Bargain @ 99 cents for today only (Nov 6th) according to the newsletter from Open Road Media (couponable @ Kobo, should be available in all the standard stores, price good for Canada & US, perhaps other regions as well, etc.):
The Firedrake by Cecelia Holland (
ISFDB,
Wikipedia), her debut historical fiction novel set in 11th century England, involving an Irish mercenary who joins the Norman invasion and winds up at the Battle of Hastings, originally out in 1966.
I haven't read this particular one, but I've enjoyed others of Holland's works that I've tried in the past, enough to make her an auto-buy for me when the prices get low enough, so I snapped this one up and am going to set price-drop alerts on the rest of her stuff in case ORM discounts more of her backlist.
In The Firedrake, an Irish mercenary knight in the eleventh century, in a constant personal battle with the rest of the world, joins William of Normandy for the invasion of England. There at Hastings he has to choose between power and wealth, and his personal demons of pride and honor.
The New York Times called Cecelia Holland “a literary phenomenon” in its review of this book, recognizing a stellar creative achievement by a young writer in her first published work.