$16.95
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 15 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 3 hrs 50 mins
Only 17 left in stock (more on the way).
$$16.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.95
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day easy returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Ronald Welch
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Gauntlet Paperback – March 4, 2017

by Ronald Welch (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 137 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$16.95","priceAmount":16.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"16","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"U8mY%2Br1Q%2BK1CBWrz118psaGW5T2Up0MHp8hAngCkdIepPZqyvjHQ4rvbzo4AJlVm8Iax9vMQJCU4NuNgEZeQvvogcTQ%2BsgfhyMlvaye%2Fo5UG9FN5xy9RlLDjbi2FuTH5qEV4wCzpnGA2tv9EAgTa5g%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Young Peter is visiting uncle in the Welsh countryside. When he finds an old knight's gauntlet, he put it on and is transported back in time to the fourteenth century. There he is the supposed son of a great Norman knight, his ancestor. He learns all about the Medieval life, and enjoys every part of his adventure (archery, hawking, jousting), even when danger arrives in the form of attack from the Welsh tribes. He helps his family lift the seige of their castle, but must finally return to his time. Will anyone believe his story? How can he convince them?

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Reading age
    9 - 12 years
  2. Print length
    230 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    Kindergarten and up
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.48 x 8.5 inches
  6. Publisher
    Hillside Education
  7. Publication date
    March 4, 2017
  8. ISBN-10
    0997664711
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0997664713
  10. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

The Gauntlet
$16.95
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
Only 17 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Knight Crusader
$23.83
Get it as soon as Friday, May 17
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Prime Deals, USA and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
One of these items ships sooner than the other.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hillside Education (March 4, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 230 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0997664711
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0997664713
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12 years
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ Kindergarten and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.48 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 137 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Ronald Welch

Ronald Welch

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
137 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

wiki
5.0 out of 5 stars The Gauntlet - a highly enjoyable historical novel for children
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2012
Verified Purchase
This book is as enjoyable now as when I was 8 years old, and a book which is really good to own, printed to become a collection book. Congratulations to 'Our Lady of Victory' publishers for this.I would love to see some other Ronald Welch books republished. it's interesting that the idea of putting on an item of clothing and changing historical eras is now quite a frequent means of telling a story, but for me at 8 years old, this was enthralling. I am just waiting to read this story to my grandson.
A great read and re-read for lovers of children's historical novels. Thanks again.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
ophewathun
4.0 out of 5 stars Captivating historical YA novel of time travel and the Middle Ages
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2016
Verified Purchase
Time travel, life in a medieval castle as a squire to a heroic knight -- a wonderful tale with the kinds of details that will capture the imagination of young teens. Table manners (you must slurp and smack your lips to show how much you like the food), wine for everyone, even the kids, how knights put on their armor, the rules of jousting. A young teen finds himself transported back in time as himself(!) and seems to discover that he played a pivotal role in a major battle, resulting in a commemorative brass being placed in a church in the town where he lives in the 20th century. Can he prove he was really there?
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Faafetai Taase
5.0 out of 5 stars Be the Infinity Gauntlet there was this..
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2020
Verified Purchase
The Gauntlet was a childhood memory, the book I read in my preteen years, that I remembered as I read The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in High School - The Gauntlet and The Lord of the Rings both, borrowed from the school library.
Helpful
 Report
zsnyc
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant historical fiction for kids & adults
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2020
Verified Purchase
I just finished reading this to my 9 year old son, we were both captivated and learnt so much about Medieval history. Stylistically, I found Ronald Welch's writing to be masterful. Strong recommend!
Helpful
 Report
Robert Paterson
5.0 out of 5 stars Still wonderful after a lifetime
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2016
Verified Purchase
I first read The Gauntlet as an 8 year old in 1958. It had an immense impact on me and directed my life towards history. Now 65, I have reread it for the first time. It holds up very well and still evokes a sense of wonder for the past. Now two of Welch's books are on Kindle. Please let's have more.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Karl
5.0 out of 5 stars ... should be available but it just isn't I was happy to get this book Not quite as good as ...
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2016
Verified Purchase
more of this authors work should be available but it just isn't I was happy to get this book Not quite as good as Knight Crusader but it just may have been because I did not find the chief character's situation as interesting. Still great read wish I could get more of them
Helpful
 Report
Lady Fancifull
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent adventure for boys 8-12, with an interest in medieval history and warfare
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2015
I was interested to read this Carnegie medal winning author from the 50s, and found this an enjoyable read (though with some reservations, as detailed in the last paragraphs) I discovered that this particular book was not the Carnegie medal winner - that is another with the same overall setting - medieval warfare - Knight Crusader.

Peter Staunton, a young, clearly upper-middle class boy, and his ditto friend Gwyn, are staying with Gwyn's uncle `in the Welsh Mountains'. As Gwyn (devoted to things scientific) and Peter (drawn to history) walk in the ruins of an ancient Norman Castle, Carrag Cennen, Peter discovers a medieval gauntlet, which has the mysterious power, as he later discovers, to take him back in time to 600 years ago.

To aid the young (or even the adult) reader, Gwyn's uncle and the friendly local vicar, history buffs both (like the author) offer twentieth century instruction on the Normans and their battles with Welshmen and women whose lands they had captured. Very fortunately for Peter this advance tuition does happen before he does, in the end, go back in time, preventing him from making a complete idiot of himself.

Gwyn's Uncle and the friendly Rev do also manage to darkly tell the boys about certain local myths which will explain why and how Peter has the mysterious gauntlet experience, since it turns out he is descended directly from the de Blois Norman knights whose castle it was. And, surprise, surprise, once back in time, he also meets a boy who looks remarkably like Gwyn but is the son of the main Welsh chieftain, active in resisting those Norman Conquests in his area.

I have no hesitation in recommending it to its target audience - any boy who is a fan of invented warfare, of the Star Wars variety, might be intrigued by the same tales of derring-do carefully set in a very real, but equally `alien' world - that of 600 years ago.

As an adult, there is probably a little too much obvious instruction of the reader about the things he doesn't know, using Peter's lack of knowledge, to be credible - it's a device I particularly get irritated by in adult fiction, where two characters, who WOULD have knowledge, are made to give the reader, who lacks the knowledge, vital technical information - the device where Einstein turns to Niels Bohr and says, "so, Niels, remind me about the basics of particle physics, there's a good chap!" - Or, in this case, Peter, firmly back in the fourteenth century, son of a powerful knight, who all his life has been defending the territory, is continually saying "so what exactly is a trebuchet?" "what is a mangonel?" and the like. Curiously, Roger de Blois, Peter's fourteenth century father, does not seem to wonder why his son seems to have forgotten everything about medieval warfare, armoury, jousting, falconry and the like.

Some books written for children do seem to be able to be read with critical surrender by adults - this was not one of them, I felt every one of my more sophisticated and mature years, and the gender gap, very keenly - not to mention the uneasiness of someone who is sensitive, as a denizen of a `United Kingdom' of the substrate of patronisation of the Celtic races which is part of our history. I'm not quite sure, even for young boy readers in the time this was written, whether this would have been such an enjoyable book if you were Welsh, as opposed to English.

Although adventure loving girls interested in history might also find much to appreciate in this, I would suggest that the lack of any female role model for a girl to identify with could prove a little puzzling and frustrating. There is only one female of any note, the central character's mother in the fourteenth century, and though she demonstrates an ability for elegant dress, and is an authority on genteel table manners in the period - she spits on the floor, never on the table itself - and manages to gnaw on bones without dribbling down the front of her elegant apparel, this may not be enough for a girl reader who would like to know her own part in history. Oh, there is a particularly smelly old witch who makes a brief appearance, whom pretty well everyone thinks is a fool, not to mention far too grubby to take seriously. But that is it, as far as females are concerned. As a well-past-my-girlhood adult reader, I could enjoy this in a manner which tries to think myself into the mind and heart of a small boy, but I'm pretty sure that it would have annoyed me as a young girl, as even back in the day, I definitely preferred `children's books' which did have at least one young female who did rather more than model fashions look pretty, and play admiring and passive audience to the young (male) adventurer

So - probably a fabulous book for a young boy who is not Welsh, who loves tales of the olden days, a good bit of derring-do, and fine writing. For them this may be 5 star, I've docked a star because I can't escape from the culture of my own time, place and gender.

