The Heretic's Apprentice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, by Ellis Peters

By Ellis Peters

In the summertime of 1143, viewers arrive on the gates of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul bearing a corpse. yet one other violent dying follows of their wake, and Brother Cadfael is named upon to enquire the relationship among those gory occasions.

Show description

Read or Download The Heretic's Apprentice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, Book 16) (UK Edition) PDF

Best historical fiction books

Bright Young Things

The yr is 1929. long island is governed by way of the brilliant younger issues: flappers and socialites looking thrills and chasing desires within the anything-goes period of the Roaring Twenties.

Letty Larkspur and Cordelia gray escaped their small Midwestern city for brand new York's glittering city. All Letty desires is to determine her identify in lighting, yet she quick discovers big apple is stuffed with lovely women who will do something to be a celeb. . . .

Cordelia is looking for the daddy she's by no means recognized, a guy as notorious for his wild events as he's for his shadowy schemes. in a single day, she enters a global extra exciting and glamorous than she ever may have imagined—and extra risky. It's a existence someone might kill for . . . and a person will.

The simply individual Cordelia can belief is ­Astrid Donal, a flapper who turns out to have all of it: cash, appears, and the affection of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. yet Astrid's excellent veneer hides a rating of kinfolk secrets.

Across the huge lawns of ny, within the ­illicit speakeasies of ny, and at the blindingly lit phases of Broadway, the 3 girls' fortunes will upward push and fall—together and aside. From the hot York instances bestselling writer of The Luxe comes an epic new sequence set within the dizzying final summer season of the Jazz Age.

The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora

The place Theodora went, difficulty undefined. ..

In sixth-century Constantinople, one lady, Theodora, defied each conference and the entire odds and rose from universal theater tart to empress of an exceptional nation, the main strong girl the Roman Empire may ever recognize. the girl whose picture used to be later immortalized in glittering mosaic used to be a scrappy, shrewdpermanent, conniving, flesh-and-blood girl packed with sensuality and spirit whose genuine tale is as superb as any ever advised. ..

After her father dies by surprise, Theodora and her sisters face hunger and a existence at the streets. decided to outlive, Theodora makes a dwelling any approach she can—first on her again with each guy who may have her, then at the level in a scandalous dramatization of her personal invention. whilst her bold functionality supplies her a backdoor access into the halls of energy, she seizes the opportunity to win a filthy rich protector—only to stand heartbreak and betrayal.

Ever resilient, Theodora rises above such trials and, via a coincidence, meets her such a lot passionate admirer but: the emperor's nephew. She flourishes as his confidant and courtesan, yet many demanding situations lie forward. For sooner or later this guy will hand her a crown. And all of the empire will wonder—is she daring sufficient, intelligent adequate, and powerful adequate to maintain it?

Winds of Dalmatia

The Winds of Dalmatia is Tanja Tuma’s extraordinary, epic, exciting, and well-crafted novel devoted to these who’ve the headlines from the Bosnian warfare but would possibly not absolutely understand the bad person ache that transpired within the lives of its victims.

It’s the 1st ebook of Tuma’s Balkan trilogy. lovers should still word that the second one publication will trip north to Istria and Slovenia, and within the 3rd, east to Serbia, Kosovo, and Macedonia.

The plot of Winds of Dalmatia is sweeping, grand, romantic, and gorgeous.

Maria Perić has undergone her own hell through the Balkan battle and survived. Now in her sixties, she leads a snug lifestyles coping with a lodge on a quiet island, and elevating her liked Paula. Her prior is as shady because the resource of her wealth. whilst Paula falls in poor health with leukemia, there’s just one strategy to store her — Maria needs to inform the reality, and Paula needs to face the Serbian struggle felony anticipating his verdict from the foreign legal Tribunal on the Hague Hilton.

In her spare time, Maria escapes truth via getting to know the heritage of her place of birth Dalmatia. Her historic saga starts off with a Greek colony within the 6th Century B. C. at the isle of Korčula, via a bankruptcy at the Roman instances, the period of the Emperor Diocletian, born in Dalmatia.

