Azincourt

By: Bernard Cornwell

Narrated by: Damien Goodwin

Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

An extraordinary and dramatic depiction of the legendary battle of Agincourt from the number one historical novelist

Agincourt, fought on October 25th 1415, St Crispin's Day, is one of England’s best-known battles, in part through the brilliant depiction of it in Shakespeare's Henry V, in part because it was a brilliant and unexpected English victory and in part because it was the first battle won by the use of the longbow - a weapon developed by the English which enabled them to dominate the European battlefields for the rest of the century.

Bernard Cornwell’s Azincourt is a vivid, breathtaking and meticulously well-researched account of this momentous battle and its aftermath. From the varying viewpoints of nobles, peasants, archers, and horsemen, Azincourt skilfully brings to life the hours of relentless fighting, the desperation of an army crippled by disease and the exceptional bravery of the English soldiers.

©2012 Bernard Cornwell (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

‘If Bernard Cornwell was born to write one book, this is it. No other historical novelist has acquired such a mastery of the minutiae of warfare in centuries past. No one else could hope to take Shakespeare’s Henry V, strip it of its rhetoric and tell the unvarnished truth about the Battle of Agincourt’ Telegraph

‘A runaway success’ Guardian

'Nobody in the world does this stuff better than Cornwell – action set six hundred years ago is a fresh and vital as six days ago, with rough, tough men at war, proving once again that nothing changes – least of all great storytelling’ Lee Child

Entertaining

I didn't think I would get into the whole 14th Century thing, but this is a great story, with good characters and fantastic narration.

A darker tone from Cornwell

Another take on the English archer by Cornwell, this story is a lot grimmer and sinister than his earlier Grail Quest series. The darker tone suits the historical events covered in the novel and the narration is very good.