The Revolt: A Novel in Wycliffe's England

by Douglas Bond

As a secretary at the battle of Crecy, Hugh West'all has come close to death. But when he meets John Wycliffe, he embraces a mission even more exciting and just as dangerous: translating the Bible into English, the language of the common people. Hugh's work helps him to understand the Gospel even as a corrupt and decadent church plots to choke Wycliffe's translationand silence him forever.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Christian, 14th Century, Medieval

269 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2016

About the author

Douglas Bond, author of more than thirty books--several now in Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, and Korean--is father of six, and grandfather of eleven--and counting--is Director for the Oxford Creative Writing Master Class and the Carolina Creative Writing Master Class, two-time Grace Award book finalist, adjunct instructor in Church history, recent advisory member to the national committee for Reformed University Fellowship, award-winning teacher, speaker at conferences, and leader of Church history tours in Europe.

Reviews

[Yibbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alfred was my favorite character. He just came across the best.
It got rather tiring to here the narrator bemoan his ‘stupidity’, ‘denseness’, and ’slow-wittedness’. I got the point, Wycliffe is a genius and the narrator isn’t there’s no need to repeat it constantly. In fact, Wycliffe came across as all knowing, all caring, and all involved. It was a bit annoying.
The inclusion of Bible verses in Old English was fun. It was readable but just barely.
The issues Bond chose to highlight seem a bit scrambled. There is more social justice to the first three-quarters of the book than Gospel. Then the there is more about Predestination than Salvation. Not that Salvation is entirely missing. God’s plan of Salvation is there but it’s not that prominent.
You will be left in no doubt as to the debauchery of the ‘church’ and its leaders. Because of that, I would say it’s geared more toward an older teen audience. All in all, it’s a very dark book. The Light of the Gospel is there but more time was spent on the plight of the peasants and the horrors of war and the plague.
The love story part of it is just weird. I can understand the initial mistake, but dragging it on and on lost its humorous quality and just made it awkward.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for free and review it.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: August 26, 1346 was my birthday. I mused on how many other men--French or English--had birthdays on this day.

Premise/plot: The Revolt is historical fiction set in England in the fourteenth century. It has alternating narrators. The first narrator is Hugh West'all, an Oxford scholar, who along with a fellow named Alfred, becomes friends and colleagues with John Wycliffe. Hugh, for example, eventually joins those recruited by Wycliffe to translate the Bible into the English language. And during this process--both his translation work and his relationship with Wycliffe--he has an "aha" moment where he realizes what grace is and that it is FREE. The second narrator is Willard. His life is also touched by Wycliffe's teaching. But his journey to faith is something different. He is a peasant carrying heavy responsibilities: since his father's death, he's caring for his mother and sister too. And surviving isn't all that easy. Oh, and, did I mention THE PLAGUE?!?!

My thoughts: I really loved this one. Perhaps not cover to cover and every single word. But it was LOVE all the same. I enjoyed spending time with Willard and his sister. His sister was a sweet, tender, generous soul, almost too good to be believed. Willard could never be described as sweet and tender. But he's a man with deep, strong convictions. Also some anger issues! He sees all the injustices in the world and he wants to do something but can't because he's a peasant, a nobody. I also enjoyed spending time with Hugh and Alfred. This friendship seemed genuine, and, it added some much needed humanity to the book. The Hugh chapters needed "rescuing" from so much reflection. Luckily, Hugh has Alfred and later John Wycliffe.

Finally I have to say that I LOVED spending time with John Wycliffe. I loved reading about Wycliffe preaching and teaching to the crowds--of ALL classes. I loved reading about his desire to make the Bible accessible to ANYONE AND EVERYONE in English.

I would definitely recommend this one if you love history or historical fiction.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

With vivid and tumultuous words, you are thrown into 14th century action. The story spans part of the life of John Wycliffe, but starts out with another character, a scribe, Hugh West'all, who is reporting on-location about the battle between France and England. He sees one of the archers with a father, worry creasing the son's brow, and the two young men's paths cross various times. Willard, the young archer, is full of bitterness and anger toward those of higher birth, and seeks revenge against greedy friars.

Hugh, meanwhile, becomes a scholar at Oxford. He and his friend Alfred are not much alike, but in one case Hugh and the new scholar, John of Wycliffe, turn the tables on prankster Alfred. The results are most humorous.

