His novels have taken readers to Occitania during the Albigensian Crusade, to the Scotland of Robert Bruce, to Portugal during the Age of Discovery, to the trenches of France during World War I, and to the American Hoovervilles of the Great Depression. His debut novel, The Fire and the Light, was recognized as Best New Fiction by the National Indie Excellence Awards and as an Honourable Mention winner for Foreword’s BOTYA in historical fiction. He is also a two-time indieBRAG Medallion Honoree, a Chaucer Award First-Place Winner for Historical Fiction set during the Middle Ages, and has three times been named a Foreword Reviews Book-of-the-Year Award Finalist. The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences awarded him the Nicholl Fellowship prize for best new screenwriting. Glen Craney is a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and lawyer. Try something similar… Sanctus by Simon Toyne In three words: Well-researched, intricate, action-packed I received a review copy courtesy of the author and chose to give an honest and unbiased review. The Virgin of the Wind Rose is clearly the product of a massive amount of research and if you love puzzles and cryptograms, like your historical mysteries rich in detail and complex in plot, then you will love this book. The conclusion of the book felt a little rushed but hats off to the author for the quite devastating ending. I’ll be honest as well and say I lost my way a few times with the cryptography elements. I admit I struggled to engage with Jaq as a character and found her extreme form of Biblical literalism and the whole End of Days stuff tied to a Muslim jihad a bit hard going. There are the obligatory action scenes, lucky escapes and fortuitous coincidences plus a name check for the participants in just about every historical conspiracy theory you can think of: the Knights Templar, the Masons, Prester John, the location of the Ark of the Covenant, and so on. to Ethiopia, France, Nova Scotia, Ireland, Scotland, Rome and beyond as our protagonist, Jaqueline, tries to unravel the mystery. The story set in the present day is an archetypal conspiracy thriller that whisks you around the globe from Washington D.C. Although these missions will part him from his homeland, his friends and the love of his life, they will also involve him in one of the most momentous undertakings in history. Pero longs to go to sea like his comrades but is destined to remain on land using his facility with languages to fulfil secret missions for the Old Man. The story is rich in historical detail and brought convincingly to life with walk-on parts for real historical figures such as Torquemada, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and Vasco da Gama. After undergoing rigorous initiation tests, Pero and his comrades, Dias and Zarco, receive intensive tuition in cosmology and navigation by the stars and winds. I really loved the story set in 15 th century Portugal focused on Pero da Covilha who as a young man is inducted into the secret Knights of the Order of Christ, established by Henry the Navigator (known as the Old Man). However, this does mean that, at times, it felt a little like two different books melded together. This is a book that will demand all your concentration but repay that investment if you love a historical mystery that’s like a richly embroidered tapestry.Īlternating between the present day and 15 th century Portugal (and beyond), each story has a distinctive style that means there’s no confusion with the frequent time shifts. In fact, at times, it made this reader feel a bit dense as I struggled to keep up with the twists and turns of the intricate plot. Part The Da Vinci Code, part Raiders of the Lost Ark this is a densely-plotted historical mystery. *links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programmeįind The Virgin of the Wind Rose on Goodreads Separated by half a millennium, two global conspiracies dovetail in this historical mystery-thriller to expose the world’s most explosive secret: the real identity and mission of Christopher Columbus.Ī.uk ǀ ǀ Barnes & Noble ǀ iTunes ǀ Kobo To her horror, she soon discovers the palindrome has been embedded with a cryptographic time bomb. While investigating the murder of an American missionary in Ethiopia, rookie State Department lawyer Jaqueline Quartermane stumbles upon the infamous Templar Word Square, an ancient Latin puzzle that has eluded scholars for centuries.
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