Sharon Penman is really the queen of historical novels. Little is really know about some of the characters in this novel ( they are all really people) but the story telling brings them to life. We all know about the crusades but know little about the every day life in the Outremer during this period. This novel tells their story

Jerusalem was captured by the Crusaders in 1099, at the end of the First Crusade, and the kingdom they established there became known as Outremer or ‘the land beyond the sea’. The Crusaders who stayed in Outremer and made it their home were mainly of French origin and Penman refers to them (and their descendants) as Franks or Poulains. This novel covers the period from 1172 to 1187, a period when the kingdom is becoming divided by disputes over the succession to the throne and when the Muslim Arabs (referred to as Saracens in the book), led by their sultan Saladin, are taking advantage of this to try to reclaim their lands.

With Outremer under threat from Saladin’s armies, strong leadership is more important than ever, but the young king of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV, has been forced to confront an unwelcome truth: he is suffering from leprosy and can expect an early and unpleasant end to his life. As rival Poulain lords begin plotting and scheming to become the influence behind the next king or queen, the Saracens advance further into Outremer, with their eye on Jerusalem itself…

The Land Beyond the Sea is a fascinating novel. I have read a lot about Europe in the medieval period, but not so much about other parts of the world. Apart from Elizabeth Chadwick’s Templar Silks, I can’t really think of anything else I’ve read that focuses entirely on the Holy Land and its people. As my knowledge of the subject was so limited, I didn’t always know how or when a character would die, or who they would marry, or what the outcome of a battle would be, which made a nice change from reading about the Tudors or the Wars of the Roses, where I usually have a good idea of what is going to happen next! It also meant that it wasn’t a particularly easy read; the number of characters introduced in the first half of the book was overwhelming, especially as so many of them were used as viewpoint characters, which made it difficult to really settle into the story. By the middle of the novel, though, I felt that I was getting to know some of them much better and they were starting to feel like real people rather than just names on the page and from this point on I really enjoyed the rest of the book.

Most of the novel is written from the perspective of the Franks, with a focus on three of them in particular: Baldwin, the ‘Leper King’, who is depicted as a courageous and intelligent young man determined to take care of his kingdom until his illness makes it impossible; William, Archbishop of Tyre, tutor to Baldwin, whose chronicle History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea is one of our most important sources of information on the Kingdom of Jerusalem; and Balian d’Ibelin, one of the leading Poulain noblemen who, due to the respect he commands amongst the other lords and his marriage to the king’s stepmother Maria Comnena, often finds himself drawn into the kingdom’s military and political affairs. I’ve noticed that a few other readers have said they found Balian too good to be true, or even anachronistic, but I disagree – there are plenty of other characters in the book who are selfish, weak or untrustworthy, so why shouldn’t there also be one who is decent and honourable? Balian was the only character I fully connected with emotionally; I sympathised with him as he struggled with some very difficult decisions and shared his frustration at the behaviour of some of the other Franks whose inability to put the welfare of the kingdom before their own interests led Jerusalem towards disaster.

We do occasionally see things from the Saracen point of view, particularly when Balian crosses paths with Saladin and his brother al-Adil, and I think Penman does give a balanced portrayal of both sides in the conflict. Although for most of the book the Saracens are the ‘enemy’, whenever the perspective switches to their side we see that Saladin and al-Adil are more admirable than many of the Franks, are prepared to be reasonable in negotiations and to show compassion where necessary. My only complaint is that I would have liked to have spent more time with them instead of just a few pages here and there.

As with Sharon Penman’s other books, this one has clearly been very well researched and her afterword and author’s note are almost as interesting as the story itself. Apart from maybe two or three words and phrases out of a 700 page book, I didn’t have any problems with inappropriately modern language (and I’m usually the first to complain about that sort of thing). However, I didn’t love this one as much as some of her others such as The Sunne in Splendour or Falls the Shadow, which I think is down to finding the writing slightly dry in places and the lack of emotional impact until nearer the end. Still, I really enjoyed The Land Beyond the Sea and am determined to find time soon to read the final book in Penman’s Welsh Princes trilogy, The Reckoning, which has been waiting on my shelf for years!

For whatever reason, Sharon Penman’s books always seem to fly under the reader when discussions of historical epics take place. Everything of hers I have read have blown me away with their sheer brilliance. The Sunne in Splendour is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

So finally getting round to read The Land Beyond The Sea, I was extremely excited, and as expected I was right to do so. This is a vast novel in scope and size, and Penman pulls it off brilliantly. Novels on Saladin and Outremer never normally focus on the years prior to the fall of Jerusalem, so it was fascinating to read.

As ever, the cast of characters is large, but all so brilliantly written. They become real, each with a distinct personality and jumped off the page. The pages flew by and the ending was so satisfying, even if I knew what historically happened.

I did miss having a Penman book set in Britain, I felt the loss of her beautiful descriptions of Wales and the Medieval English court. However the book is still a triumph.

I've loved the work of Sharon Penman for many years. She manages to mix and mingle the twin desires of novels of this type - depth of historical accuracy and engagement on the one hand and a rollicking good story on the other, each and every time and with great aplomb. The Land Beyond The Sea is no exception to this rule. I loved it.

