Set in the 14th century England, Joslin de Lay, minstrel, begins a journey of 300 miles to Wales to find his mother and himself. A journey fraught with danger and adventure, in this first book he is blamed as a French spy and devil for murders occurring in the town of Stovenham.

Well written! The different imagery of people, religion and warfare held me spellbound. The mystery of the murderer and how Joslin goes about trying to free himself for the blame of the murders is well plotted. A glimpse into a different time. ( )

Reminiscent of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, Of Dooms and Death – the first book in Hamley’s series The Long Journey of Joslin de Lay – evokes a mediaeval world of poverty, privilege and intense religious feeling. Like all good historical fiction, it does more than bring a particular historical period to mind; it makes it real, immediate, and even familiar. When the period in question is as distant in time and mindset from our own as the Middle Ages, this is no mean feat.

Joslin de Lay is a young minstrel who, following his father’s death, travels from his native France to England. Prior to his death, his father urged him to travel to Wales on a personal quest (the “long journey” of the series title). Joslin’s ship, however, docks in Eastern England, leaving him with a long way still to go. Making his way inland, Joslin takes refuge in an abandoned plague village near the small town of Stovenham, which makes him an easy target for the superstitious horror of the townsfolk – that, and the fact that he is a Frenchman, and therefore from a country at war with England.

Unsurprisingly, when a series of murders begin in the town Joslin soon finds himself being cast as the prime suspect. Finding the murderer becomes a matter of urgency, and not simply in order for Joslin to clear his name – he soon realises that he may be the next victim. The tension builds steadily, relentlessly, as Joslin and his allies find themselves pitted against an assassin who “works unseen and invisible ... Truly like the serpent at noonday.”

Hamley brings his characters to life beautifully, presenting them as people not, in essence, so very different to us, however unfamiliar their society and culture. They speak in modern English – a good stylistic choice, making their speech not just easy to follow for the modern reader but a vital, living language. (As Hamley points out in the Afterword, the characters would have been speaking modern English by their own lights.) There is a parallel with our own time, too: this is a society where people, enervated by war and sickness, are questioning the system and the ties of tradition. “There’s two laws in the world,” says one character, “God’s and the King’s ... and people are as deserving, whether king or churl.”

A fast-paced mediaeval thriller, Of Dooms and Death is both an immensely satisfying read in its own right, and a captivating introduction to the Joslin de Lay series.
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