7.4 /10 1 Votes7.4
Country United Kingdom Series Neustrian Cycle Media type Print (Hardback) Originally published 1928 Publisher Heinemann | 3.7/5 Goodreads Language English Publication date 1928 Pages 325 pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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People also search for Gerfalcon, Shy Leopardess Genres Fantasy, Fantasy literature, Historical novel, Historical drama, Speculative fiction |
Joris of the Rock is a fantasy novel by Leslie Barringer, the second book in his three volume Neustrian Cycle. It is set around the fourteenth century in an alternate medieval France called Neustria (historically an early division of the Frankish kingdom). The book was first published in the United Kingdom by Heinemann in 1928; an American edition followed from Doubleday in 1929. Its significance was recognized by its republication by the Newcastle Publishing Company as the ninth volume of the celebrated Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library series in September, 1976. The Newcastle edition was reprinted by Borgo Press in 1980 and 2010.
The publisher's blurb for the 1928 edition reads:
"Mediaeval outlaws were not as a rule good neighbours, and Joris is no exception. Believing himself to be one of the men for whom this world was made, he challenges Church and State, loves and waits for the witch, Red Anne, fights a fiend by the Singing Stones, finds a kingdom in his gift, and meets at length the youth who is his son. The interwoven lives of Joris and Juhel afford a texture now harsh now delicate, shadowed by grimmest irony, yet lit with fires of loyalty and faith. The action of the story, beginning before the action of Gerfalcon, includes and overpasses the time of the latter; neither tale is needed for the enjoyment of the other, but many readers will welcome a new encounter with Raoul of Ger and his friends in the days of their prosperity."
Chapter headings of the 1928 edition:
- The way of Joris of the Rock.
- The tower of Ath.
- Herodias at Hastain.
- The patience of Joris of the Rock.
- Diana in the forest.
- Saint-Eloy-over-Hardonek.
- Gramberge and the Singing Stones.
- Colloquy at Belsaunt.
- The spires of Hautarroy.
- The glory of Joris of the Rock.
- The causeway at Markmont.
- Pont-de-Foy.
- The beating of the high hills.
- The son of Joris of the Rock.
Reception
A review in the Manchester Guardian characterized Joris of the Rock as a "period novel" in contrast to a historical one, and called it "a robust, a teaming book," "a tensely plotted tale which marches at swinging pace to bear witness to its author's rich inventiveness."