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A Walk With Love and Death
The third book in NewSouth's series bringing back into print all of Koning's fiction, A Walk with Love and Death is the story of Heron, a student in France, who decides to journey on foot to England during the plague year of 1358. His journey symbolizes freedom, as he turns his back on both the ruling oligarchy and the peasant armies forming all over Europe. He travels through a chaotic wasteland, where strange armies clash for unknown reasons, where the barren countryside is plagued by robbers and warlords. He meets death, destruction, and famine before finally finding Claudia, the daughter of a medieval lord. Heron's quest for freedom, stemming from a desire to create an ideal world out of the violently cruel one, leads him through despair and danger, before delivering him to love.
148 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 3, 2020
This short novel, A Walk with Love and Death, is a love story, both elegant and beautiful, taking place in 1358, ten year after the great plague, what we now call the Black Death, and during the time of the French peasant uprising, which threw the entire northern part of France into chaos.
We are given a taste of the depth of this chaos and social upheaval right from the outset, when the first person narrator, a poor student by the name of Heron, who has recently been expelled from the University of Paris for writing a poem with erotic overtones, is nearly robbed and killed by a farmer along the road and then barely escapes torture at the hands of a band of brigands on the outskirts of a town.
He reflects on his violent, upside-down world, “There had been fighting and burning and plundering before, but what was happening in France now was different: there was no mercy, no ending to it, no idea behind it. Men were like birds with iron beaks, hammering and hammering away at the almost hopeless land. More than half the students were in theology colleges, but there was no Christianity left either.”
Indeed, there is no end to the violence. Continuing his travels on foot, Heron meets a young aristocratic woman by the name of Claudia and it is love at first sight. Ah, Cupid! Thus, we have the love story of a poor student and an aristocratic young girl, a girl forced to leave her home recently destroyed by a horde of bloodthirsty peasants.
There is a mythic quality to their love, an echo of pure, courtly love flowering in a land filled to the brim with violence and misery. Such is the novel’s contrast between light and dark.
Heron shares his reflections as his discovers more and more of young Claudia during the time they travel together. For example, here is a passage after Claudia at one point declares she wants his love to be pure love, a love not mingled with the physical: “Lying next to her in the ramshackle bed in the dark, with most of our cloths on, was more difficult: I was haunted by her image now and cursed all philosophers and the girls who live by them. But she had acquired a new power over me and I no longer felt just the older and the wiser one: I was aware of an intense need to please her and gain her respect.”
And here is another passage capturing Heron’s dreamy, romantic spirit: “The green hours when I was riding beside Claudia along the river at the tail end of a many-colored column and felt that nothing mattered in life, neither learning nor death, only this keen joy of being alive in one’s body totally without fear, acknowledging the beauty of attack: running toward a man in battle to kill him, falling on a woman in making love.”
I wouldn’t want to spoil the story by giving away more of the details. Much better to simply recommend this near perfect medieval tale of two lovers embracing each other and the beauty of the moment during one of the darkest periods in European history.
Dutch author Hans Koning, 1921 - 2007
July 14, 2026
Wind of spring
Please end the night
And bring the rain ...
I am used to think of post-apocalyptic novels as grim portraits of our future, but here I have a historical book that fits the bill, as two young people move around the French countryside in the year 1358, in the footsteps of the Great Plague, of invading British armies, of a king held captive by his enemies and, that very spring, of a deadly peasant uprising coupled with brutal reprisals. A spring that sees no new crops planted and only fields of mutilated corpses and sacked towns.
Rain fell, and then the sky cleared again, the sun stood on beams of light in the heavy clouds and a moist stench rose from the land.
It was as if the world, as if the earth itself, were tensely waiting, with tired and bated breath, smarting for deliverance.
Heron of Foix, a 19 years old theology student from the Sorbonne who lost his parents to the epidemic, has an epiphany and decides to break free of the constraints of religion and of politics. He writes a protest love poem and strikes out on his own through the ravaged countryside. One of his first stops is at a noble house where he is struck by the beauty of the daughter of the local lord, Claudia de Saint-Jean.
