Title: The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day
Author: Scott O’Dell
Major Themes: William Tyndale, Bible Translation, London, Reformation
Synopsis: Tom wanted to help William Tyndale get God’s Word into the hands of the people of England—but he was caught between other people who just wanted profit for themselves.
We’re reading about the Protestant Reformation for our history study right now, and when we reached William Tyndale, I had a quick look at our shelf to see what we had about him. It turned out that we have no less than four historical fiction books about this famous man! I chose two of them to read aloud, and discovered that I had never even read The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day to myself before! So, that was a treat.
Publisher’s description:
Smuggling goods is a lucrative business for Tom Barton and his Uncle Jack, but violent seas, raging winds, and sharp-eyed king’s searchers constantly threaten their voyages across the Channel. Then an even bigger challenge arises when Tom and Uncle Jack meet William Tyndale, whose passion is to give the common people an English Bible. Tyndale sees lost souls; Uncle Jack sees a huge profit.
My thoughts:
Somehow, I thought that I had read The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day several years ago, but nothing in the story was familiar. That made it an even better read for me, since it was all new. I have read a lot of books about Tyndale, but this perspective, from the point of view of the person smuggling the Bibles into England, was unique. It made for an exciting story, and we all enjoyed it. There were a number of different plots woven together. Tom found himself between a rock and a hard place when his uncle was arrested for smuggling. An unexpected revelation made him uncertain of what he should be doing and what the truth really was.
A lot of this book is not directly about Tyndale, but rather about Tom and his struggles. We learned quite a lot about the business of smuggling in 16th century England, and saw blackmailing going on. Conditions in the prisons were also described. Some parts of this book were not very pretty! It made quite a compelling story, though. I highly recommend this book for any lover of historical fiction.
WARNING: Chapter 1: Heads impaled on poles on the bridge. Chapter 10: Man attacked and kicked, man thrown overboard. Chapter 11: Battle brutality described in two paragraphs. Chapter 30: Bodies piled up in the death cart. Chapter 39: Description of Tyndale’s martyrdom. Chapter 40: Talk of bloody revenge.
Age levels:
Listening Level—Ages 8 – 12, 10 – 12, 12 – 15, Family Friendly
Reading Independently—Ages 10 – 12, 12 – 15
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Hardcover
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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