An incredible sweeping saga of the Holy Land between the Second and Third Crusade. T he first half tells the story of the unfortunate leper king of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV, while the second part concentrates on that unsung hero of Jerusalem, Balian d'Ibelin.
This was a truly enjoyable book to read, though a little daunting at the size of it - I stunner of it shouldn't have been split into 2 books, especially seeing as it has two clearly defined halves.
As you'd expect with Sharon Penman, the research is impeccable, which means that she can go into great detail, not only about her characters, but about life in the Holy Land in the 12th century in general - and life for the Saracens as well as the Europeans. This allows the reader to become completely immersed in the story and lives and legends if these characters.
Overall, The Land Beyond the Sea is an impressive read.

Penman is a tour de force in historical novel writing. Her portraits of other times and people who developed in those times is meticulously researched and projected. This standalone was no different, offering a glimpse of 12th Century Jerusalem and the complicated men and women of an intense and twisting plot. There’s no real good guys here, only people being people. Amazingly well written and compulsive.

The Land Beyond the Sea, Sharon Penman

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction

Its years since I read a Sharon Penman novel, so I was really looking forward to this one. Sadly though, it didn't grip me the way some of her earlier novels did. Its possible that my tastes have changed, but I think its more likely that this book, with its focus on Outremer, just didn't draw me in as much as the books set around the UK, with figures from history I'm already familiar with.

There are so many characters here to absorb, people from different countries, differing loyalties and of course the anomaly of Jerusalem/Outremer being out of the Saracens control. It must have been difficult to keep when surrounded by enemies, and much of it seems to have come from constant negotiations, allies and truces rather than never ending battles. Its not all war, and even centuries ago politics were very important and played a huge part in running countries successfully.

I know everyone called Baldwin's mother Agnes a cruel woman but I felt for her. Not allowed to marry the man she wanted, she was forced to marry another for family glory. Then having two kids by her husband, he puts her aside for a new bride simply because he wants to be king and the lords won't accept her. . She doesn't even have the children as solace, Sybilla being brought up in a nunnery and Baldwin staying with his father. No wonder she was so bitter.
I felt for Baldwin, such a potentially wonderful king, intelligent and fair, but struck down with an awful disease. The parts of the novel I enjoyed most where when it focused on particular people, and I felt I was getting to know them personally. There are just so many folk here though, such a mass of detail that I felt overwhelmed by it.
Its a well written novel, in Sharon's usual intense and thorough style, but I just felt I couldn't seem to get that personal angle that makes a story flow for me. I found there were so many folk, so much intensity that I had to keep putting it aside for a while. Then because I knew so few of the characters I had to recap who they were, how they fit.

Stars: Three, a well written and very intense novel, but I felt bogged down at times by the sheer numbers of new to me historical characters

Arc via netgalley and publishers

I'm a fan of Penman's meticulous, detailed historical fiction but have to admit that this is one of my least favourite of her books. Partly my disappointment is with the meandering narrative, more of which later, and partly with the less than stellar writing, not what I expect from Penman at all.

There are constant jarring moments when people in the twelfth century Kingdom of Jerusalem suddenly say things as if they're C21st contemporaries: 'William had a penchant for sometimes oversharing', 'De Toron is... what? Eighteen? That's old enough to have grown a pair.' This is even more odd set against the sprinkling of 'ere', 'mayhaps' and 'for certes' used in speech.

There are unnecessary similes which clutter the prose, many of which are also clichés: 'we can cut through their ranks like a hot knife through butter', 'letting Damascus fall into Saladin's clutches like a ripe plum', 'he had the look of a cat that had got into the cream', 'his mouth was as dry as the Negev Desert' - please, editors, can you not let these pass?

More pressingly, the story feels shapeless and lacks a clear direction. It opens in the 1170s, ends in the 1190s, but those points feel a bit arbitrary. That might have worked if we had a strong focus on characters but Penman, who has in the past created wonderful characters such as her Richard III, Simon de Montfort, and Richard I, doesn't manage that here. There is no protagonist apart from, maybe, the Kingdom itself. Baldwin, the so-called Leper King, is important but he's not a PoV character; Balian d'Ibelin is a ridiculously idealised 'modern man' dressed up in medieval clothing (he speaks Arabic, he treats his wife as an equal, he's friendly with the lower classes and Muslims, he's with his wife in childbirth and doesn't mind daughters instead of sons, he's not worried about leprosy and doesn't subscribe to the superstitions of the period - natch!). There's a whole chorus of characters without much, um, character. It's very different from the recent Richard I books which centred on a flawed but charismatic protagonist on whom to hang the complicated politics.

I've been very critical but should say that this isn't a bad book and that the level of research is, as usual, impressive. Penman takes a granular approach to history so the detail is here of politics, the plotting, the attempted coups, and the struggle for power around the crown. It doesn't reduce to being a bodice-ripper as so much historical fiction is. All the same, as a fervent fan of Penman who has been looking forward to this book all year, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed.