Ironhand's Daughter by David Gemmell.

David Gemmell has become a legend writing Historical/Heroic fiction. Appropriate as his first successful novel was called simply "Legend"

"Ironhand's Daughter" stands up well but is slower to start than many of his works building bit by bit through heart break, tragedy and sorrow to a final confrontation between the forces of good and evil (or the forces of the not so good and the just a little bad) as seen from the combatants viewpoints.

This is certainly not Mr Gemmell's best novel but it is still a great read and I would recommend it.