Review: The Price of Loyalty, Excerpt by Malve Von Hassell

In a time of kingdoms and crusades, one man’s heart is the battlefield.

Cerdic, a Saxon knight, serves Count Stephen-Henry of Blois with unwavering loyalty-yet his soul remains divided. Haunted by memories of England, the land of his childhood, and bound by duty to King William, the conqueror who once showed him mercy, Cerdic walks a dangerous line between past and present, longing and loyalty.

At the center of his turmoil stands Adela-daughter of a king, wife of a count, and the first to offer him friendship in a foreign land. But when a political marriage binds him to the spirited and determined Giselle, Cerdic’s world turns again. Giselle, fiercely in love with her stoic husband, follows him across sea and sand to the holy land, hoping to win the heart that still lingers elsewhere.

As the clash of empires looms and a crusade threatens to tear everything apart, Cerdic must confront the deepest truth of all-where does his loyalty lie, and whom does his heart truly belong to?

My Review

This is a story about an English boy—son of a man who died at Hastings—who was raised at the court of William the Conqueror because of a heroic rescue. Sad reward for a boy who was torn from his mother’s arms to lead a better life in the king’s court. Our Cedric adapted slowly to his new existence, finding consolation in the company of King William’s younger children, Henry and Adela. In fact, his attachment to Adela stays with him for life, and he puts himself pretty much at her “beck and call”, regardless of the inconvenience and stress to his own eventual marriage. Well, since his marriage was at the instigation of Adela anyway, he didn’t really give his new wife the love she craved and didn’t know how to express:

Cerdic had made a practical decision when offering for her hand in marriage. Giselle knew that. Everybody did that. For that matter, she had done the same—it was a way to keep her father’s vineyard safe from the clutches of Count Clement. Only her feelings were engaged.

When agreeing to the marriage, Giselle made a promise to herself. She knew how Cerdic felt about Adela; her love for him made her clear-sighted. But she made a secret vow never to challenge him on this matter. But it was hard. She felt trapped, struggling with insecurity, jealousy, and an overwhelming fear of becoming dependent on a man who was liable to leave at any time.

Eventually, Cedric was obliged to follow Adela’s husband Count Stephen-Henry on the first Crusade, though the Count abandoned his duties and returned home, suffering great shame. Ultimately, they returned to the east a year later so that Stephen-Henry could redeem his reputation. Again the strain on Cedric’s marriage was intense, and when the Count was killed, Adela stepped effortlessly into her new role as Regent, requiring Cedric’s presence more and more. He was increasingly away from home for months at a time. His was not a happy life. What’s interesting about Adela is not only her relationship to two brothers who became kings of England, but the fact that Count Stephen, the future king during the Anarchy was her son. Unfortunately, since much of the book was about the fictional Cedric and his fictional wife, not much attention was paid to Adela’s children or her apparently indifferent treatment of them. Nonetheless, it was good to be able to tie all this together.

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bpo2vg

Meet Malve von Hassell

Malve von Hassell is a freelance writer, researcher, and translator. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the New School for Social Research. Working as an independent scholar, she published The Struggle for Eden: Community Gardens in New York City (Bergin & Garvey 2002) and Homesteading in New York City 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida (Bergin & Garvey 1996). She has also edited her grandfather Ulrich von Hassell’s memoirs written in prison in 1944, Der Kreis schließt sich – Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft 1944 (Propylaen Verlag 1994).

Malve has taught at Queens College, Baruch College, Pace University, and Suffolk County Community College, while continuing her work as a translator and writer. She has published two children’s picture books, Tooth Fairy (Amazon KDP 2012 / 2020), and Turtle Crossing (Amazon KDP 2023), and her translation and annotation of a German children’s classic by Tamara Ramsay, Rennefarre: Dott’s Wonderful Travels and Adventures (Two Harbors Press, 2012).

The Falconer’s Apprentice (namelos, 2015 / KDP 2024) was her first historical fiction novel for young adults. She has published Alina: A Song for the Telling (BHC Press, 2020), set in Jerusalem in the time of the crusades, and The Amber Crane (Odyssey Books, 2021), set in Germany in 1645 and 1945, as well as a biographical work about a woman coming of age in Nazi Germany, Tapestry of My Mother’s Life: Stories, Fragments, and Silences (Next Chapter Publishing, 2021), also available in German, Bildteppich Eines Lebens: Erzählungen Meiner Mutter, Fragmente Und Schweigen (Next Chapter Publishing, 2022).

Her latest publication is the historical fiction novel, The Price of Loyalty: Serving Adela of Blois (Historium Press, 2025).