I Am Thinking of Kelda: A Novel of a Pioneer Family

Wells, Evelyn

Doubleday First Edition

A rousing historical novel of extraordinarily broad appeal, about a Crusader with a heavy heart. The Year of Our Lord, 1275, Santes Creus monastery, Spain. Brother Lucas, a venal and moderately trustworthy monk, is put in charge of an exorcism. His former fellow acolyte, the brooding and magnetic aristocrat Francisco de Montcada, has returned from the Crusades possessed by demons. If Brother Lucas can drive out the demons, his monastery will be enriched by the Montcada patriarch and he himself will be made a bishop. Gradually Francisco comes out of his possession, and begins to spin the tale of his crusade: how he set out to free the soul of his dead brother, lost at sea before he could reach the Holy Land; his fierce friendship with his cousin Andres, a mighty warrior with an honest heart; his intense love for Andres’s feisty sister, Isabel; the high ideals of Ramon, his battle-hardened commander; and the amoral cruelty of the perfidious Don Fernando, a noble who delights in executing Muslim women and children. The crusaders win a great battle at Toron, taking it back from the Infidel, but at the gigantic fortress Krak des Chevaliers, the key to the Christian position in the Holy Land, the Saracens have laid siege. In the fierce battle to defend the fortress, Francisco will lose everything–including, unless the dodgy Bruther Lucas succeeds, his immortal soul. The Crusader is a wonderfully crafted novel of knights, torture, romance, religious fervor, vows, quests, sieges, and villainy, told by an author who knows how to make history come to shimmering life.

The Crusader

Literature & Fiction

Eisner, Michael Alexander

Contemporary

Treasures of Time

Treasures of Time is the twelfth novel by Booker Prize winning author Penelope Lively, a spellbinding story of the dangers of digging up the dark secrets of the past. This edition features an introduction by Selina Hastings.    Penguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling.    Penelope Lively's Treasures of Time was published in 1979, and is an acutely observed study of marriage and manipulation. When the BBC want to make a documentary about acclaimed archaeologist Hugh Paxton, his widow Laura, daughter Kate and her fiancé Tom are a little nervous: digging up the past can also disturb the present . . .     Penelope Lively is the author of many prize-winning novels and short-story collections for both adults and children. She has twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize: once in 1977 for her first novel, The Road to Lichfield, and again in 1984 for According to Mark. She later won the 1987 Booker Prize for her highly acclaimed novel Moon Tiger. Her other books include Going Back; Judgement Day; Next to Nature, Art; Perfect Happiness; Passing On; City of the Mind; Cleopatra's Sister; Heat Wave; Beyond the Blue Mountains, a collection of short stories; Oleander, Jacaranda, a memoir of her childhood days in Egypt; Spiderweb; her autobiographical work, A House Unlocked; The Photograph; Making It Up; Consequences; Family Album, which was shortlisted for the 2009 Costa Novel Award, and How It All Began. She is a popular writer for children and has won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award. She was appointed CBE in the 2001 New Year's Honours List, and DBE in 2012. Penelope Lively lives in London.

PENELOPE LIVELY

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