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The Crusades Trilogy #1
Harper
May 2009
On Sale: May 1, 2009
416 pages ISBN: 0061688533 EAN: 9780061688539 Hardcover
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Historical
For power. For passion. For glory. The epic story of the
knights templar. Born in 1150 to a noble family in the Kingdom of Western
Götaland, young Arn Magnusson is marked early on by a
miraculous and fateful event. When the boy inexplicably
recovers after falling from the parapet of his ancestral
home, his mother finds herself beholden to a promise made in
a moment of prayer. Arn, second-born son of Magnus
Folkesson, will live his life in the service of God—sent
from his family to do holy work and to prepare for a
position in the priory. At Varnhem monastery, Arn
comes of age under the tutelage of Father Henri, a
Cistercian monk devoted to his aristocratic pupil's
education. However, grammar, math, and logic are not the
only lessons: Brother Guilbert, the monastery blacksmith and
former Knight Templar, finds Arn adept at training of a very
different kind. Observing the boy's extraordinary talent
with horse, sword, and bow, Father Henri, trusting in God's
will, sends his charge into the world to fulfill a destiny
that lies beyond the cloister walls. Returning
home, Arn finds his monastic habits at odds with his clan's
old and tested ways. Yet his family soon discovers that Arn
has learned more than poetry and farm work, and he proves
himself useful at a time when he is needed most. The murder
of a king has brought Western Götaland into a whirlwind of
intrigue, and cunning lords from East and West are vying for
power. And, when Arn meets the lovely Cecilia, he discovers
this new and dangerous world holds other surprises too.
Before he can claim her hand, however, the headstrong and
naïve noble makes a fateful mistake that will wrench him
from his love and send him to a foreign war—to the Holy Land
to battle infidels for twenty years. From the
frozen landscapes of Northern Europe to the bloody
battlefields of the Middle East, Arn will face brave
knights, powerful queens, and treacherous kings. The first
book in the international bestselling Crusades Trilogy, this
thrilling epic of betrayal, faith, blood, and love sets "a
Shakespearian quest for power" (Corriere della Sera,
Italy) against the backdrop of the Holy Wars, witnessed
through a vibrant, unorthodox lens.
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