Historical fiction is not one of those areas I usually dabble in when looking for a book to read. Quite honestly, I'm more apt to find an actual history book than read fiction based on a historical figure or period. But I have to admit that Jayden Woods' debut novel - Eadric the Grasper: Sons of Mercia, Vol. 1 - puts an interesting spin on a figure I had never heard of.
Apparently Eadric (or Edric, depending on the source) Streona was a Saxon who gained the ear of King Ethelred II early in the 11th century. Though a commoner by birth, it is claimed that he worked his way up the noble tree by assassinating the King's opponents. Beyond that, he may have also acted as a go-between between the Saxons and the Danes, who had been attacking the Saxon coast. Eadric supported paying off the invading forces, while others supported attacking them outright.
The upshot of all of this was that Eadric was suspected of many crimes during his time... from suggesting the assassination of a group of Danes peacefully living in England to murdering several other nobles in Ethelred's court.
Woods proposes a different view of this vilified character in English history. Instead of acting with truly villainous intent, she paints Eadric as a person trying to do what he thought was right to keep the peace between the Danes and his countrymen. He goes from a swineherd to an advisor to King Ethelred after a chance meeting and things snowball from there as the King began to rely more and more on his counsel.
Eventually he marries the King's daughter, Eadgyth, which further aids his rise to power. She turns out to have secrets of her own and seems to be tied somehow to The Golden Cross, a mysterious figure providing battle plans to Saxon leaders to aid in fighting back against the continual Danish invasions.
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