Anticipation
A Novel
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From the author of the “engrossing historical epic” (Booklist) The Scribe of Siena comes a thrilling tale set in the crumbling city of Mystras, Greece, in which a scientist’s vacation with her young son quickly turns into a fight for their lives after they cross paths with a man out of time.
After the death of her beloved husband and becoming a single parent to her nine-year-old son Alexander, overworked scientist Helen desperately needs an escape. So when Alexander proposes a trip to Greece—somewhere he's always dreamed of visiting—Helen quickly agrees.
After spending several days exploring the tourist-filled streets, they stumble upon the ancient city of Mystras and are instantly drawn to it. Its only resident is Elias, a mysterious tour guide living on the city’s edges…both physically and temporally.
In 1237, Elias’s mother promised his eternal service to the Profitis Ilias in Mystras in exchange for surviving a terrible illness. But during his 800 years of labor, he’s had one common enemy: the noble Lusignan family. The Lusignan line is cursed by a deadly disease that worsens with each generation, and a prophecy hints that Elias’s blood is their only hope for a cure. He has managed to survive throughout the centuries, but the line has dwindled down to the last Lusignan and he is desperate to avert his family’s destiny.
When Elias runs into Helen, he meets his match for the first time—but he unwittingly puts both her and her young son in danger as a result. With time running out and an enemy after them, Elias and Helen are forced to choose between the city they love, and each other.
Blending the historical romance of Diana Gabaldon, the rich detail of Philippa Gregory’s novels, and Dan Brown’s fast-paced suspense, Anticipation is a thrilling and satisfying read like no other.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Winawer (The Scribe of Sienna) enthralls with this unique combination of history, romance, and the supernatural. In 2015, Helen Adler, a research scientist living in New York City with her nine-year-old son, Alexander, copes with single parenthood a year after the drowning death of her husband, Oliver. Alexander is obsessed with Greek mythology, and Helen agrees to his request to vacation in Greece. There, Helen and Alexander explore the ruins of Mystras, and Helen is drawn to their mysterious guide, Elias Orologas, who, unbeknownst to her, was originally born in 1237 and has lived, died, and been reborn since then because his mother pledged him to the service of the church of Profitis Ilias to save his life. While visiting a town near ancient Sparta, Helen and Alexander recognize Pierre Lusignan, a pompous professor they'd seen on television talking about Huntington's disease, the primary subject of Helen's work. Alexander has a bad feeling about him, which is borne out by a series of flashbacks to the 13th century involving Pierre's ancestors' attempts to steal Elias's blood, which they believed would cure the family's inherited disease. Not long after Elias meets Pierre, who develops some highly unorthodox plans for blood research, Elias is in mortal danger. Winawer draws on her experience as a scientist to make the research aspects of the plot feel real, while expertly switching between the present day and the various time periods of Elias's lives. Readers will be riveted from the first page.