Heron is clearly attracted, but the call of adventure is stronger:
Did you know that Oxford was founded by exiles from Paris? That was hundreds of years ago. I like the idea of following in their trail. I’m not going to stay there though. I’m going on to – to everywhere.”
Eventually, Heron reaches Calais and lays his eyes for the first time on the sea : another epiphany that is strikingly similar to that iconic final scene from Francois Truffaut’s Les quatre cents coups . But before he can set sail for Dover, news reaches the town of the peasants attacking soldiers and castles, including the residence of Claudia. Which impulse will be stronger? Self-preservation or love? There is really no contest in the fiery heart of the young man, even as he admits that this whole romance is just a figment of his imagination.
I think such creation is legitimate; it gives a hold to a man who sets out on an undertaking all alone in this chaotic world. But wasn’t it foolishness to let it lead to a fatal decision, to risk having my throat cut for it? Perhaps not, perhaps a man can do nothing more noble than to give as much reality to an idea as he does to a rock or a knife wound.
Claudia Saint-Jean responds to Heron’s pledge to serve and protect her. She has serious reservations, both about physical love as opposed to an union of the minds, and about Heron’s sympathy for the peasant rebellion. Since her father is killed in the attack on their mansion, Claudia wants revenge instead of explanations about class struggles. She also has to decide which instinct is stronger.
“I think I don’t want to sit around somewhere and bewail the wickedness of the world. I want to be free to. I’ll come with you to England.”
Caught between the peasant armies and the new alliance between Navarre, England and French nobles intent on preserving their privileges, the two young people are constantly threatened, captured and forced to witness some of the worst examples of man’s cruelty to man. Instead of places of refuge, from monasteries and church pulpits they hear fiery sermons denouncing the peasants as terrorists. Heron rejects what he calls ... this iron hatred of the mind. and turns towards seducing Claudia with his poetry and tenderness.
He quotes from The Romance of the Rose: ‘I have come to excommunicate all enemies of love,’ and uses verses from the Latin Bible in his efforts to convince the virgin girl of the power of true love.
For without words emotion must have been blind; through words only, and not before, emotion and love could become seeing.
The spring of 1358 is a battlefield for our humanity. On one side, the armies of darkness, the four riders of the apocalypse. On the other, two young runaways, all alone in a world that does everything in its power to crush them.
—«»—«»—«»—
With only 58 ratings, this short novel is one of the best ‘hidden gems’ on the site. I only found out about it because one of my friends read it and wrote a review. It is thanks to people like Glenn Russell, who walk the less trodden literary paths, that I continue to write my own reviews, in the hope we can save some of these almost forgotten gems from oblivion.
Hans Koning can do in about 150 pages what other writers struggle to fit in 500: an epic scope, historical accuracy, romance and philosophy and a poetic turn of phrase. From his pen, simplicity becomes beauty.
I buried my mouth in her soft short hair, and kissing her was like saying a prayer.
What are our lives today but a similar walk with love and death, in a world that has apparently gone mad. What can we save from the ashes before our flame flickers out?
We had stopped running from them, and we had our hour, “We’ve got the better of them,” Claudia said; and “they” were: the old, the wicked, tired world.
She asked me, “Tell me about the sea? I’ve never seen it.”
—«»—«»—«»—
Apparently, there’s a movie, made in 1969 by none other than John Huston, who cast his own daughter, 17 years old Anjelica Huston, in her first major role. I tried to find a copy, but it’s not easy. The movie received poor reviews but, after reading the novel, I am really curious about what John Huston saw in the story.
Please end the night
And bring the rain ...
I am used to think of post-apocalyptic novels as grim portraits of our future, but here I have a historical book that fits the bill, as two young people move around the French countryside in the year 1358, in the footsteps of the Great Plague, of invading British armies, of a king held captive by his enemies and, that very spring, of a deadly peasant uprising coupled with brutal reprisals. A spring that sees no new crops planted and only fields of mutilated corpses and sacked towns.
Rain fell, and then the sky cleared again, the sun stood on beams of light in the heavy clouds and a moist stench rose from the land.
It was as if the world, as if the earth itself, were tensely waiting, with tired and bated breath, smarting for deliverance.
Heron of Foix, a 19 years old theology student from the Sorbonne who lost his parents to the epidemic, has an epiphany and decides to break free of the constraints of religion and of politics. He writes a protest love poem and strikes out on his own through the ravaged countryside. One of his first stops is at a noble house where he is struck by the beauty of the daughter of the local lord, Claudia de Saint-Jean.
Heron is clearly attracted, but the call of adventure is stronger:
Did you know that Oxford was founded by exiles from Paris? That was hundreds of years ago. I like the idea of following in their trail. I’m not going to stay there though. I’m going on to – to everywhere.”
Eventually, Heron reaches Calais and lays his eyes for the first time on the sea : another epiphany that is strikingly similar to that iconic final scene from Francois Truffaut’s Les quatre cents coups . But before he can set sail for Dover, news reaches the town of the peasants attacking soldiers and castles, including the residence of Claudia. Which impulse will be stronger? Self-preservation or love? There is really no contest in the fiery heart of the young man, even as he admits that this whole romance is just a figment of his imagination.
I think such creation is legitimate; it gives a hold to a man who sets out on an undertaking all alone in this chaotic world. But wasn’t it foolishness to let it lead to a fatal decision, to risk having my throat cut for it? Perhaps not, perhaps a man can do nothing more noble than to give as much reality to an idea as he does to a rock or a knife wound.
Claudia Saint-Jean responds to Heron’s pledge to serve and protect her. She has serious reservations, both about physical love as opposed to an union of the minds, and about Heron’s sympathy for the peasant rebellion. Since her father is killed in the attack on their mansion, Claudia wants revenge instead of explanations about class struggles. She also has to decide which instinct is stronger.
“I think I don’t want to sit around somewhere and bewail the wickedness of the world. I want to be free to. I’ll come with you to England.”
Caught between the peasant armies and the new alliance between Navarre, England and French nobles intent on preserving their privileges, the two young people are constantly threatened, captured and forced to witness some of the worst examples of man’s cruelty to man. Instead of places of refuge, from monasteries and church pulpits they hear fiery sermons denouncing the peasants as terrorists. Heron rejects what he calls ... this iron hatred of the mind. and turns towards seducing Claudia with his poetry and tenderness.
He quotes from The Romance of the Rose: ‘I have come to excommunicate all enemies of love,’ and uses verses from the Latin Bible in his efforts to convince the virgin girl of the power of true love.
For without words emotion must have been blind; through words only, and not before, emotion and love could become seeing.
The spring of 1358 is a battlefield for our humanity. On one side, the armies of darkness, the four riders of the apocalypse. On the other, two young runaways, all alone in a world that does everything in its power to crush them.
—«»—«»—«»—
With only 58 ratings, this short novel is one of the best ‘hidden gems’ on the site. I only found out about it because one of my friends read it and wrote a review. It is thanks to people like Glenn Russell, who walk the less trodden literary paths, that I continue to write my own reviews, in the hope we can save some of these almost forgotten gems from oblivion.
Hans Koning can do in about 150 pages what other writers struggle to fit in 500: an epic scope, historical accuracy, romance and philosophy and a poetic turn of phrase. From his pen, simplicity becomes beauty.
I buried my mouth in her soft short hair, and kissing her was like saying a prayer.
What are our lives today but a similar walk with love and death, in a world that has apparently gone mad. What can we save from the ashes before our flame flickers out?
We had stopped running from them, and we had our hour, “We’ve got the better of them,” Claudia said; and “they” were: the old, the wicked, tired world.
She asked me, “Tell me about the sea? I’ve never seen it.”
—«»—«»—«»—
Apparently, there’s a movie, made in 1969 by none other than John Huston, who cast his own daughter, 17 years old Anjelica Huston, in her first major role. I tried to find a copy, but it’s not easy. The movie received poor reviews but, after reading the novel, I am really curious about what John Huston saw in the story.
December 4, 2007
There are very few books I've read more than once. Life is short, and the TBR pile tall.
The one book I keep going back to every ten years or so is A Walk with Love and Death, by Hans Koning, a spare, elegant love story set in 1538 in France. I first read the novel in the spring of 1963.
