A Flight of Swans

The Mantlemass Chronicles #7

by Barbara Willard

Roger and Humfrey Jolland and their kinfolk, the Medleys, are faced with the Spanish Armada.

As the Spanish Armada sails to England, Humfrey and Roger Jolland are the guests of their kinsmen, the Medleys of Mantlemass. Humfrey, bold and thoughtless, rides off secretly, hoping to see a great battle. He does not return, but Roger - a strange boy, not strong but possessing a "seeing eye" - is convinced that his brother is not dead. Roger is left at Mantlemass to be lovingly cared for by his cousin, Ursula Medley. Growing up, he becomes absorbed in the affairs of Mantlemass and of the ironworking at Plashets.

As war threatens England, the greed of traitors taints the wealden forest. Horses vanish from their stables, plans for weapons turn up missing from the forges, and smoke curls from the chimney of a cotaage long empty. Treason is lurking within the wood of Mantlemass. Ursula wonders who might betray England and turn against her?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens

177 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Barbara Mary Willard was a British novelist best known for children's historical fiction. Her "Mantlemass Chronicles" is a family saga set in 15th to 17th-century England. For one chronicle, The Iron Lily (1973), she won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a book award judged by panel of British children's writers.
Willard was born in Brighton, Sussex on 12 March 1909, the daughter of the Shakespearean actor Edmund Willard and Mabel Theresa Tebbs. She was also the great-niece of Victorian-era actor Edward Smith Willard. The young Willard was educated at a convent school in Southampton.
Because of her family connections, Willard originally went on the stage as an actress and also worked as a playreader, but she was unsuccessful and abandoned acting in her early twenties. She wrote numerous books for adults before she turned to children's literature.
Very little about the author was written during her lifetime, because of her private nature. She died at a nursing home in Wivelsfield Green, East Sussex, on 18 February 1994.
The Grove of Green Holly (1967), which was a story about a group of 17th century travelling players who were hiding in a forest in Sussex from Oliver Cromwell's soldiers, spawned her most famous work, the Mantlemass series (1970–1981) including her Guardian Prize-winning book. Some other books were Hetty (1956), Storm from the West (1963), Three and One to Carry (1964), and Charity at Home (1965).
One of her last books, The Forest - Ashdown in East Sussex, published by Sweethaws Press in 1989, gives a detailed account of Ashdown Forest. In the introduction to the book, Christopher Milne notes that Willard had moved from her home on the Sussex Downs to the edge of Ashdown Forest in 1956 and that her new surroundings had provided the inspiration and setting for ten of her children's historical novels (eight in the Mantlemass series and two others). It is evident by her own account in her book that she actively involved herself in the affairs of the forest. She was a representative of the forest Commoners elected to the forest's Board of Conservators in 1975, and she remained in that capacity for ten years. She tells how she was later heavily involved in the fundraising campaign which enabled East Sussex County Council to purchase the forest in 1988, enabling it to remain as a place of beauty and tranquility open to the public.

Reviews

[Doodles McC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this children's historical story book when I was twelve years old. Well written and part of an ongoing series of English history throughout the ages.

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humphrey and Roger Jolland are staying with cousins, Robin and Ursula Medley, at Ghllys Hatch near the ancestral home, Mantlemass. Humphrey eludes Robin during their return from selling horses in London and rides to the coast to see a sea battle between Spain and England. He disappears. The newly widowed Francis Jolland comes searching for Humphrey and falls in love with Ursula. She, in turn, loves him. Robin has turned into a moody ne'er-do-well. Unable to marry, Francis and Ursula choose the swans' flights as their token of love vowing to think of each other each time the swans pass overhead. Francis leaves his son, Roger, in Ursula's care. A weak boy with a twisted foot he is tutored by Richard Medley in ironmaking. Roger inherits the ironworks upon Richard's death and proves a competent master. With her own grudge to bear, Goody Henty tells Robin Medley that Piers Medley caused Robin's father's death. Piers did not betray Robin Halacre who died a traitor's death. In fact, Piers adopted Robin after Halacre's death and gave Robin charge of Ghllys Hatch and the Mantlemass horses. Robin slowly depletes the fine breeding stock until one day only two horses remain. This day Robin accuses Piers of Halacre's death. The attack kills Piers. Just before he dies he tells Ursula that her mother, Lilias, is his natural daughter and that the family name is Plantagenet. Roger sees Humphrey in the woods near the iron mill. Humphrey is on a spy mission for the Spaniard who saved his life and then enslaved him. Humphrey and his cohorts steal a small cannon and the plans. Robin Medley gives them Piers' horses to ride to freedom. He is killed. Roger changes places with Humphrey and allows his escape. Roger loses his place as master for a time because of his seeming betrayal. Lilias, who ran the ironworks before Richard, takes the helm. Roger goes on a trip to find the Mantlemass heir, Jack Medley. As he leaves his foreman, Timothy Morphew, meets him, wishes him a good journey, and suggests that Roger's place as master will be restored when he returns.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a miserable book.

I loved the first 3 in the series, but Author ran out of steam then. Next 3 are miserable and the language is hard to read.

Its only reedemable feature is it has a passable ending and thats why it got 2 stars not 1. Don't want to read this again.

What a shame the books fall badly on their face after the first 3 were so good.