You get a slice of life as it might have been back then, with places, smells, characters, and jobs portrayed clearly, yet not ad infinitum. . . . It was not such a great thing that I happened to be eating while I read about the sheep being slaughtered.

Hugh begins to hear of new things from John Wycliffe, of grace through Christ alone being able to save. Willard, also, hears the preacher and is amazed to hear him speaking against the friars who sell indulgences.

The dreadful Bubonic plague spreads, and Willard's mother and sister are caught in its grip.

There is a bit of romance toward the end, but it is carefully done.

This is a story that teens and adults, male and female, will most likely enjoy--from battle to archery competition, from a woman tenderly caring for others (including a cat) to Wycliffe teaching and living out his gracious words with little fear of the consequences.

Prepare to live . . . prepare to die.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Revolt by Douglas Bond is set in 1300s England and centers around John Wycliffe. I was enthralled with this story because of all the facts I learned from that time period. I kept telling my husband all the tidbits I learned because I was so excited. haha

Even though the book centers around John Wycliffe, he isn't the main character. Instead, the book focuses on Hugh West'all and how meeting John Wycliffe at Oxford caused him to think deeper about what it really meant to be a Christian. Then when Wycliffe wants to translate the Bible into English for the common people to be able to read an understand, Hugh nervously agrees to help. But it's a dangerous thing to do since the church could excommunicate them for what they are accomplishing in secret.

I've never read anything from this author and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't dull or dry like a history book, but it was still packed with historical facts making this history loving gal super happy! The author did a great job explaining what the customs and laws were like in the 1300s so that you could understand how unfair and hard the peasants lives were.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. Trust me, you won't regret picking this book up from the library or the bookstore. It is definitely a must read.

I was given this book for free from Netgalley. No review, positive or otherwise, was required - all opinions are my own.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers a rich era of British history through the rather different perspectives of a young Oxford scholar and a peasant. Events first bring the two together on the battlefield of Crecy where both are forced to grow up quickly.

Once they return home, each man encounters the injustice of the age in a different manner. Hugh is at school with John Wycliffe, a man whose legacy requires no explanation. Willard's life in contrast is a struggle. When the plague arrives, status protects no one.

While Hugh assists Wycliffe in translating the Bible, Willard lives in anger at the position he is born to. When the men next come together, it is to join again in another type of battle against the corrupt friars and priests of their day.

This book does an admirable job of portraying those who took advantage of the church for their own benefit while balancing it with those who truly wished to share the gospel. Including several verses of scripture in Old English made it real. This was the work they were doing that continues to benefit us to this day.

Life in the 14th century was vividly brought to life through these characters. I only wish that the book had not ended so abruptly.

Received from NetGalley.

[Amanda Geaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Revolt by Douglas Bond is a theologically rich and thoroughly engaging look at the life John Wycliffe — the Morning star of the Reformation. His story is told from the perspective of his young Oxford classmate Hugh West’all, and Willard, a peasant farmer. Due to their vastly different social standings, young readers will glimpse all aspects of life in Wycliffe’s England.

Every sentence and paragraph is richly descriptive and complex. Bond’s vernacular may be challenging for some. He expertly selected language which accommodates modern readers while still maintaining the essence of the time period.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from P&R Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

THE REVOLT is young adult or adult fiction. Some content may not be appropriate for younger audiences.

[Tom Burkholder · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the book The Revolt, author Douglas Bond follows the life of Hugh West’all. Hugh faced death on the battlefield at the battle of Crecy as a secretary of the war. Not liking the war life, he enters Oxford to study for the ministry. This is where Hugh meets John of Wycliffe and together they begin a dangerous journey of breaking the law – translating the Bible into the common man’s English. While Hugh is working on translating the Bible he comes to grips with his own need of salvation by faith and not by works.
I would highly recommend this book for any reader. While the book is full of historical facts, it is written in a fast paced novel style which keeps it very interesting. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Sarah Knox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The only thing I have to complain about is that I wish it were longer.
I love reading. Bond's books because it is always such a sweet reminder of God's work in His world through genuine believers' lives. Such an encouragement!