In later years, I found it difficult to find copies of the novel. This was before the Net, and finding a copy of a particular out-of-print book meant stopping in at various used bookstores and searching the shelves, one bookstore at a time. I ordered it thought my small-town library, and a copy was sent to me from afar. I read it, loved it yet again, but could not bear to be parted from it. I was beginning to write myself, and Koning's spare style was something of a beacon for me. As soon as the Net made it possible, I found a copy. Now, I'm pleased to see, it has been reprinted.
A few weeks ago, having sent of the "final" changes to my soon-to-be-published novel (MISTRESS OF THE SUN), I took A Walk with Love and Death down off my shelf. It had been 44 years since I had first read it. Perhaps the author had a website, I thought. In no time, I found it, and through the contacts page, I was able to send him a letter, telling him how much I love this novel, and how much it has taught me about writing.
The email was bounced back. Hans Koning had died only months before. It brings tears to my eyes even now. I had missed my chance.
I have just finished yet another reading of A Walk with Love and Death. I still love this book. Such beautiful sentences! I'm going to quote from the opening lines, which I think set the tone beautifully for the bitter-sweetness of the story, and the elegance of the prose:
In the spring of that year, 1358, the peasants of northern France did not sow their fields any more.
I had succeeded in getting out of Paris just before sunset and walked to Saint-Denis in the twilight; I had found a room there to sleep and now was on the road again.
The sun was rising almost opposite me; a harsh light skimmed the empty fields. The war was in its twentieth year, but I was happy.
The ending: ah, I resist the obvious.
The one book I keep going back to every ten years or so is A Walk with Love and Death, by Hans Koning, a spare, elegant love story set in 1538 in France. I first read the novel in the spring of 1963.
In later years, I found it difficult to find copies of the novel. This was before the Net, and finding a copy of a particular out-of-print book meant stopping in at various used bookstores and searching the shelves, one bookstore at a time. I ordered it thought my small-town library, and a copy was sent to me from afar. I read it, loved it yet again, but could not bear to be parted from it. I was beginning to write myself, and Koning's spare style was something of a beacon for me. As soon as the Net made it possible, I found a copy. Now, I'm pleased to see, it has been reprinted.
A few weeks ago, having sent of the "final" changes to my soon-to-be-published novel (MISTRESS OF THE SUN), I took A Walk with Love and Death down off my shelf. It had been 44 years since I had first read it. Perhaps the author had a website, I thought. In no time, I found it, and through the contacts page, I was able to send him a letter, telling him how much I love this novel, and how much it has taught me about writing.
The email was bounced back. Hans Koning had died only months before. It brings tears to my eyes even now. I had missed my chance.
I have just finished yet another reading of A Walk with Love and Death. I still love this book. Such beautiful sentences! I'm going to quote from the opening lines, which I think set the tone beautifully for the bitter-sweetness of the story, and the elegance of the prose:
In the spring of that year, 1358, the peasants of northern France did not sow their fields any more.
I had succeeded in getting out of Paris just before sunset and walked to Saint-Denis in the twilight; I had found a room there to sleep and now was on the road again.
The sun was rising almost opposite me; a harsh light skimmed the empty fields. The war was in its twentieth year, but I was happy.
The ending: ah, I resist the obvious.
December 18, 2022
The paperback version of this book is only 167 pages, so is a pretty quick read. If you are somebody who prefers a thick spine with lots of characters and subplots, this isn't for you. However, if you are somebody who loves a great adventure story set against the backdrop of the medieval era without any additional fluff, you will want to read this book.
One of the things I truly loved about this tome was the fact that the author kept to his main character, weaving the plot solely around his adventure as he travels the French countryside to embark for England. Along the way, he falls in love - which always invites drama. I thought his handling of the relationship was incredibly well done within the context of the time period; in a sense, you do take a walk with love in the 14th century. Of course, the rest of the book's title cannot be ignored - a walk with death. There is this, too, within the context of a peasant's revolt, and handled just as realistically as the love part of the journey.
I think there were plenty of opportunities the author could have taken to "bloat" the narrative and thus add a greater page count, but I am incredibly thankful he didn't. I think this book really demonstrates the "less is more" concept. Beautifully well done!