I guess this IS the advantage where enemies are intergalactic - you can make the bad guys anyone and no one!

The book is completed by the original black and white illustrations by T.R. Freeman (in the 2015 UK published Version from OUP)

I received this from the Amazon Vine programme, UK, as a review copy
Helpful
 Report
Joanna
5.0 out of 5 stars Bought as a gift
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2013
Verified Purchase
This book is excellent especially for boys. It is not really a book a young girl might find interesting. I read it previously and knew my nephew would like it, too. So I purchased this copy for him as a gift.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Gail
5.0 out of 5 stars Big hit with my 8 year old grand daughter.
Reviewed in Canada on January 26, 2019
Verified Purchase
This book was a childhood favourite of mine. I was thrilled that my granddaughter couldn’t put it down. My daughter heard her reading it aloud in her bedroom. Lovely to share my childhood with her. Just ordered Knight Crusader as well.❤️
Report
Silure Dumnonii
5.0 out of 5 stars Still wonderful after 5 decades
Reviewed in Australia on July 4, 2023
Verified Purchase
This is one of those books that you read as a child and never forget. But the real wonder of it is that when you read it again as an adult it has scarcely dated and still embodies the magical atmosphere that was so engaging in the first place… a true wonder!
I wish more of Ronald Welch’s books were available (besides the equally engrossing and atmospheric ‘Knight Crusader’)!
Report
guyjfp
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent historical novel for older children and young at heart adults.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2015
Verified Purchase
An excellent historical novel with an element of time travel from a well known author who in the 1960's -70's was one of the stars ,along with the likes of Rosemary Sutcliff and William Mayne, of the Oxford University Press.Sutcliff is still read although Mayne ended up in prison for child abuse and his books have disappeared (they were always more praised by adults than read by children).
Ronald Welch is still remembered for his books following the Carey family down the ages but his best book is probably Knight Crusader which begins the Carey saga.The Gauntlet is a stand alone novel and probably aimed at a slightly younger audience than his Carey novels.Like most of Welch's books it had a Welsh connection - in this case set in the Welsh Marches.I have re-read it several times and it has stood the test of time.
2 people found this helpful
 Report
R VanStempvoort
4.0 out of 5 stars excellent for young history buffs
Reviewed in Canada on October 5, 2017
Verified Purchase
When I was in junior high, this was one of my very favorite books. I was especially fascinated by the idea of going back in time. Reading it as an adult gives one a different perspective. However, it remains a pretty interesting story. The detail on medieval life reveals how well the author, Ronald Welch, knew his history. Although, the book definitely has a story line which is fairly engaging, it appears to me to primarily be a vehicle for teaching about medieval culture in an interesting way. I would recommend this book for a younger person who wants to learn about life in the Middle Ages in an interesting way.
One person found this helpful
 Report
John Hopper
4.0 out of 5 stars educational time travel story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 28, 2016
Verified Purchase
This is a Medieval historical novel published in 1951 and, I realised once I started it, aimed at intelligent children rather than adult readers. A teenage boy (how earnest and sober-minded such teenage boys are in fiction written in that era!) Peter Staunton, finds a Medieval gauntlet on a Welsh mountainside that has the power to transport its wearer back to 14th century Wales. Later, he falls asleep in the ruins of a Welsh castle and wakes up during that era, where is taken for one of his ancestors, Peter de Blois, son of the local Norman knight who is fighting Welsh insurgents. He has various adventures, and a lot of educational information is imparted to the reader about Medieval life and customs, castles, armour, heraldry, clothes and monastic life. As a straight novel, it is very average, but it gets a decent rating for its worthy intent.
3 people found this helpful
 Report