THE HAMMER

In this collection of stories, an older King Edward I of England reminisces about the tragedies, loves, and battles that hardened him over the years.

The year is 1307, and the once formidable King Edward I is near death. He visits Marjory, the 11-year-old daughter of Scottish freedom fighter Robert the Bruce, in her cage at the Outer Court of Lanercost Priory in northern England. He has imprisoned her there as punishment for her father’s rebellion, but the two quickly form an odd sort of bond as he spends days regaling her with stories of his youth. Each of the collection’s 27 tales—beginning with the boyhood of the king’s father, Henry Plantagenet, in 1216 and concluding with a friend’s dire warning that Edward’s legacy is at stake if he continues pursuing the Scottish rebels—fills in pieces of the monarch’s personal and public life. From his deep love for Queen Eleanor to the brutal murder of his cousin Hal and Edward’s fatal flaw at the Battle of Lewes that resulted in a major setback in the bloody civil war led by Simon de Montfort, readers slowly discover what led to the king’s descent into cruelty—as well as Marjory’s eventual fate. Smith readily admits that her stories, while historically based, are largely fictional. This creative freedom results in a book that examines a dense swathe of history in an approachable way, sparking a mixture of both sympathy and repulsion for Edward. And even with the limited plot given to her in the frame story, the plucky Marjory manages to shine. While the prose can become dense in places, its vividness consistently brings history alive (“At night, the streets of London were extremely dangerous. Only rats, mongrels, and madmen dared to venture out alone”). The volume also includes helpful footnotes to explain unfamiliar terms. Smith ultimately presents a thoughtful examination of love, loyalty, and the legacies that mortals leave behind.

An engaging, elegantly narrated collection of tales that manages to make history feel personal.