One of the things I truly loved about this tome was the fact that the author kept to his main character, weaving the plot solely around his adventure as he travels the French countryside to embark for England. Along the way, he falls in love - which always invites drama. I thought his handling of the relationship was incredibly well done within the context of the time period; in a sense, you do take a walk with love in the 14th century. Of course, the rest of the book's title cannot be ignored - a walk with death. There is this, too, within the context of a peasant's revolt, and handled just as realistically as the love part of the journey.
I think there were plenty of opportunities the author could have taken to "bloat" the narrative and thus add a greater page count, but I am incredibly thankful he didn't. I think this book really demonstrates the "less is more" concept. Beautifully well done!
June 25, 2010
Beautiful little book on the fleeting nature of life, associations and freedom. Set during the French Peasant's rebellion of 1358, a young scholar and the daughter of a murdered aristocrat meet, fall in love and escape dangerous situations by aligning with different classes of society. Everything is fluid as there is little difference between noble or peasant, bandit or officer, Frenchman or Englishmen, life or death. There are dangers where ever one sets alliances and even being free of them brings its own risks. I picked this up because it was a favorite of both my parents and a book they discussed on their first date. There's beauty in the symmetry and the small details of life.
Want to Read
March 17, 2015Companion read with A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century.
January 13, 2021
A brief but powerful novel from 1961 which is set in rebellion-ravaged 1358 northern France. The Peasant’s Rebellion sets the country ablaze and expelled student, Heron, decides to walk from Paris to Calais to ship to England. Amidst the chaos he meets Claudia, daughter of a noble killed by the peasants, and they become lovers trying to escape the violence before finally reaching a monastery just before the monks desert it as the Rebellion nears its end and retribution travels the land. All beautifully done
March 3, 2026
This book is a "love story" through the lenz of a man in the 1960s. Not only is the depiction of the female love interest laughable and borderline pedophilic, but the story itself lacks depth and comes across as very disjointed. Several times throughout the book things are mentioned only to be completely contradicted or made redundant a couple sentences later. It's somewhat impressive that a book about the middle ages and war that is only a little over 100 pages long managed to bore me. The only reason I finish this book was so I could hate it from an educated perspective and so that no one could say I only didn't like it because I didn't finish it.
February 20, 2021
I read this book many years ago and it has stayed with me ever since. The contrast of the love with the tragedies and chaos of war was moving and unforgettable. This book was recently brought to mind when hearing of a new 2021 book Small Country which I have placed on my to-read list.
February 12, 2023
No me ha gustado nada. Demasiado minimalista y con una traducción en ocasiones cuestionable.
March 2, 2026
Gelezen in het Nederlands. aardig verhaaltje.
September 1, 2023
Había visto la película sin ser consciente de la existencia del libro. Cuando lo descubrí de manera fortuita en un rastro lo compré sin dudar y no me ha decepcionado. La edición que tengo es en castellano e ilustrada, una pena que no aparezca en la página.
Esta es la historia del periplo de Heron, un estudiante parisino que lo deja todo en busca de su libertad hacia el mar, hacia Inglaterra. Su destino es encontrar la más pura felicidad en un momento social crítico y destructivo. Esto no le impedirá luchar por su amor, por sus principios y por su vida. Allá donde va encuentra muerte y crueldad, el mundo ha perdido la cordura y solo gracias a su amada y su ansia de seguir junto a ella podrá continuar su camino.
Es una historia trágica y hermosa, cargada de belleza en su prosa, con escenas únicas y desesperadas. Ha merecido mucho la pena leerlo.
Esta es la historia del periplo de Heron, un estudiante parisino que lo deja todo en busca de su libertad hacia el mar, hacia Inglaterra. Su destino es encontrar la más pura felicidad en un momento social crítico y destructivo. Esto no le impedirá luchar por su amor, por sus principios y por su vida. Allá donde va encuentra muerte y crueldad, el mundo ha perdido la cordura y solo gracias a su amada y su ansia de seguir junto a ella podrá continuar su camino.
Es una historia trágica y hermosa, cargada de belleza en su prosa, con escenas únicas y desesperadas. Ha merecido mucho la pena leerlo.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews