19 h 9 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when the law serves power, and justice takes refuge in the forest?
In Forest Days, G. P. R. James draws on the legend of Robin Hood to open a world of castles, abbeys and greenwood paths. Sherwood Forest offers more than shelter. It is a place of danger and freedom, where the outlaw tradition challenges those who misuse authority.
This historical romance sets invented lives against a medieval English past marked by sharp divisions of rank. Robin Hood stands on the side of the poor, while the story's world brings law and conscience into tension. James takes his time, building scenes through landscape, dress and a narrator who speaks about right and wrong.
What you’ll discover
- The outlaw's appeal Meet the Robin Hood tradition through its sympathy for the poor and resistance to unjust power.
- A forest apart Enter woodland where refuge, danger and freedom share the same green paths.
- Law against conscience Explore the uneasy distance between what authority demands and what justice seems to require.
- Old England in detail Move among castles and abbeys in a world shaped by wealth, poverty and rank.
- A leisurely telling Settle into carefully built scenes, with room to notice landscape, clothing and moral questions.
Who will love it
Readers who love Robin Hood, medieval England, forest feasts, chivalry and a villain worth hating, and who enjoy a romance where love, honour and politics tangle together.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A village inn hides a disguised outlaw
- A May Day dance ends in swords
- Sherwood has its own laws and feasts
- Two earls and a prince in a divided land
- Lucy de Ashby vanishes on the road
- Kate Greenly learns what she gave up
- The war pulls a prince and a knight apart
- A false message tests the forest's friendships
- What the story says about honour and disguise
Who’s who
- Robin HoodThe outlaw leader of Sherwood, quick-witted and generous, who uses disguise and his band of yeomen to right wrongs.
- Hugh de MonthermerA learned young lord and fine fighter, loyal to De Montfort and to his friend Prince Edward, who loves Lucy de Ashby.
- Lucy de AshbyThe Earl of Ashby's lively, warm-hearted daughter, who has promised to marry Hugh whatever the feud between their families.
- Richard de AshbyA poor and cunning kinsman of the Ashbys, a spy and seducer who wants wealth, land and Lucy for himself.
- Kate GreenlyA village landlord's pretty, vain daughter who leaves her sweetheart for Richard and slowly learns what it cost her.
- Ralph HarlandA young freeholder who loves Kate truly and is left grieving, then joins Robin's cause as a spearman.
- Alured de AshbyLucy's proud, hot-tempered brother, who fears mockery above all and dislikes the house of Monthermer.
- TangelA quick, sharp-tongued dwarf of astonishing agility who serves Robin and becomes Hugh's faithful page.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Forest Days
by G. P. R. James · 1843
A hunchbacked ploughman in a village inn is a forest outlaw in disguise, and he has a traitor to expose.
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In short
A hunchbacked ploughman drinks in a village inn near Pontefract, and the hump is a stuffed pad. Forest Days, by G. P. R. James, places Robin Hood in the reign of Henry the Third, in the years of Simon de Montfort's rising.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A village inn hides a disguised outlaw
The story opens at a wooden inn fourteen miles from Pontefract, where a stooped ploughman called Hardy drinks Bordeaux before asking Kate to bring him ale. His hump is a stuffed pad, and his old man's stoop is an act. He is Scathelock, one of the forest outlaws. James sets the tale in the time of Henry the Third, during the struggle between that weak king and Simon de Montfort.
A servant named Thomas Blawket arrives, sent by a friendly earl to meet some gentlemen. Hardy picks a fight with two men who ride with Richard de Ashby, and in the scuffle he tears open a coat. Underneath he sees three golden leopards, the royal badge, so one of the pair is a spy. The next morning he leads Blawket into the woods, drops the pad, and warns him.
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What is Forest Days about?
It is a romance set in the reign of Henry the Third. Robin Hood, an outlaw on the side of Simon de Montfort, helps a young lord and a village girl while a scheming kinsman plots against a noble house.
Is Robin Hood in the time of Richard the Lionheart in this book?
No. James deliberately sets Robin in the years of the struggle between Henry the Third and Simon de Montfort, and says in a dedication that old chronicles support the later date.
Is Forest Days a true story?
James blends a romance of forest life and divided loyalties with the conflict involving De Montfort, Prince Edward and Gloucester.
The author
G. P. R. James
1799–1860 · English historical novelist
George Payne Rainsford James (1799–1860) was an English novelist and historical writer, born in London. He wrote Richelieu, published in 1829, and Forest Days, published in 1843. He also worked as a British consul in the United States and in Venice. He died in Venice in 1860.
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