Between the years 1065 and 1068, Buccmaster of Holland lives through one of the most tumultuous times of medieval English history--the Norman Invasion. Within a few weeks, Buccmaster loses his home, his wife, his land, and his sense of country. He flees into the forest to become a "green man"--one of many groups of people resisting Norman rule--but the trauma and his own personality keep him from being very successful at it. 
 There's so much to talk about with this novel. It's a brilliant piece of writing that would be really cool even without the "shadow" Anglo-Saxon it's written in; the plot and characterization are solid, as well. 
 The Language: I have some training in Anglo-Saxon and it took me several dozen pages to get into the groove of the language. I honestly don't know how people who don't have such training handle this (but they seem to be doing pretty well, so). It's an amazingly well-crafted, careful style that gets as close to Anglo-Saxon as we really can without losing everyone who doesn't have the Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary on their shelves (*raises hand sheepishly* *is a nerd*). It's almost like reading Chaucer's Middle English, except there are no French loan-words. All of the vocabulary is entirely Germanic and spelled with only the alphabet available to the Anglo-Saxons (although he doesn't use ashes, eths, or thorns). Be aware, if you're considering reading this but haven't taken the plunge yet, that the language slows everything down considerably. My average time for a book of this length is about 3-4 days; this took me two weeks. 
 The Plot: Interestingly, Kingsnorth doesn't take us into the thick of the fight against William and the rest of the French; at best, Buccmaster and his people are on the fringes of the fight (when they're involved with the fight at all). They're aware of other skirmishes and groups of fighters, but Buccmaster's pride doesn't let him take his people to meet up with someone who might be a greater leader and/or better man than he. The book is less about the fight against the French and more about people's reactions to having their entire lives turned upside-down and everything familiar pulled out from under them. 
 Buccmaster: The main character is easily the most fascinating of the elements of this book. He's obviously proud, obviously unbending, and a not very likable character from the start, though there are a few moments early on that made me laugh out loud. It doesn't take too long, however, for the reader to realize that Buccmaster isn't a very nice person--and then that he's generally an awful person--and then that he's stark raving mad. It seems, for most of the book, that it's the invasion that's broken him, that he's too unbending to handle this sort of upheaval, but by the end of the novel it's obvious that he's never quite played with a full deck. The skill with which Kingsnorth unfolds both the plot and Buccmaster's history and personality is remarkable, and made this a must-read for anyone interested in historical fiction and character-driven novels.