Historical
Swept up in the religious fervour surrounding the First Crusade, Christo leaves his home and joins the Armies of the faithful. Uncertain if he will ever return or if he will live to see its conclusion. Alone among foreign peoples and exposed to mockery for his Saxon Heritage he struggles to integrate himself among his comrades.
The Crusade takes him far from the world he knows, and he experiences customs and places unlike those of his homeland and begins his journey towards cities he has only heard from the bible.
Along the way he will experience the Hardships of war, the intricacies of diplomacy, the pain of betrayal and the joy of victory.
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
There are many dry and dusty factual tomes about the First Crusade but it has been almost forgotten by recent historical novelists intent on drawing on the celebrity status of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade. Jordan Neary has written an authentic, totally gripping account of one young man's journey to the Holy Land. The era is brought brilliantly to life with all the religious and political turmoil of the late eleventh century. Cristo is just seventeen as the Crusade sets off, still a boy really, but he is a man of twenty and a Knight when Jerusalem is reclaimed for the Christians. He is the narrator, both visceral and lyrical in his lament for brutal atrocities and the murder of his friend. A fine, rich novel.