Crusader

'An impressive debut' IndependentGLORY. POWER. REVENGE. The seventh and last Crusade. Young, Spanish nobleman, Francisco de Montcada, is the hero of this novel, but his tale is told by his former friend, a moderately trustworthy Cistercian monk named Brother Lucas. For Francisco has returned from the Levant a broken and seemingly possessed man. The Inquisition decree that his tortured soul be exorcized and the task falls to Brother Lucas, who sits with the silent, emaciated knight in his cell and talks to him. Slowl, Francisco begins to recount his story . . .Set against a thrillingly authentic historical backdrop, this stirring novel of religious fervour and human passions, of greed and betrayal, and love and war, brings a tumultuous era brilliantly to life.