Book description
From the burning plains of Syria to the filthy backstreets of Paris and
London, the
Brethren
trilogy is the story of Will Campbell, coming of age in a time of
conspiracy, passion, politics and war.
Will has been brought up from boyhood in the ways of the all-powerful
Order of the Knights Templar. With a tragedy in his past that looms over
his future, he faces a long, hard apprenticeship to the foul-tempered
scholar Everard, before he can have any chance of becoming a Knight. As
he struggles to survive in the harsh discipline of the Temple, Will must
try to make sense of many things: his own past, the dangerous mystery
that surrounds Everard, and his confused feelings for Elwen, the
strong-willed young woman whose path seems always to cross his own.
Meanwhile, a new star is rising in the East. A ruthless fighter and
brilliant tactician, the former slave Baybars has become one of the
greatest generals and rulers of his time. Haunted by his early life, he
is driven by an unquenchable desire to free his people from the European
invaders of his homeland.
With page-turning suspense and thrilling action, the Brethren
trilogy brilliantly evokes that extraordinary clash of civilizations
known in the West as the Crusades. Robyn Young portrays a rich cast of
characters, reflecting on each side greed, ambition and religious
fanaticism, as well as courage, love and faith. 'Young writes with
remarkable accuracy, action-packed efficiency and gut-wrenching
violence' Robyn Young was born in Oxford and grew up in the Midlands
and Devon. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of
Sussex and lives and writes in Brighton full-time. Her first novel,
BRETHREN, was the bestselling hardback debut novel of 2006, with the
paperback also going straight into the top ten bestseller list. Two more
bestsellers followed, CRUSADE and REQUIEM, completing the Brethren
trilogy, which has now sold over a million copies and been translated
into nineteen languages.
The inspiration for Robyn's new trilogy, which began with INSURRECTION
and continues in RENEGADE, grew out of an earlier research trip to
Scotland. Robyn explains: 'Day by day, out of the pages of history and
the wild landscape, one figure came striding, larger, clearer than all
the others - Robert the Bruce. He swept me off my feet and carried me
into a story of bitter family feuds, two civil wars and the struggle for
the crown. I realised there was no way this character could play a cameo
role in another man's story. His tale was too powerful, too intricate
and too good to be cut down and boxed to fit.'
To find out more about Robyn Young and her historical novels, visit her
website at www. robynyoung. com and her Facebook page at www. facebook.
com/RobynYoungAuthor and follow her on Twitter @RobynYoung36