Her learn strikes to Dubrovnik, because the powerful Republic of Ragusa blooms within the Fourteenth Century, not easy the Venetians within the Adriatic. The 15th Century witnesses the Ottoman Empire carry Islam to the hinterland of Dalmatia. Readers will thrill to the intrigues of a harem the place a tender rebellious spouse and a eunuch lengthy for freedom and love.

As global struggle I calls for extra infantrymen, a mom makes a decision to dedicate her cherished son to the protection of the Blaca monastery at the island of Brač, which saves him from front. but the mummy nonetheless loses him, and her wrath is bad.

These escapist stories by no means fail to entertain, yet can't distract Maria and Paula from their appointment with future. And as all the motion wraps up, the most characters continue to exist, prepared for the second one and the 3rd elements of Tuma’s Balkan troika.

The ethical dilemmas, in addition to the twists and turns of the unconventional, will retain readers at the fringe of their seats. the elemental subject Tuma units forth is that of people dwelling in hard occasions of conflicts and wars, and the way they take care of their very own own values, love, and household. Villains may possibly occasionally do this that is correct, natural, and noble, whereas stable everyone is pressured into committing crimes. Tuma’s characters are deep, fascinating, and intricate. Her publication is dramatic, attractive, and full of characters which are incorrect but regularly jam-packed with surprises. occasionally it’s very unlikely to not hate them, whereas different occasions the reader could be pushed to face up and cheer for them.

The Winds of Dalmatia will grip the readers, and take them right into a passionate, first-hand trip of many of the cultures of the previous Yugoslavia. the radical craftily skirts by way of the troubling conflict violence because it conveys the interior conflicts of assorted characters facing it in numerous historic classes. The clashes of 3 religions and cultures — Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Islam — in addition to global struggle I, international struggle II, and the Nineties struggle within the Balkans, give you the backdrop for romance tales within which general individuals are attempting to come to phrases with the tumult of conflicts and wars round them, eager for freedom, love, and peace.

The Last Necromancer (Ministry of Curiosities, Book 1)

Victorian London: for 5 years, Charlotte (Charlie) Holloway has lived as a boy within the slums. but if one robbery too many will get her arrested, her merely technique of break out lies with a useless guy. Charlie hasn't raised a spirit given that she first found she may accomplish that 5 years in the past. that point, her father banished her.

Additional resources for The Heretic's Apprentice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, Book 16) (UK Edition)

Sample text

He pushed the door to after him, and eased the great latch soundlessly into place. The peg—Matthew Smith had never realised what manner of illicit tool he was providing—he drew out and pocketed, for the sight of it protruding would have been enough to launch the hounds after him, and how did he know the watchman had not been given orders to keep an eye on his room? It would be his father who first came to visit him in exile in the morning, he was quite sure of that; somewhat uneasy in mind after sleeping on his rage, inclined to regret that he had carried execution to such lengths, and firmly resolved this time to be gentle and patient with the obdurate boy, but he would end up by beating him again, of course.

He was crying now; he wished she would go, and yet he could not bear to let her go. He kissed her warm cheek, and took away his arms almost roughly, dropping into the pillow again with a great sigh. When she stooped over him, peering at him closely, he kept his eyelids half-closed, and breathed long and softly, as though he were already slipping into drowsiness. Satisfied, she kissed his brow, and withdrew with the lamp, closing the door gently after her. As soon as she was gone he opened his eyes again, and they were dry and bright and wide-awake.

All that was over. A hush of curiosity, sympathy and almost pleasurable excitement followed him through the hall. The men-at-arms paused over their dice as he threaded his way through the romping dogs in the rushes, and climbed the stairs to the solar. He looked at no one. Only a little while ago their knowing sympathy would have galled him to the quick, but now it had ceased to be of any importance. "Wipe your face," whispered Ebrard at the door. " He thrust his own kerchief into Harry's hand, and waited for him to scrub the filth of dust and tears from his cheeks.

Download PDF sample

Rated 4.86 of 5 – based on 37 votes