Showing results for "sean barrett" in Historical Fiction

ENEMIES BY BIRTH. BROTHERS IN BLOOD. VENGEANCE WILL BE HAD. 1829. Mahikeng Mission Station. Highveld, southern Africa. 1829. Mahikeng Mission Station. Highveld, southern Africa. The warrior king is dead. Ralph Courtney and Ann Waite have escaped. From the chaos and bloodshed that consumed the...

A country left in ruins after the fall of the Roman Empire is plundered and broken. Saxon hordes have invaded and conquered the East coast of Britain in a blood-soaked Great War which tore the old kingdoms apart. From Bernicia to Kent, land and kingdoms are now under Saxon rule. But these new conquerors want more…Britain's remaining kingdoms are jaded by the constant threat of war, their Kings old, alliances fickle and frayed. It seems Britain must fall enslaved to the brutal and marauding conquerors from across the sea.

The Chuzzlewits are a family divided by money and selfishness; even young Martin, the eponymous hero, is arrogant and self-centred. He offends his grandfather by falling in love with the latter’s ward, Mary, and sets out to make his own fortune in life, travelling as far as America - which produces from Dickens a savage satire on a new world tainted with the vices of the old. Martin’s nature slowly changes through his bitter experience of life and his enduring love for Mary.

Wilbur Smith returns to his legendary Courtney Series with a brand new World War II thriller. 1943. The tide of the Second World War is turning. The Russian victory at Stalingrad - the bloodiest battle in history - has opened the door for the Allies. Now, they must strike decisively at the heart...

The Viking raiders' devastation has been halted once more by the shields of Mercia as opposed to Wessex. But their whereabouts are unknown. King Wiglaf of Mercia is keen to ensure the Viking raiders are swept from his shared border with Wessex but these Viking ships are quick and difficult to track and Icel is once more deployed with Ealdorman Ælfstan warriors to do his King's bidding. However, Icel's quest is beset with many more obstacles and it's not all about the seax and shield. Worrying news from home overshadows Icel's every deadly encounter.

What happens when we discover who we really are? And how do we come to terms with it? Can we even meet each other's eye, after we have seen who we really are? Fearless and original, The Zone of Interest is a violently dark love story set against a backdrop of unadulterated evil, and a vivid journey into the depths and contradictions of the human soul.

After years of fragile peace, the legendary warlord Arthur Pendragon is forced back into the bloody crucible of war to save Britain once more from Saxon invaders. His greatest battle, however, is not on the field, it is a fight for his own soul. When deep seated betrayals shatter his world, Arthur must abandon his throne and his people. He must decide whether to remain a broken mercenary in exile or return to confront a Britain ruled by his vengeful enemies and torn apart by savage armies. Can Arthur succeed and become a legend?

1944. Paul Brandt, a German soldier, returns wounded and ashamed from the chaos of the Eastern front to find his village home existing in the dark shadow of an SS rest hut - a luxurious retreat for those who manage the concentration camps, run with the help of a small group of female prisoners. When Brandt glimpses one of these prisoners, he realises that he must find a way to access the hut. For inside is the woman to whom his fate has been tied since their arrest five years before, and now he must do all he can to protect her.

Prince Vortimer has imprisoned his father, King Vortigern – The High King of Britain. With Woden's spear, Vortimer believes God has chosen him to lead an army south to banish the Jutes once and for all from Britain's shores. In a desperate fight for survival, Octa and the Jutish warlords, Hengist and Horsa, are trapped on Thanet, their island home, as Prince Vortimer's army surrounds them. With dwindling numbers, their only hope is to send for reinforcements, but winter is upon them, and the journey will be perilous.

This hugely engaging story of murder, superstition, religious politics and drama in a medieval monastery was one of the most striking novels to appear in the 1980s. The Name of the Rose is a thrilling story enriched with period detail and laced with tongue-in-cheek allusions to fictional characters, the most striking of which is the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, who displays many characteristics of Sherlock Holmes.

Iceland 1940. Britain invades Iceland. Lieutenant Tom Marks is a British officer tasked with defending Whale Fjord. He meets Kristín, a young widow from a nearby farm, who has a small son. Tom is smitten. Iceland 2023. Inspector Magnus Ragnarsson is called to the shores of Whale Fjord where the skeletons of a man and a woman have been discovered, both shot with British wartime bullets. Magnus uncovers a web of anger and revenge that stretches back 80 years and forward to a shocking murder in Reykjavík.

Conrad de Lancey has seen enough of evil: the shadow of fear on the faces of innocents; the sudden lull before the slaughter begins. Franco's bloody insurrection taught this Englishman all about hell. Arriving in his mother's country, the now Nazi Germany, Conrad is sick at heart. Even Berlin—infamous haven of decadence—salutes fascism. Himmler's black-shirted troops rule the city, and every German arm bears a Swastika. But does every German heart belong to Hitler?

Britain slides into darkness. A splintered land ruled by brutal kings in their hilltop fortresses and besieged by Saxon invaders. Wielding Excalibur, Arthur Pendragon, king of kings, is all that stands between Britain and Saxon conquest. Arthur must face and defeat enemies within his own kingdom, and then unite the kingdoms of Britain in a war that will shake the country's very foundations.

'One of the most ingenious crime writers around' Observer 'The figurehead of Nordic noir' Independent 'Mankell is in the first division of crime writing' The Times 'Extraordinary' Ian Rankin One day in 1947, Bertil Kras decides to leave his modest life in Stockholm and begin again - swapping his...

The war is over; Hitler is dead - and yet his evil legacy lives on. Saffron Courtney and her beloved husband, Gerhard, only just survived the brutal conflict, but Gerhard's Nazi-supporting brother, Konrad, is still free and determined to regain power. As a dangerous game of cat and mouse develops, a plot against the couple begins to stir. One that will have ramifications throughout Europe....

Set against the terrible struggle of the English Civil War, Rebels and Traitors is the story of how this turbulent era effected everyone, from rich to poor, and the hopes and dreams that carried them through years of deprivation, bloodshed and terror. When Gideon Jukes and Juliana Lovell, who are on opposites sides of the struggle, meet during one of the era’s most crucial events, their mutual attraction brings the comfort and companionship for which they both have yearned.

The Byzantine empire is fading. Sick with corruption and complacency that paralyses its once mighty people, assailed from within and without by those who seek to feast upon its riches. The emperor is dying, the empress is ageing, and rebellion threatens in the heart of their homelands. The last hope of the eternal empire might lie with a disgraced foreign mercenary. Harald Hardrada fears nothing but failure or dishonour. For eight years he has faithfully served the heirs of Caesar, but has failed in his goal to earn the riches and reputation he needs to reclaim the throne of Norway.

The fate of a fractured and embattled nation hangs by a thread. Lord Beornoth, the Viking-killer lives on, beset by the ravages of age and tortured by his past. At the King's bequest he is plunged into the brutal twilight of Saxon rule, where loyalty, courage, and sacrifice are tested on blood-soaked fields. Armies clash and the throne of England becomes the ultimate prize. In the face of a Viking invasion, Beornoth faces his greatest battle in this unflinching fight through the last days of Saxon England.

Nineteenth-century Europe, from Turin to Prague to Paris, abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Conspiracies rule history. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian priests are strangled with their own intestines. French criminals plan bombings by day and celebrate black masses by night...

The Restoration is over and Robert Merivel, renowned physician and courtier to Charles II, now faces the anxieties of middle age. Questions crowd his mind: has he been a good father? Is he a fair master? Is he the King's friend or the King's slave? In search of answers, Merivel sets off for the French court. But Versailles leaves him in despair, until a chance encounter with a seductive Swiss botanist allows him to dream of an honourable future.