Arrows fall like rain in ‘Agincourt’

  Bernard Cornwell continues his mastery in the field of historical fiction in “Agincourt,” an intense novel about an epic English victory over the French.
  Cornwell wastes no time in getting the attention of his readers. “On a winter’s day in 1413, just before Christmas, Nicholas Hook decided to commit murder,” Cornwell writes in the opening paragraph.
  Hook, a deadly archer with the longbow, ambushes and kills a fellow bowman whom he hates because of a blood feud.
  Hook is ruthless and lives in a day when nobles have absolute power over their subjects. Surprisingly he comes to the defense of a young girl who is being raped by one of Hook’s superiors. He saves her from her attacker, only to see her burned to death by the church for being a heretic.
  Now an outlaw, Hook eventually finds a new lord and joins the expedition to fight for his king (Henry V) in Henry’s quest to retain his French land.
  The bowman witnesses the atrocities of feudal armies in the massacre at Soissons and takes part in the useless and bloody siege of the city of Harfleur. The irony is that Hook has more decency and gallantry than the bloodthirsty nobles and tries to save another young woman who is in danger of being raped and slaughtered. This time he succeeds. Hook is not looking for a girlfriend, but he discovers that Melisande, the illegitimate daughter of a French nobleman, is a brave and loyal companion. 
  Cornwell, known for his Richard Sharpe novels about a commoner who becomes an officer in Britain’s war against Napoleon, vividly depicts the famous battle of Agincourt in 1415 when the outnumbered English cut down the French knights with clouds of arrows. Hook and Melisande are caught up in the chaos of the brutal battle and must use all their courage and resourcefulness to survive.