[English · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's an unfortunate fact that there is not a single novel about Wycliffe in the Christian Fiction genre written by a British author (unless you count G.A.Henty). It's high time that there was one because this novel was in some sense, everything I feared it would be (but hoped it would not). I fear that Americans are, sometimes, inclined to interpret every event in European history through the lens of American History.
I understand, it's natural, but it's also fraught with problems. Distinct comparisons to the American Revolutionary War can be found with all the talk about ‘freedom’ from ‘oppression’ in this novel, which in many parts is more about social injustice than the Wycliffe Bible. Reader's might say 'what's wrong with that, it’s about the Peasant's Revolt?'. The problem is that Peasant's Revolt was not like that. Many of the people involved in it were not, in fact, peasants, or at least not villeins. Certainly not the poorest of the poor, but those of some wealth who had something to lose from taxation. Nor were they anti-monarchist republicans. They professed loyalty to the King.

That’s my main problem, it’s that fundamental misunderstanding of late Medieval English history and society that underpins books like this. Admittedly, many of the details about Wycliffe and his fictional clerk, Hugh Westall interesting, but it would have been better if this story was just about him and Wycliffe. A lot of the content involving the peasant protagonist Willard was, I felt, largely unnecessary.
I felt he was are basically just a cardboard cut-out, with artificially created grievances to rail against. Indeed, I would suggest he was not really a ‘peasant’ at all. Early on the in the book, it mentioned he had to pay rent for his land, among other fines and fees to show how oppressed he was. However, a peasant who held his land by rent could not be a villein, he would he a Free Tenant and exempt from many customary dues.

This was only one of several historical errors or inaccuracies in the story. Probably the worst one was when Oxford was described as a ‘village’. Oxford is not a village, it is a city, it has been since the 12th century. Medieval English people did not eat or grow corn (what Americans would call maize) because it had not been introduced to Europe yet, and pottage was not always made from peas. It could be made from anything, the word just referred to any dish made in a single pot. The reference towards the beginning about Willard and his family eating disgusting mush several days old from a pot is taken from a children’s rhyme ‘Pease pottage hot, pease pottage cold, pease pottage in the pot, nine days old’.
I doubt it. No sensible peasant woman cooked so much pottage that it would last nine days. It would mean she taken more than her fair share of fresh ingredients, and was wasting them. I suspect the detail was added just to show how horrible and unfair the lives of peasants were. As was the mention of peasants being forbidden from bearing arms, which made no sense at all, as there was a law that young boys had to train with a longbow every weekend.

Towards the end of the story, I felt the violence of the Peasant’s Revolt is underplayed, and the supposed ‘justice’ of the cause overstated. No mention was made of the killings or the fact that after the ‘heroic’ peasant mob stormed the Tower of London (which peasants were not locked up in), they dragged the Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Sudbury, out into the street and hacked his head off. He and all the other figures of the established church are vilified as evil and corrupt (because there had to be bad guys), especially friars, who apparently love nothing more than to go around raping women.

By all means, authors should write about Wycliffe and his furthering the Gospel, but I think they need to be more faithful to the historical facts and more careful about the moral lessons they seek to convey. One of the potentially worrying messages in this was that violent political insurrection could be ‘in the will of God’, and consistent with the Gospel- provided of course that it was against perceived ‘oppressors’.

I requested a PDF of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I had mixed feelings about this. As a whole, I enjoyed reading it as a story, especially as it was filled with details about the fighting (and the aftermath), the corruption of the medieval Church and the peasant's life that I'd never come across before, but as I got to the end I couldn't quite reconcile all the pieces. (The semi-random timeline at the end didn't help - I was confused by the inclusion of Marco Polo in an otherwise English- and church-centric book.)

It begins with the Battle of Crécy, which I thought would be important later on, but then realized it was just a way to forcibly introduce the two contrasting characters: Hugh West'all and the peasant Willard. After the battle the Welsh were portrayed as animalistic, barely civilized; this might be how they were seen from a Norman perspective, but hardly seems true.

Later on, seeing the town and university of Oxford from both perspectives was again interesting, but Willard's role there seemed somewhat forced. Alfred played the buffoon a little too much, while John Wycliffe was without fault. (Now that may have been a true representation based on other sources, but this is my opinion.)

But then comes the strength: Hugh's gradual understanding of the true doctrine of grace and salvation, as he brings the truth of the Bible closer to himself and others by translating it into his heart language, and Wycliffe's very real demonstration that not all churchmen were corrupt or cared little for others. From our perspective it's easy to underestimate the impact of reading the Bible, but we owe Wycliffe so much.

So there seemed to be some technical flaws that affected my enjoyment of the story, but the historical aspect was excellent!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I jumped at the chance to read this as I've been interested in the authors books for some time. This was a different setting than I usually read, but I felt the author explained things accurately and I was relieved it did not read like a contemporary book.

