating the lives of people in that period and you do fell immersed in the era.
As a conclusion, if you like historical novels, this is for you.

As people have mentioned, it is a tad slow paced at the beginning, but it picks up after a few pages.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a Robin Hood book, this is not it. If you're looking for a book that shows the world of shifting alliances in the time of King John, this is it. I felt for the mostly-innocent peasants who were being victimized by the various officers and for the people who tried to negotiate the pitfalls of allegiances.

[Zoe Gould · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little dense with some heavily archaic language, but the plot is really well written. instead of following a single arc, conflict is evenly spaced out into lots of little ones. also a bonus that a lot of it is based in historical fact.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest and his nemesis the Sheriff of Nottingham, vassal to usurper Prince John is well known and oft-told. However, for as many versions of the legend we might find on the shelves, there is little reliable factual information to be found. Richard Kluger has tried to present here his version based upon some of that actual historical record – and thrusts his Sheriff of Nottingham into the central role, appointed by Prince John and beset by intrigue, rivalry, and conflicting loyalties and obligations on all sides.
At some 480 pages, we follow 16 years in the lives of the residents of Nottingham, the castle there, and in nearby Sherwood Forest – as well as in England as a whole. As the title makes clear, the narrative is told principally from the perspective of our Sheriff and the how and why of Robin Hood showing up is only one of his numerous challenges over the time covered by the novel. Our hero is war veteran, sheriff, husband, father, legal guardian and his roles are not always clear or compatible with each other or with his desired goals.
The book seemed to me to be a bit long for what I was getting, in great part a reflection upon how many other narratives of the life of Robin Hood have been shared by authors over the years. It has to be very challenging to contend not only with the historical Robin Hood and Sheriff of Nottingham (even with as little as we know for certainty about them) but to also compete with the myriad mythical Robins and Sheriffs may have stretched my credulity and patience too far to fully appreciate this effort. Your mileage may vary and this story does have a little of historical detail going for it.

[Aneca · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many books around about Robin Hood and its time, it’s not so often that we find a book about the infamous Sheriff of Nottingham and when I found this one I just couldn’t resist picking it up.

It is very different from the sheriff of the legend though. Kluger decided to tell the story of the real Sheriff of Nottingham, Phillip Mark, a French man who rises to power under Kind John. Although the book is historical fiction and Kluger has real and fictional events and people in the story I think what is most interesting is the way he approaches the politics of the time. What exactly were the place and the power of the sheriff, where did the money come from and all the social structure that existed in Nottingham. Also the king’s foreign policies and long feud with the Pope are mentioned and explained. I found it an enlightening read for that period.

However the characters aren’t particularly attractive and as a novel I think it ends up being a bit dry. But if you’re interested in that period, like me, you will certainly find it appealing.

Grade: 4/5

[Anna Engel · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4.5 stars]
This is one of my favorite books. I love the Robin Hood myth. Rather than taking center stage, though, in "Sheriff," he's a background character. It's also not an adventure book, but rather a political and historical narrative from the sheriff's point of view. Instead of being a scalawag, he's upright, uptight, and uncompromising. Right and wrong are white and black.

"Sheriff" falls very solidly into the historical fiction genre, so there's a fair amount of history covered during the course of the story. For the most part, I didn't feel it was heavy-handed or overdone. The political, social, religious, and economic history of the period is fundamentally important in the history of the modern world, particularly consent of the governed.

I remember the story moving more quickly the last times I read it. Despite that, I continue to marvel at Kluger's command of the story and of language. The history Kluger includes is relatively brief, considering the breadth and depth of the time period.

[Kataklicik · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I weren't so big on historical novels having lots of historical trivia, I'd give this book one star less. The language is so tiresome, Richard Kluger will never make a pop-novelist.

If you (like me) picked up the book for the sole reason of reading about Robin Hood, forget it. The title explains everything. This book is about the Sheriff of Nottingham. Not Robin Hood. In fact, any reference to the outlaw is minimal.

Read this if you're interested in period history. But be forewarned. Have a dictionary with you.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

the sheriff of nottingham by richard kluger
1208 England has sheriffs in the towns to keep peace. love era, the costumes, legends,
things people stood up for, castles, taming of the big birds

Never realized how much religion and how much politics played a huge part of all this.
I rate this a 4, because it was very long and took me forever to finish it. Really liked the era and all that entails, quite a tale.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the author did a fine job of taking a worn myth and presenting an interesting and readable likely history backed by some research. And, like most good historical fiction, did a great job of covering the major development of the time in the Magna Carta. Not sure what problem others had with the language; I thought it captured the spirit of the times well. Interesting characters with its novel twist on the Sheriff; interesting story that kept me entertained while learning.

[Brianna Karp · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love anything to do with Robin Hood... but this book was SO boring and slow-moving I wanted to kill myself. I wasn't able to finish it. Nor was a friend who borrowed it from me :(

[Jeff]

This always seemed like a clever idea for a book. I even based a character on Kluger's version of the Sheriff. But I never managed to get more than a 150-200 pages into it before losing interest.

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great information, totally transforms what we know about him commonly. The book is hard to read because of the "old english" style of dialogue. BUT fascinating.

[Fishsanwitt]

stamped

[Kara · Rating 1 out of 5]

There might have been a good story here buried underneath all of the mindless bureaucratic maundering.

[Michell Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different take on the legend! I found the author's note fascinating, as he explains the factual bases for his retelling.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf.