The cunning of the dove - Alfred Duggan

Alfred Duggan's Saxon novels have a special cachet. In The Cunning of the Dove, this masterly author chooses Edward the Confessor as his hero.

The story is told by the royal chamberlain. He thinks in English, speaks in French and writes in Latin, but Duggan does our share of the work and the fog is dissipated. St Edward is unwrapped from the shroud of ignorance that has enveloped him, and is presented as a credible human being: a saint, but one whose unworldliness gave him extraordinary political foresight. He is remembered for the splendid foundation of Westminster. But his greatest contribution was his unswerving belief that England needed a Norman rule to unify the country.

'Before Alfred Duggan wrote this novel Edward the Confessor was probably the dimmest of English kings. But Duggan is a master . . . and brings to life a whole remote age, which we accept, miracles and all.' Evening Standard

'He is a true artist, creating and composing from a disciplined imagination. There is no denying the coherence and lucidity of his account' Times Literary Supplement

'There have been few historical imaginations better informed or more gifted than Alfred Duggan's' (The New Criterion)

Historian, archaeologist and novelist Alfred Duggan wrote historical fiction and non-fiction about a wide range of subjects, in places and times as diverse as Julius Caesar's Rome and the Medieval Europe of Thomas Becket.

Although he was born in Argentina, Duggan grew up in England, and was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. After Oxford, he travelled extensively through Greece and Turkey, visiting almost all the sites later mentioned in his books. In 1935 helped excavate Constantine's palace in Istanbul.

Duggan came to writing fiction quite late in his life: his first novel about the First Crusade, Knight in Armour, was published in 1950, after which he published at least a book every year until his death in 1964. His fictional works were bestselling page-turners, but thoroughly grounded in meticulous research informed by Duggan's experience as an archaeologist and historian.

Duggan has been favourably compared to Bernard Cornwell as well as being praised in his own right as 'an extremely gifted writer who can move into an unknown period and give it life and immediacy.' (New York Times).