Reviews For
The Lost Legend

Wow!! TIME WELL SPENT!!!

Not since reading, Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen (1933), all 1,224 pages of it, have I been so rapt and delighted with a book of historical fiction. I can hardly wait for the sequel to Scavengers from the Sea: a Historical Thriller Novel by Rob Mackintosh I want to know what happens next to our hero, Alric, and his friend Cadmon. I want to follow their lives and also immerse more in their world of 7th century Europe, a time of great changes — the time of the “fall of the Roman Empire” and the spread of Christianity. This chronicle is sparking my imagination and educating me (!) They say as we get older especially, we need to keep learning new things to keep our brains alive. Well, if you want to keep learning and stimulate your imagination and so many brain cells (whatever your age) just pick up this book!

After my first reading of about 5 or 10 pages, I felt a bit lost: Where am I? What is going on? Descriptions are vivid and full of strange detail of a corner of England and a time in history I am not very familiar with. I think I was too tired and didn’t put my full effort and commitment to the read. I nearly gave up, but, thankfully, started again from the beginning and was hooked…. “ENTER INTO THE TIME MACHINE”…I traveled back 1400 years to the Kingdon of Cantia and then by ship to Rome.

The author has done his research! I experienced life in these places as it was experienced by everyday people living there, what they ate, what they wore, how they travelled. I have learned so much about history whilst being with believable characters who have become my friends. The story line carried me through imbibing an awful lot of history –not just facts and physical descriptions, but subtle nuances of the social, economic and political issues of the times, that would not have sunk in from any lecture or history textbook. All the details give the story vivid, full color multi-sensory reality! I think the author is brilliant as well as being a great researcher, and, who knows?–perhaps he has emerged memories of a past life! Maybe he is Alric, or perhaps the Pope, but certainly, even today h remains the Scribe!
As I said, I am eagerly awaiting the sequel. It took me two years to read Anthony Adverse in one volume (often published in 3 volumes) I was sad when Anthony died and that story was over. Now with the first volume of A Legend of the English finished so quickly I am looking forward to the next …and the next. This, our first volume, ends with our heroes returning home from Rome to Cantia, , where their life adventure and our adventure started at the beginning of Scavengers from the Sea……

To dear Rob Mackintosh: Thank you for the first 179 pages, my $14.99 well-spent on Amazon. Thank you for your obvious keen and fastidious research, incitefulness and compassion into human nature, your great imagination and your remarkable writing skills. Your first work of non-fiction? Long may you live to take your eager readers further on this great saga.

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Insightful, entertaining, and fascinating

I had no idea what a rich story was about to unfold when I began reading this book. Gripping, tragic, funny, and deep. This book opens the mind and touches the heart. It offers a rare glimpse into another time, another way of life as if you are right there yourself with them living through truly extraordinary times. Read it yourself. Thank you, Rob, for this remarkable book and I look forward to the next one!” – Ashley Hecht

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Recreating ancient life in Kent

This is a satisfying read if you like historical fiction. As I live in eastern Kent, I loved imagining this part of England in the sixth century. You can sympathize with the characters as they ride the conflicts of family, tribe and early medieval society. Its themes of migration, slavery and religion are surprisingly apt as well. – SEHI

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The Lost Legend – this was a really worthwhile book. As the reader I became very interested in the story and the characters from the beginning. The author’s careful and detailed research is obvious and adds to the credibility of the novel. In my view the book would have benefitted from sketches and maps to help me locate where the story was unfolding. – C. J. Smith.

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This is a very well-written and researched book and was easy and enjoyable to read. It contains a good mix of legend, fact and fiction skillfully woven together by the author. It shows a good insight into life in East Kent during the later end of the sixth century. – Ken Young

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Gripping!

This excellent historical novel has everything you could want: a rattling good plot; rounded, sympathetic, believable characters; close observation in its detailed descriptions; extraordinary historical accuracy and a good pace that makes you want to keep turning those pages. Buy this book!!

