Elizabeth Chadwick Books In Order

Publication Order of Wild Hunt Trilogy Books

Publication Order of William Marshal Books

Publication Order of Eleanor of Aquitaine Books

Publication Order of Jeanette of Kent Duology Books

Publication Order of FitzWarin Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Elizabeth Chadwick may have started her publishing career relatively late in her life but since then has risen to become perhaps the world’s most preeminent publisher of historical novels. With a several dozens of works in publication, a good proportion of which have been serial bestsellers in Europe and the United States, Chadwick has proved to be a real prodigy. Her works have been published around the world and have been translated to 16 languages. Many experts credit her runaway success to the amount of research she puts in each and every one of her works.

Chadwick was born in Bury, Lancashire in 1957. When she was four, her family moved to Scotland and her childhood was spent in the village of Newton Mearns just outside the city of Glasgow. Ms Chadwick credits her passion for historical fiction from her formative years. She came to gain insights to the literally genre through television drama and, of course, historical books.

As with many other authors, the early years of Elizabeth Chadwick’s career were fraught with frustration. Many publishers rejected her submissions though she did win some competitions in the early eighties. Chadwick insists that the multitude of rejections did not deter her from pursuing her passion. Her big break would come when a literally agent became interested in a synopsis and the initial three chapters of her novel, “The Wild Hunt”. That agent was Carole Blake of Blake Friedmann and she managed to auction the work to Michael Joseph, part of the Penguin publishing group. Elizabeth Chadwick had joined the big league and was well on her way to global stardom. Indeed, her rise has been so meteoric that the Historical Novel Society has pronounced her the ‘The Best Writer of Medieval Fiction still alive’.

One of the bigger projects in the early years of Chadwick’s publishing career came in 1994. Then she was contracted by Columbia Pictures to turn the film First Knight (an epic movie starring the likes of Richard Gere and Sean Connery) into a novel. She was given four months to turn the film script into a novel. Chadwick says the experience was immense in the progression of her career, teaching her discipline and a new way to approach storytelling.

In 1998, Chadwick’s novel The Champion was shortlisted for the highly coveted Parker Pen Award by the Romantic Novelists Association in the Best Romantic Novel category. Almost every year since without fail, she has had had one of another of her works either shortlisted or longlisted for this award. In 2008, her novel A Place Beyond Courage was selected by Waterstones, the preeminent British bookshop chain, as one of the best books in the Historical Fiction category.

The publishing house Sourcebooks has offered a big impetus to the publishing career of Elizabeth Chadwick. This is especially when it comes to capturing the imagination of American readers. The first Elizabeth Chadwick novels to be published by Sourcebooks were The Scarlet Lion and The Greatest Knight back in 2009. The latter went on to become a New York Times bestseller.

One of Chadwick’s standout recognitions came in 2011 when her novel To Defy a King won RNA’s award for the best work of historical fiction. A year earlier, her novel The Scarlet Lion was selected by Richard Lee, the founder of the Historical Novel Society as one of the ten landmark historical novels of the decade.

As her first major success, The Wild Hunt is a landmark novel by Elizabeth Chadwick. It is set in the feudal domains of Norman lords occupying Wales during the reign of king William Rufus. Lady Judith of Ravenstow, a maiden of fifteen years, is joined in marriage with Guyon FitzMiles, the lord of Ledworth. It is a marriage, as used to be the rule then, borne of political expediency than romance. The situation seems all the more desperate as Judith, who has been traumatized by her callous father, is literally terrified of men. Guyon is a decade older than Judith, an accomplished warrior and equally well versed in the art of romance. Noticing the raw terror on his child bride’s face, he refrains from consummating their marriage on the wedding night. He is a Norman nobleman with a heart of gold beneath all the machismo. He is very patient with Judith, helping her unlearn all the misconceptions she has come to assume about men under the terror of her upbringing in her father’s castle. Chadwick’s masterful pen transports the leader through the epic journey of discovery until Judith finally comes of age and she is finally able to enjoy the full pleasure of her marriage bed in full bloom. But The Wild Hunt is more than a story of romance. Backed by meticulous research, the tale incorporates full scale battles, Welsh raids, quest for power, treasonous schemes and the eternal struggle between good and evil.

Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Leopard Unleashed was published in 1993. It is the third installment of Chadwick’s Ravenstow trilogy, coming after The Wild Hunt and The Running Vixen. It is the epic tale of Renard, the heir to the Ravenstow estate and his journey from humble crusader to impassioned rival. The hero is summoned to come from Antioch to attend to his ailing father. Nothing quite prepares him for the growing strife at home with family feuds and a brewing political disenchantment. Renard is betrothed to Elene but he has brought the exotic dancer Olwen from Antioch. The choice between his expected obligation and the intensity of his romantic liaison with his Oriental mistress is more than he had bargained for. Steeped in the skirmishes associated with the succession to the English throne, Renard is taken prisoner and then learns that his former mistress has joined cause with his family’s deadly enemy. Elene, now installed as the mistress of Ravenstow, must now prove her worth by protecting the citadel from the scheming of Ranulf of Chester. But Renard cannot be sure if Elene will rise up to the task as he considers her naïve and inexperienced. The destiny of a great family and the legacy of their warrior heir lies on a knife’s edge. The Leopard Unleashed is deeply absorbing, if somewhat disturbing, tale set in a world where brutality as well as raw evil are commonplace and even the accepted way of life. But in the midst of all the strife, carnage and injustice; love and honor are poised to make a final stand and confront treachery and the raw scheming wrath of a woman who feels she was scorned. The contrasting viewpoints of Elene and Olwen are very eye opening and take the reader through an epic journey to a world that inspires and stuns the senses at the same time.

One Response to “Elizabeth Chadwick”

1. Barbara A. Morrison: 2 years ago

   I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Chadwick in my nephews library when she was a guest speaker (he was the lead librarian at the time) and I must admit to takaing advantage and go directly to her email for information. I live in then US , in Williamsburg VA , Barnes and Noble do not carry many British books so while they have a few of her older books They have the early series. I nagged and talked and nagged and talked until the manager borrowed my copies and pushed for them, but then she left and so it goes. I have to get my nephew to buy any new books and I pay him. as there are rules or restrictions about shipping upon release dates, unless I break the rules which I do., I’m a Brit, a 100% Londoner and I feel I should be able to get a British book.without any american interference. She is my very favourite author, just wish she’s write quicker.

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