Harlequin (known as The Archer's Tale in the United States) is a 2001 historical fiction novel by Bernard Cornwell, and is the first in The Grail Quest series of novels. Set during the early years of The Hundred Years War, it follows Thomas of Hookton, a young English longbowman as he participates in the War of Breton Succession.
This book provides examples of:
- Amoral Attorney: Belas is thoroughly self-serving, and is heavily implied to be a pedophile.
- Annoying Arrows: Averted, harshly and often graphically.
- An Ass-Kicking Christmas: Skeat and his men, including Thomas Hookton, spend the Christmas season of 1345 burning and pillaging the countryside of northern Brittany.
- Badass Preacher: Father Hobbe is a priest who will happily kill Frenchmen when he isn't tending to the souls of Englishmen.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Inverted. When Thomas meets Sir Guillaume and states he's from the town Guillaume had burned, he expects this reaction, but Guillaume instantly remembers it.
- Historical Domain Character: William Bohun, the Earl of Northampton, was a real person, though actually called William de Bohun. Edward, the Black Prince also plays an important role.
- Impoverished Patrician: Sir Simon Jekyll is deeply in debt and his armor has rusted because he can't afford to maintain it.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Sir Giles Marriott allows Thomas to join the fight in France with only a nominal protest.
- Will Skeat, a commander with thirty years of experience, is willing to listen to suggestions from subordinates.
- Time Skip: After opening with a raid on Thomas's hometown of Hookton, England, in 1342, the narrative jumps forward three years to the campaign in Brittany.
