The Arrow of Sherwood — Lauren Johnson

“This new version of the Robin Hood legend kept my attention and interest with every turn of the page. Read it and enjoy!” -- The World Wide Robin Hood Society
 
1193. A crusader returns to his home in Nottinghamshire, to find that England has been torn between the land-owning Norman lords and their English subjects, the country crippled by years of taxation and the long absence of its king. The crusader's name is Robin of Locksley. Following a youth spent with lowborn friends Robin is determined to settle into the role his father wanted for him: a lord dispensing justice to the county. But a false rumor of his death in the East has stolen Robin's lands from him, and the justice meted out by his fellow lords hardly seems to deserve the name. When Robin is compelled by a neighboring lord to condemn his childhood friends for a crime they did not commit, he realizes that he must choose between the need to regain his lost inheritance and his desire to help the commoners of Nottinghamshire.
 
In this lucidly imagined and carefully researched recreation of the era of King Richard “the Lionheart,” Robin seeks the support of common-born and noble to defy the self-serving lords who oppose him, but it soon becomes clear that he can accomplish more outside the law than within it . . .
 
In this her first novel, Lauren Johnson offers “a unique blend of legend, history, genuine characters, and page-turning storytelling . . .  a realistic take on this magical myth” (Medievalists.net).
 
“Addictive and absorbing.” -- Medieval Warfare