Kings of Albion

England, 1460: the War of the Roses. Rival factions - Lancastrians and Yorkists - are hacking each other to death in a conflict that only the English could name after a beautifully scented flower. It's not an ideal climate for tourists - but three exotic travellers from the Far East are not here for pleasure. They've come to find a missing kinsman.
The English, however, are truly strange. Most of the indigenous population is of the cowed peasant variety whilst any noble who can't trace his ancestry to the Norman Conquest isn't, really, an awfully nice chap. In between battles of the most astonishing brutality, they convey respects instead of affection, make love strangely (and briefly) and amuse themselves by playing a game with an inflated bladder that is in every way a war except it's called 'footie'.

Julian Rathbone is the author of many books including JOSEPH (reissued in Abacus in November 1999) and KING FISHER LIVES, both of which were shortlisted for the Booker prize. He lives in Dorset.