The first chapter may seem a little slow to some as it begins with a recounting of battle, but all the descriptions were great and intriguing. The story follows the characters of Willard and Hugh and leads up to their friendship with John Wycliffe.

There is several mentions of salvation in this book, but I disagreed that certain elect people chosen by God can only be saved. Also, Wycliffe announced that the pope was the Antichrist, and I could hardly agree with that (of course, he could have just been comparing the pope to the Antichrist which is a different matter).

Some may find this book dark, yet there is a good amount of humor mixed in between. Hugh's POV made me smile. He was always desperate to learn :) The romance was sweet and I found it satisfying. The book ended rather abruptly I thought, but I think that was just because I was so into it that I was shocked it was done!

I'm definitely willing to give this author another go. I enjoy his writing style and characters.

*I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Revolt a very good read.

Another great book by Douglas Bond. I was right there in every scene. Excellent read. I recommend to everyone to read.

[Frode · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Wycliffe is not the main character in this novel, but he is in the story and acts as a catalyst for some of what happens. The story is told by Hugh West’all, a scholar whom we meet first as the battle of Crécy and follow him to Oxford and Baliol College where he meets John Wycliffe. Hugh rooms with Alfred, who provides some comic relief at times. There is another character, Willard, a serf but also a young bowman with whom Hugh interacts briefly before the battle. Later it happens that Willard is from the area around Oxford.

There are three intertwining stories in the novel, Hugh’s, Willard’s and John Wycliffe’s. The author melds them into one rather nicely. I felt the circumstances were strained a couple of times, but they made the story as a whole work together.

Bond shows the reader the plight of the serfs during 14th century England, the disdain of the elites of the day for those beneath them, and the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church system in England at the time. Wycliffe is a counterpoint to the latter and points out the church’s failings, most of which resonate with the serfs as they are the ones who bear the brunt of much of it. Nonetheless, Wycliffe does have some adherents in the upper classes as well, and he receives some protection from them. Wycliffe and some of his friends work at putting the Bible into the vernacular of the day, and there are a few points in the story where their work is used by Bond to make a Biblical point. He weaves it in nicely.

Bond portrays Wycliffe as a man of the people who is interested in their souls and not their money. Hubert, a corrupt priest, is the opposite; he despises the serfs and wants what little money they have. Their ignorance and superstition make them easy prey for his sales of indulgences.
The Black Plague shows up, but the main characters all survive although Willard’s mother dies. Willard is pretty bitter about all those above him and for various reasons: he is cheated at a tournament, suffers discrimination when delivering stones, and has no love for the clergy, especially when one accosts his sister. In his mind churchmen are all rotten. Taxes are onerous, and keeping his mom and sister fed and housed in their hovel is more than a full time job. The serf revolt comes to London; it is mentioned briefly but provides comment on the general unrest of the serfs.

I liked the book. It moved rather well, and the characters were relatively well-drawn. The history was accurate, and the times were turbulent, which made a good setting for the story.

[Autumn Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one alot more than I did The Hobgoblins. It was quite exciting and I found it hard to put down. One of the things I didn't like was how when reading from the newly translated English Bible, the author wrote the words with a spelling that would probably would have been used in the 14th century. I found it quite difficult to figure out what the words were at times! I just kind of had to assume which verses they were trying to read. I sometimes found it a bit difficult to understand all of John's deep theological explanations but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Dave Borghesani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good lessons in basic reformed theology. Great book for children. Encourage parents to read with their children and discuss the points that Bond makes.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book paints the historical setting for Wycliffe's bible translation. A very readable account of Wycliffe's work in 14th century England.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great historical fiction.

[Gabriella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t really know why I gave this book 3 stars, to be honest. I can’t say that I enjoyed it very much. I did find it helpful to have a more medieval point of view from those in the lower classes, though, after having read so many books just covering the perspective of those in higher authority.
I just didn’t really get the feel for this book at all. It was great historically, but I didn’t like all the hate and jealousy that weren’t very obvious all the time, but felt like it was still there under the surface. It’s a bit graphic at some points and too descriptive at others.
Dunno - just not my favourite book, even though I found it educational and at times humorous.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Douglas Bond historical fiction. The struggle to see the Bible translated to English is set in the context of the plague, era-specific hardships, and the corrupt influence of church powers. Interesting characters and relationships, as well as enough action to keep most engaged.
Definitely worth a read.

Review Copy