Stewart Monti’s work of historical fiction transports readers to the court of King Henry II, where a remarkable young girl dares to imagine a life beyond what her era would allow. Hillary and Sir Edward is a richly crafted medieval tale rooted in themes that feel as urgent today as they were centuries ago.
At the center of the story is Hillary, a thirteen-year-old whose upbringing sets her apart from every girl of her time. Raised by her father Jacob, a blacksmith with rare training in swordsmanship, Hillary grows up mastering skills few women of the 12th century would ever touch, fencing, chess, and horsemanship, all while holding fast to her own sense of grace and identity. Her world shifts when Sir Edward, a respected family friend, arrives seeking a page. The question his visit raises cuts to the heart of the novel: in a society defined by rigid roles, can a girl claim a place no girl has held before?
Hillary and Sir Edward is historical fiction at its most purposeful. Monti does not simply recreate the medieval world, he interrogates it, using Hillary’s story to examine what happens when individual potential collides with institutional expectation. The result is a narrative that feels both authentically rooted in its era and powerfully relevant to modern readers.
The novel extends the world Monti established in his earlier work, Mary and Sir Edward, deepening the lineage of characters shaped by resilience and quiet defiance. The seeds of Hillary and Sir Edward were planted during the development of a screenplay adaptation of the original story, as Monti began tracing where its characters might go and what their legacies might mean. Hillary emerged from that creative exploration as a character whose story demanded to be told in full.
Underlying the entire narrative is a conviction Monti returns to throughout his writing, there is never anything you cannot do. It is not presented as a simple affirmation, but earned through Hillary’s choices, her setbacks, and her refusal to accept a smaller version of herself than the one she knows to be true.
Readers drawn to character-driven historical fiction, stories where the period is precise but the emotional stakes are timeless, will find Hillary and Sir Edward both immersive and deeply rewarding.
Hillary and Sir Edward by Stewart Monti is available for purchase on Amazon and other online retailers.
Global Book Network – Stewart T. Monti Sr, Author of Hillary and Sir Edward:
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Stewart Monti
Hillary and Sir Edward
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