The Heaven Tree

The Heaven Tree takes place on the Welsh Marches in the 13C as the nobly born Harry Talvace and his foster brother Adam are accused of poaching one of the king's deer. The lower born Adam's punishment is too severe to be born and both boys make good their escape. They eventually make their way to Paris where Harry hones his craft as a master mason and artist. While in Paris, the boys make acquaintance with the courtesan Benedetta (who loves Harry, but her love is not returned) and the Lord of Parfois, Ralf Isambard. Isambard hires Harry to build him a great cathedral at Parfois along the Welsh Marches, and he takes Benedetta along with him as mistress and is unaware that Harry is the one who she will love forever. The middle of the book slows down a bit as the author details Harry's daily life as he builds the cathedral and his marriage to the long lost Gilleis. However, the story does pick up around page 300 or so as a young Welsh hostage who is allegedly a natural born son of Prince Llewellyn is threatened with hanging by Isambard at King John's orders. Harry makes a desperate choice to save the boy that has dire consequences for himself, his wife and Benedetta, although Harry returns to his commitment to complete the cathedral despite the sentence of a traitor's death hanging over him. While this novel may be a bit too slow paced for some readers, the last 100 or so pages completely make up for the slower pace at the start as the author brings Harry, Gilleis and Benedetta full circle in a desperate race to escape the revenge minded Isambard and bring Harry's son and Gilleis to safety in Wales. Pargeter's beautiful prose and writing style is one to sit back and slowly savor like a fine red wine or chocolate (or both!!). I am very much looking forward to starting book #2 in the trilogy, The Green Branch. Five stars.