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A historical novel with contemporary resonance

I live in Canterbury and am surrounded by evidence of Augustine’s mission to England which was so successful but on the face of it so unlikely to succeed. What I had not given a thought to were the political contexts in both south east England and Rome in the sixth century. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel in which the author takes time to explore and explain the cultural and political forces shaping both societies. I had not realised that Rome under Gregory’s enlightened papacy was so threatened by forces of power, greed and expediency and the picturing of these tensions, in a time very distant from our own, nonetheless has inescapable modern parallels. I look forward to the continuing novels in this series. – Mary MP

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‘One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.’ – Sophocles

British author Rob Mackintosh, born in South Africa, gained his education at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, earned his MBA from Cranfield University, UK and his Masters in Theology from Oxford, lectured at the Graduate School of Business in Cape Town, and prepared for the Anglican ministry at Oxford followed by three-year curacy in Cannock, England, and twelve years as Rector of Girton in Cambridge, England. Rob left parochial ministry in 2001 to serve as Executive Director of a newly formed Leadership Institute for clergy at all levels in the Church, following which he accepted the post of Director of Ministry & Training in Canterbury Diocese until his retirement. In 2016 Rob was awarded the Canterbury Cross by the Archbishop of Canterbury for Services in Leadership Development for the Church of England. He now settles in to writing English historical novels.

Rob’s intensive research and study of English literature and history serves us well as he presents a tale few others would have approached. Yes, the connection between Britannia and Rome ha been the source of books and films, but not with the degree of sensitivity to character building that Rob achieves. He opens his first volume of what hopefully will be an ongoing series in the year 589 AD in Rome: ‘My head sagged in the drowsy afternoon sun, a trickle of sweat running down my back. A voice called from the riverbank. I looked up and saw my younger brother Godric holding out a small wooden carving as a gift for me. The voice called again, and my dream dissolved. “Not far now!” I opened my bleary eyes. Godric had disappeared. In his place, a young boy about my age stood on the towpath, his team of oxen attached by a thick rope to the prow of our vessel. Felix, the skipper, called out from the stern in his bullhorn voice, “How far?” “Maybe two miles, maybe less.” “Make it less!” The ship rocked slowly beneath our feet. I straightened up, the chains on my wrists rattling across the oar resting on my knees. I gazed at the landscape but saw no signs of life. No ducks paddled on the river, and not a single starling chattered in the trees. No cows, sheep, or goats grazed on the riverbanks. Not even a dog barked. The only sounds coming from the shore were the lowing of oxen and the sharp crack of a herdsman’s whip. A sigh escaped my lips as a vision of my sister Tola drifted before my eyes. More than four months had passed, but I still missed her bitterly and ached all the more for home. Cadmon, sitting near me, guessed what I was feeling and gave a sympathetic pout of his lips. I glanced down at the river as something, drifting just below the surface, bumped against the vessel. I guessed it was a log, but it rolled over, and I stared in horror at a fully clothed body. Its face was down in the water and its arms trailed with palms upturned. In a few moments, the corpse had floated past and disappeared downstream. Attracting attention on Felix’s ship brought trouble, so I sat in silence as a stab of anxiety twisted in my stomach. I glanced nervously upriver. What kind of place was this? Cadmon saw my expression and raised his eyebrows. I drew a finger across my throat and nodded towards the river. On the riverbank, the oxen hauled our ship past an imposing basilica, its white-columned porticoes facing the river. Along the whole winding length of our journey from the port of Ostia, we had seen farm buildings razed to the ground, blackened roof beams poking into a pale blue sky. Only the basilica we were passing remained undamaged. Felix seemed to have seen all this before; he made none of his usual comments as the landscape slowly unfolded.

