Medieval English

Gavin Mac Brodie fears the thought of becoming the man his father was. Driven into solitude by visions of what he would not be and could not have, he vows never to wed. But this last of the available Brodie men is about to encounter a wee bit of Highland magic... Catrìona is no stranger to solitariness. Driven deep into the Highland mountains, her kinsmen have become little more than legend. But no one knows better than Cat that you cannot hide from fate.

Sleep disorders specialist Kennedy Plain has been diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. When her research subject dies after trying to convince her he has achieved dream-induced time travel and her study is shelved, she enlists herself as a subject to complete her research.

A daughter of the forest and loyal to no clan, Seana has been whispered to be a child of the faeries, but not even a little Gael magic can help her claim what she truly desires—a home and hearth… before it’s too late for her ailing da.

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s The Corner That Held Them is a historical novel like no other, one that immerses the listener in the dailiness of history, rather than history as the given sequence of events that, in time, it comes to seem. Time ebbs and flows and characters come and go in this novel, set in the era of the Black Death, about a Benedictine convent of no great note. The nuns do their chores, seek to maintain and improve the fabric of their house and chapel, and struggle with each other and with themselves.

Just like us, medieval men and women worried about growing old, got blisters and indigestion, fell in love, and had children. And yet their lives were full of miraculous and richly metaphorical experiences radically different from our own, unfolding in a world where deadly wounds might be healed overnight by divine intervention, or where the heart of a king, plucked from his corpse, could be held aloft as a powerful symbol of political rule.

London. July, 1399. As rumors spread that his ambitious cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, has returned from exile in France, King Richard's grip on the English throne grows ever more precarious. Meanwhile, the body of a young woman is discovered at Dowgate sluice. When it's established that the dead woman was a novice from nearby Barking Abbey, the coroner calls in his friend, Brother Chandler, to investigate. Who would cut the throat of a young nun and throw her remains in the river? And what was she doing outside the confines of the priory in the first place?

This story is set at the end of the 10th century and charts the journey of a young warrior, whose father, Bersi, is killed during a raid on Wessex. Sven Bersisson has to grow up quickly and to follow in his father’s footsteps. Sweyn Skull Taker, his uncle, becomes his foster father and they raid Wessex and Frankia, where the young warrior becomes a man. King Sweyn Forkbeard, the king of Denmark, uses their clan to help in his dream of defeating the Norwegians and then taking the throne of England.

The fifteenth century was a turbulent age: the Hundred Years War between England and France, and the Wars of the Roses dominated the lives of people both inside and out of the royal courts. Joan of Navarre, Katherine of Valois, Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Wydeville and Anne Neville were the queens who stood by England's sovereigns, caught up in wars that changed the course of their lives, and the course of history. They were also formidable women who defied the limitations of their times, often living out the brutal consequences of their determination.

It's 1208 A.D. - Sir Cullen de Nerra is a knight's knight. The son of the Sheriff of Hampshire, Val de Nerra (Vestiges of Valor), Cullen has been heavily involved in the politics of William Marshal for many years, but never more involved than when the Marshal gifts his services to a powerful, but unpredictable, warlord, Preston de Lacy. De Lacy is a rich man with too much time on his hands and a great hatred for King John. Cullen’s task is to keep watch on de Lacy and pass information to William Marshal on his movements and actions.

At Eleanor of Aquitaine's palace in Poitiers, fourteen-year-old Lady Joanna of Agen is coming of age. Her aunt and guardian, Alice, rescued Joanna from her brutal father by bringing her to court. But now Alice fears Joanna could once again be at risk from the men around her. When Queen Eleanor's son, Henry, arrives at court, Joanna quickly catches his eye. But Alice overhears the lewd conversations of the male courtiers and worries that Joanna's honor is at stake.

An illuminating guide to the scientific and technological achievements of the Middle Ages through the life of a crusading astronomer-monk.

Alex MacKay has roamed the world as a mercenary, trying to forget his shattered past. But when he's summoned by his brother to defend clan lands, the very man who betrayed him and married the woman he loved, he's surprised to learn that the spirited Keely not only abandoned his brother on their wedding night, but never returned.

In 1282, David and his sister Anna crashed through time to save the life of their father, the last Prince of Wales. Thirteen years later, David is a grown man - husband, father, and high king of Britain. He is also the Duke of Aquitaine, a fact which King Philip of France appears to resent. So, when Philip summons David to Paris to bend the knee for the right to remain Aquitaine's duke, David is the first to suspect treachery.

The "little" de Wolfe Brother, Thomas, is no longer little. The de Wolfe cub has become a big, powerful Wolfe all his own...Now, he is known as StormWolfe for his fearlessness and cunning. Where Thomas de Wolfe goes, storms are sure to gather. But he has a weakness...Lady Maitland “Mae” de Ryes Bowlin is the sister of Thomas’ good friend...but there’s one problem...He’s betrothed to a madwoman...Adelaide is hiding a dark and terrible secret, one that threatens the very security of the House of de Wolfe.

When English troops threaten Lady Christiane MacGillean's beloved castle, she has no choice but to set it ablaze - and with it, the ancient treasure hidden there. Escaping into the Highland hills, she is quickly captured, taken south, and caged by the English king. Outraged by the lady's treatment, Sir Gavin Faulkener bargains for her life - and suddenly finds himself not only guardian of her castle, but wedded to her as well.

Pale rider. For all the wives lost to him, it is what some call England’s renowned trainer of knights, a name that reaches beyond those losses to the plague come out of the east. Believing it God’s will he not wed again, Hector Wulfrith resists being drawn to the courageous lady who enters a country at war with her own and, disguised as a man, trespasses on his home.

AD 1518 - As the eldest son of the knight who betrayed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, Trenton de Russe bears the dark legacy of men who changed the course of history. As a special ops knight for Henry VIII, it is Trenton’s duty to carry out the king’s command, and he has been known to have accomplished some questionable as well as dirty tasks. Trenton suffers a dysfunctional relationship with his father because of it. Gaston never wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, but Trenton has become so deeply entrenched in Henry’s dirty dealings that it is all he knows.

Brunhild was a foreign princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet - in sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport - these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms, changing the face of Europe.

One of the most significant books ever written by a head of state, the Meditations are a collection of philosophical thoughts by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 ce). Covering issues such as duty, forgiveness, brotherhood, strength in adversity and the best way to approach life and death, the Meditations have inspired thinkers, poets and politicians since their first publication more than 500 years ago. Today, the book stands as one of the great guides and companions—a cornerstone of Western thought.

It’s the winter season of 1746, and the Highlands are snowy. In the village of Calvine, north of Tay Forest along a road that leads straight into Inverness, the only tavern in town is packed to the rafters with travelers. Eight months after the disastrous defeat at Culloden, the people haven’t recovered, nor has the land, and it’s a bad winter. When James de Lohr, Earl of Worcester, shows up looking for clues to his brother’s fate on the Culloden Moor, he gets more than he bargained for.