If you’re looking for a good book to read this summer, pick up The Walking Drum by Louis L’Amour. A friend recommended this book and I’m glad he did because it was an exciting and educational read.
L’Amour published his first novel in 1953 and every one of his over 120 books are still in print. There are 300 million copies of his books worldwide. He is one of the best–selling authors of modern times. Forty-five of his novels have been made into films.
He is best known for capturing the spirit of the American West. This novel, written in his later years, is a departure from those books. It takes place in the 12th century, starting out in France, crossing medieval Europe and the Russian steppes, and finally ending in Constantinople.
Young Mathurin Kerbouchard of Brittany is thrust into a violent, dangerous world when he returns from a fishing expedition and finds his mother murdered and his home burned to the ground. He barely escapes with his life only to be captured and forced to be a galley slave.
In L’Amour’s usual style, Kerbouchard goes from one adventure to another as he sets off on a quest to find his father (who is reported to be killed at sea or sold into slavery) and revenge his mother. Kerbouchard is bold to a fault, trained by the Druids to have an amazing memory, a seeker of knowledge who can speak and write many languages, an unusual talent for the times. He is skilled with a sword, but also relies on his wit as he works toward achieving his nearly impossible goals.
The book is broad in scoop and covers several years as Kerbouchard grows into manhood. He faces life with courage and honor, making friends and enemies along the way. He is a unique character whom the reader will remember long after they finish the book. We see the 12th century world through Kerbouchard’s active, intelligent mind. He travels from the dark, dirty cities in France where the Christian church forbids new ideas and books are rare, to the Moslem cities of Spain where books are plentiful and scholars are valued.
The book reads quickly, especially the first half, which is filled with one hair-raising adventure after another. But it slows down in places where Kerbouchard, a brilliant scholar interested in different ideas and places, tells us the history of the city he’s traveled to and shares his philosophy of life with other scholars.
In his Author’s Notes section, L’ Amour said he was fascinated by this period of history. He feels that our schools ignore two thirds of world. “Of China, India and the Muslim world almost nothing is said, yet their contribution to our civilization was enormous, and they are now powers with which we must deal both today and tomorrow, and which it would be well for us to understand.
“One of the best means of introduction to any history is the historical novel.” p. 462
L’Amour planned to write two more books about Kerbouchard’s adventures; regrettably, he died before he completed them.
I was partly intrigued by the book because I also researched this area of the world for my book Annoure and the Dragon Ships. My historical saga is set almost 400 hundred years earlier and takes the reader from Saxon England, to Viking Norway, to the Russian steppes. It was interesting to see how the world had changed over those four centuries.
If you’re in the mood for a fascinating, exciting adventure filled with treachery, violence, passion, love and friendship, check out The Walking Drum by best-selling author Louis L’Amour.
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