Anvil of God
Book One of the Carolingian Chronicles
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4.1 • 22 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
It is 741. After subduing the pagan religions in the east, halting the march of Islam in the west, and conquering the continent for the Merovingian kings, mayor of the palace Charles the Hammer has one final ambition—the throne. Only one thing stands in his way—he is dying.
Charles cobbles together a plan to divide the kingdom among his three sons, betroth his daughter to a Lombard prince to secure his southern border, and keep the Church unified behind them through his friend Bishop Boniface. Despite his best efforts, the only thing to reign after Charles’s death is chaos. His daughter has no intention of marrying anyone, let alone a Lombard prince. His two eldest sons question the rights of their younger pagan stepbrother, and the Church demands a steep price for their support. Son battles son, Christianity battles paganism, and Charles’s daughter flees his court for an enemy’s love.
Based on a true story, Anvil of God is a whirlwind of love, honor, sacrifice, and betrayal that follows a bereaved family’s relentless quest for power and destiny.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gleason s gripping historical novel the first volume in his Carolingian Chronicles offers readers a vivid mix of bloody battles, intriguing characters, and plenty of pagan sex rites. The year is 741, and Charles The Hammer Martel, the Frankish general and mayor of the palace who held off the Saracens and preserved Christianity in Western Europe, is on his deathbed. In the palace at Quierzy (located in modern-day France), the politicking around succession is laden with intrigue, which Gleason makes lively and entertaining, while giving considerable space and full character development to the women who walk the corridors of power. Trudi, Charles s daughter, embraces paganism, while her brothers grapple with the role of the church in a reconstituted kingdom. As the saga unfolds, Trudi takes flight to avoid a forced marriage of political convenience, while her brothers battle each other in the skillfully described siege of the city of Laon. As both stories move toward their exciting conclusions, the mix of history, action, drama, and vigorous doses of sex makes this debut historical novel a page-turner.