The plot is well summarized – ‘The Lost Legend is a tale of hope and despair, treachery and heroism, fear and courage, love lost, and love found. Based on a sixth-century English Legend, the thriller follows the fortunes of two Anglo-Saxon boys and a younger sister, seized from their homeland to be sold into slavery. Heartbreakingly, Tola, the girl becomes separated and her brother Alric is haunted by the knowledge that he has failed to protect her. The sight of these two fair-haired Anglo-Saxons, Alric and Cadmon, arriving at a slave market in Rome, ultimately inspires Pope Gregorius to reach out to the Anglo-Saxon people of Cantia. The youngsters enter a world that is ruthless in the search of kingdoms, where Rome is in crisis, Constantinople in moral decline, and Francia torn apart by internecine warfare. Meanwhile, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Cantia waits at the crossroads.’

At last a new writer of historical fiction who scribes with authority, charm, and dignity while unveiling the past history of England as it might have been. Recommended.
– Grady Harp – HALL OF FAME | TOP 100 REVIEWER

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A superb read. Historical fiction, when done well as in this case, can help bring history to life.

A superb read!! Historical fiction, when done well as in this case, can help bring history to life. These books are a perfect example of this. As we study world history in the classroom we all too often focus on the key dates, major figures. Missing out on the finder detail of ‘life’ as lived at the time.
The author clearly has a deep interest in this early Christian period (which is clear in his book on St. Augustine, titled “Augustine of Canterbury: Leadership, Mission and Legacy”). With this background, it is easy for the author to transport the reader into the unique lives of the various characters in the books. I really enjoyed this series and it has also brought a period of our history to life for me. When is the next book??

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Very enjoyable read – with many themes that feel relevant today!

There is no doubt that the author has researched this impeccably – you read secure in the knowledge that whether in Rome or Eastern England the times are depicted with total realism. If you happen to live in this area of England this becomes even more fascinating. You become immersed in the lives of the three young people and long to know how they fare – I have a feeling they may just be OK, but looking forward to reading the next installment to find out!

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Five Stars

Brilliant story, and a page-turner!!

This is an historical novel in a 3-part series that has everything you could ask for: a rattling good plot; rounded, sympathetic, believable characters; close observation in descriptions; extraordinary historical accuracy, and a good pace that makes you want to keep turning those pages!

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In Pursuit of Kingdoms: This is a fast moving novel, an engaging narrative intertwined with a painstakingly researched historical perspective.

The final book of the trilogy, spanning five decades  and written in the first person, Alric is central to the novel.  The homecoming for Alric, Cadmon and Tola is a joyous occasion.  Given up for lost, all three are feted and welcomed in each family’s personal way, according to their own custom. 

Alric continues to focus on his role within the church, but his family retains his close family bond and there are regular visits.  Increasingly, however, Alric is increasingly focussed on developing Christianity within the immediate Saxon world.  His work is mission, developing the faith and the building of an abbey and a cathedral.  His character continues to develop, as monk, teacher, scribe, but he still remains at ease within his family bond.

Throughout these fifty years there is ongoing opposition from all quarters and at times there are fears the mission will fail.  The author continues to interweave historical research alongside an engaging and fast moving narrative.  There is friendship and  then marriage between Cadmon and Tola,  Cadmon’s military exploits, the renouncing of pagan gods and the gradual acceptance of, and conversion to the Christian faith.  Wrongs are righted in the form of Felix and crew and the banishment of Cadmon’s brother Derian.

Alric, of course, is unable to forget Paulina, the one great love of his life.  Who could not feel for Alric when he comes face to face with Victorinus, his son, Paulina’s parting gift that night in Rome. Or feel the pathos as the young man is introduced to Erlina, Alric’s dying mother as her grandson.

So finally,Bertha’s prophesy at Alric’s birth is fulfilled, that he will “follow the example of the Great Fisherman” .  The cathedral building is well underway, Queen Bertha’s wish to build the Abbey of San Paolo e’ Petro is completed and the final quest for Alric, ……. awarded the office of Abbot.

This is a fast moving novel, an engaging narrative intertwined with a painstakingly researched historical perspective.

A really good read.   Highly Commended!

– Pam Eccles