A dazzling speculative inquiry into the mysteries surrounding the sequel to THE DA VINCI CODE SECRETS OF THE WIDOW'S SON is itself an unprecedented book concept. Relying on extensive investigative reporting and intellectual sleuthing, it is an explorer's field guide to understanding the main themes, ideas, symbols and historical issues which author Dan Brown will most likely utilise in THE SOLOMON KEY - months before this much-awaited sequel to THE DA VINCI CODE is even published. SECRETS OF THE CODE told the story of how the riddle embedded in The Da Vinci Code's dust-cover pointed to Dan Brown's next book: selected letters appearing on the book jacket's flaps, slightly bolder than others, spelled out the mystically alluring question, 'Is There No Help for the Widow's Son?' Research led David Shugarts and his team to understand the role of the 'Widow's Son' in the history of Freemasonry, biblical apocrypha, Mormonism, and various secret societies and occult belief systems. Dan Brown has since confirmed that his next book is indeed about the Masons, and that protagonist Robert Langdon, of DA VINCI CODE and ANGELS AND DEMONS fame, would be back to lead us on a symbolic treasure hunt through the art, architecture and secret codes of the American capital, Washington DC. This book is not a plot spoiler for THE SOLOMON KEY. It is not trying to guess who will be murdered, or which fictional mysteries, cover-ups, and conspiracies will be invented to drive the plot of this story. SECRETS OF THE WIDOW'S SON is about the ideas and issues that will form the background and context for THE SOLOMON KEY.

Throughout history, secret societies have played a crucial role in shaping events that have created our world. Only an inner circle of power elite know the full extent of the influence of the conspiracy. It is Paris, 1772, and Sigismundo Celine knows he is destined to play an important part in this history-behind-history. The masons, the English nobil ity, the Jabobites, the Rosicrucians, the ruling clique of pre-Revolution France: these are but a few of the factions involved in the machinations and intrigue in which Sigismundo has become enmeshed. Thrown into the Bastille, shot at, assaulted by assassins, tortured, and brutally interrogated, he knows only what he is and what he must do to become the one spoken of in the old texts. But what he doesn't know could kill him: the secret powers of Maria, the Italian beauty who has become an English Lady; the Irish fisherman, Moon, who stumbles across the inner workings of an unsuspected cult; and the question they keep asking: the identity of The Widow's Son.

Secrets of the Widow's Son is a revealing look at the themes that will be explored in The Solomon Key, Dan Brown's upcoming sequel to the cultural phenomenon known as The Da Vinci Code. David A. Shugarts provides what Browns widespread admirers crave most--an enlightening glimpse into the secrets behind Brown's eagerly anticipated new book. Secrets of the Widow's Son is not a plot spoiler--rather, it is an engaging piece of work that will pique readers' interest in The Solomon Key while laying the groundwork for the theories to be explored in Brown's can't-miss sequel.

"The guide to Dan Brown's The Solomon key explores the topics likely to be included in Brown's next novel - including the hidden history of Washington, D.C, Freemasonry, and even the Ku Klux Klan - to give you a better understaning of the concepts behind the book. With no spoilers, this is the essential primer for the Solomon Key"--Back cover.

A story with two endings tells how a hard-working widow loses the son she cherishes.

Spring 1449. Recently widowed and still grieving for her husband, Christiana finds her life wrenched apart by her late husband's greedy and ambitious relatives who are determined to have control of her lands and her daughters. Kidnapped, defamed and imprisoned, she must find a way to save herself before she can save her children.