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Informationen zum Autor Philippa Gregory is the author of many New York Times bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognized authority on women's history. Many of her works have been adapted for the screen including The Other Boleyn Girl. She graduated from the University of Sussex and received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, where she is a Regent. She holds honorary degrees from Teesside University and the University of Sussex. She is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff and was awarded the 2016 Harrogate Festival Award for Contribution to Historical Fiction. She is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She was awarded a CBE title for services to literature and charity in 2022. She welcomes visitors to her website PhilippaGregory.com. Klappentext Italy! 1453. Luca and Isolde grow more and more attracted to each other as they continue their journey to unravel the mysteries throughout Christendom. But their travels are delayed by the uprising of an intense religious crusade that threatens the balance of the civilized world! in the second book in a quartet from a #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author. Stormbringers THE ROAD FROM ROME TO PESCARA, ITALY, NOVEMBER 1453 The five travelers on horseback on the rutted track to Pescara made everyone turn and stare: from the woman who brought them weak ale in a roadside inn, to the peasant building with a hewn stone wall by the side of the road, to the boy trailing home from school to work in his father’s vineyard. Everyone smiled at the radiance of the handsome couple at the front of the little cavalcade, for they were beautiful, young and—as anyone could see—falling in love. “But where’s it all going to end, d’you think?” Freize asked Ishraq, nodding ahead to Luca and Isolde as they rode along the ruler-straight track that ran due east toward the Adriatic coast. It was golden autumn weather and, though the deeply scored ruts in the dirt road would be impassable in winter-time, the going was good for now, the horses were strong and they were making excellent time to the coast. Freize, a square-faced young man with a ready smile, only a few years older than his master Luca, didn’t wait for Ishraq’s response. “He’s head over heels in love with her,” he continued, “and if he had lived in the world and ever met a girl before, he would know to be on his guard. But he was in the monastery as a skinny child, and so he thinks her an angel descended from heaven. She’s as golden haired and beautiful as any fresco in the monastery. It’ll end in tears, she’ll break his heart.” Ishraq hesitated to reply. Her dark eyes were fixed on the two figures ahead of them. “Why assume it will be him who gets hurt? What if he breaks her heart?” she asked. “For I have never seen Isolde like this with any other boy. And he will be her first love too. For all that she was raised as a lady in the castle, there were no passing knights allowed, and no troubadours came to visit singing of love. Don’t think it was like a ballad, with ladies and chevaliers and roses thrown down from a barred window; she was very strictly brought up. Her father trained her up to be the lady of the castle and he expected her to rule his lands. But her brother betrayed her and sent her to a nunnery. These days on the road are her first chance to be free in the real world—mine too. No wonder she is happy. “And, anyway, I think that it’s wonderful that the first man she meets should be Luca. He’s about our age, the most handsome man we’ve—I mean she’s—ever met; he’s kind, he’s really charming and he can’t take his eyes off her. What girl wouldn’t fall in love with him on sight?...
