Kate Fordham is living a lie. She's taken on an assumed
name in the city of Granada where she lives in fear of
her past finding her. A tiny scrap of paper catches her
eye while she's visiting the Alhambra palaces and she
takes it, intrigued by what appears to be a coded
message. The story flashes back to the late 1400s where a
young man named Blessings serves as a servant and
companion to the sultan's son, Prince Abu Abdullah
Mohammed (also referred to as Momo and Boabdil). War is
coming to their quiet home as King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella want to wipe out the Muslim faith. How will Kate
and Blessings' stories intertwine? What hidden message is
found on Kate's treasured scrap of paper?
COURT OF LIONS alternates between past and present as
Jane Johnson takes us into the heart of a tumultuous time
in Granada. I love how we see the unfolding of history
through the eyes of Blessings, even as we know his love
for Momo will remain unrequited. His story is all the
more heart breaking as we watch Momo grow from a
childhood companion to the leader of his people. I have
read stories told from the perspective of Queen Isabella
and King Ferdinand before, but I've never read one told
from one of their conquests and it gives me a whole
different perspective on history.
Kate's story is also fascinating as we wonder what she is
running from. When we find out, we are horrified
for her. I love seeing the beauty of Granada and the
Alhambra palaces through her eyes. Jane Johnson's
exquisite use of language brings this city to life and
makes me want to walk along the same paths as Kate and
explore the history hidden within this ancient city. This
beauty is juxtaposed with the horrors of Kate's past as
it comes back to haunt her.
COURT OF LIONS is the first book I've read by Jane
Johnson but it definitely won't be the last! I love the
intertwining of the two time periods, particularly as we
start to see how they intersect. Jane Johnson excels at
showing us the beauty of Granada, even as we get glimpses
into the past wars and deaths that are a part of this
ancient city's long history. COURT OF LIONS is a
surprisingly compelling story and fans of both women's
fiction and historical fiction will relish Jane Johnson's
storytelling.
Kate Fordham, escaping terrible personal trauma, has fled
to the beautiful sunlit city of Granada, the ancient
capital of the Moors in Spain. There she is scraping by
with an unfulfilling job in a busy bar. One day, in the
glorious gardens of the Alhambra—once home to Sultan Abu
Abdullah Mohammed—Kate finds a scrap of paper hidden in
one of the ancient walls. Upon it, in strange symbols,
has been inscribed a message from another era. The
message has lain undiscovered since before the Fall of
Granada in 1492, when the city was surrendered to Queen
Isabella and King Ferdinand.
Born of love, in a time of danger and desperation, the
fragment will be the catalyst that changes Kate's life
forever. An epic saga of romance and redemption, Court of
Lions brings one of the great turning-points in human
history to life, telling the dual stories of a modern
woman and the last Moorish sultan of Granada, as they
both move towards their cataclysmic destinies.
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