The Hounds of Sunset

Brothers of Gwynedd #3

by Edith Pargeter

Powerful Prince Llewelyn still treasures his vision of a Wales united against the threat of the English kings. The dream seems near fulfilment until Edward, vigorous, ambitious, and arrogant, takes old Henry's place on the English throne—and more than his share of power. Trouble also looms nearer home, where the youngest of the Welsh brothers, David—blue-eyed, charming, and deadly—is plotting Llewelyn’s downfall. Threatened on all sides, Llewelyn looks for comfort from the beautiful Eleanor de Montfort, the jewel in his crown and the only shining star as night falls on his dreams of power.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, Medieval, 13th Century

340 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

aka 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".

Reviews

[Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, the third book in the quartet about the Brothers Gwynedd, to my mind, shows Edith Pargeter excelling in her ability to paint and develop character and show the emotions which provide motivation and drive the action into inevitable paths.
All Welsh people should read it to understand the history of their country. English people who want a balanced view of the feelings which divide the loyalties of the Welsh in Britain would do well to read it too.
Now I have to dive straight into the final book, it brooks no delay...

[Dylan Siebert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I might have to take back some of what I've written here previously about the lives of medieval people. If Edith Pargeter's novels are anything to go by, then betrayal was a really common feature of life for those in positions of power struggling to keep it all together. What Pargeter is able to portray so well is the immense personal cost that can come from divided loyalties or the breaking of trust- especially when, as was so often the case, given the political structure of medieval society, the betrayer was a member of one's own family.

In this, the third novel in the Brothers of Gwynedd quartet, the terrible tension between princely brothers Llewellyn and David comes to the fore. One is trying to maintain a fledgling independent Welsh state in the face of a powerful and land-hungry English king, and the other has been a close friend of that same king since childhood. Meanwhile a decade-old betrothal inches nearer to nuptial fulfillment, and our humble narrator, Samson, pines for his own sundered beloved even as he travels across England and France in the service of his friend and confidant, Prince Llewellyn.

I've grown to really like these characters and will be sad to see this series end, especially since it clearly can't end well. (This is not a spoiler- just glance at the book titles, or at a map of modern Britain). Samson, Cristin, Llewellyn, Cynan, Eleanor, even the domineering King Edward and his father, the slippery King Henry- all these have become familiar faces to me over the last year or so, and I'll look differently at that map from here on, because I now know something of how much private passion and glory and loss went into shaping it.

[Luisa Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again Edith Pargeter has masterfully evoked medieval times. We see Llewelyn and his brother David (he will always be Dafydd in my mind, sorry) through the eyes of Samson, the faithful retainer who tells the story in the manner of a chronicler. Although it’s a clever enough device to use Samson as an eye witness to events, it means I never quite get into the heads of the main characters, and the series lacks the emotional punch of Penman’s more romantic version of the story. Hence the four star rating, which is in no way intended to dismiss the quality of the writing and research. All the twists and turns, the intrigues, the betrayals and the triumphs are here. Llewelyn has passed the pinnacle of his powers now, although he still has hopes of reuniting Wales as a nation that can coexist with its larger, wealthier, greedier neighbour. I almost wish, as I begin the fourth book, that I didn’t know how it will all turn out.

[Marilyn Saul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beneficent prince with dreams of uniting the tribes and lands of Wales, which have been subdivided in accordance to the Welsh tradition of inheritance, into a single, functioning country, fails in his mission but is undaunted in his inherent goodness. I do not know how accurate Pargeter's depiction of Llewelyn is of a tragic hero who was way ahead of his time, a dreamer destined to be rudely awakened, but he certainly is a character to be admired and pitied.

[Thevogon · Rating 4 out of 5]

13th Century Anglo-Welsh history told from a perspective of idealised chivalry in which even people who do evil may be seen to believe they have good reasons to have done so. It makes a brutal period seem more considered than it could have been but sticks to the facts in between. There are tough times ahead in the story so I'm intrigued to see where she finishes to avoid being too depressing from the chronicler's viewpoint.

[rabbitprincess · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[J.R. Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

David is such a piece of shit. What a great character! Every time I got a good laugh it was because of something he did. 10/10 best worst brother.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book opens in 1269 with old King Henry III celebrating the completion of the cathedral at Westminster, the great accomplishment of his life. The less said, however, about his statecraft or military prowess during his long reign the better. This church was dedicated to Edward the Confessor, whom he greatly admired, and for whom he named his son Edward, who is a very different man from his father. Edward goes, accompanied by wife, on another of Christendom’s disastrous crusades, which gives Prince Llewelyn more time to try to build Wales into a nation. But not enough time.
After his father’s death, Edward returns and builds a huge military force at enormous expense, and with careful planning and effective logistics reduces Llewelyn’s Wales to Gwynedd, the small northern mountainous area of the country. This history is well known, but the author combines it with the frustrated love affairs of Llewelyn and Eleanor, and of Samson, the narrator, and Cristin. At the end of the book the former pair is united in marriage, but the latter pair is still apart, leaving the reader still hoping for some glimmer of a happy ending to this sorrowful saga.

[Kate Millin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haven’t read the others and found the writing style a little turgid, but find stories of Wales and either Llewellyn fascinating.

[John Newcomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those pesky welsh princes are up to their usual mischievous pranks in the most chivalric manner possible of course.