Bjorn and Frytha share a bond, both orphans and survivors of Norman attacks on their homes in the Lake country. Growing up together in Jarl Buthar's Norse stronghold, they become fast friends, with Bjorn dreaming of becoming a harper like his father. As they come of age within this secret fortress, they hear word of the Norman attacks beyond their walls, drawing ever closer to the safety of their home. Can they help protect their adoptive home and family, or will they lose everything all over again?

The last of Sutcliff's historical novels for children, discovered in a drawer after her death. As a boy, Bjarni is banished from a Viking settlement on England's north-east coast for killing a man and causing the chief to become an oath-breaker. He takes to the sea as a mercenary swordsman,

Back in print for the first time in decades, Auden’s National Book Award–winning poetry collection, in a critical edition that introduces it to a new generation of readers The Shield of Achilles, which won the National Book Award in 1956, may well be W. H. Auden’s most important, intricately designed, and unified book of poetry. In addition to its famous title poem, which reimagines Achilles’s shield for the modern age, when war and heroism have changed beyond recognition, the book also includes two sequences—“Bucolics” and “Horae Canonicae”—that Auden believed to be among his most significant work. Featuring an authoritative text and an introduction and notes by Alan Jacobs, this volume brings Auden’s collection back into print for the first time in decades and offers the only critical edition of the work. As Jacobs writes in the introduction, Auden’s collection “is the boldest and most intellectually assured work of his career, an achievement that has not been sufficiently acknowledged.” Describing the book’s formal qualities and careful structure, Jacobs shows why The Shield of Achilles should be seen as one of Auden’s most central poetic statements—a richly imaginative, beautifully envisioned account of what it means to live, as human beings do, simultaneously in nature and in history.

Before the rise to dominance of Western Europe, there was a pivotal time in history when the world was consumed by the epic struggle between the Islamic Empire of the Ottomans and the Christian Kingdoms of Eastern Europe. Two civilizations and two very different ways of life confronted each other with the fate of mankind yet to be decided. THE SWORD AND THE SHIELD OF THE REALM debuts MERCHANTS OF TIME A seven-novel tale of mystery and suspenseful adventure, during an epoch marked by turbulence and mayhem. The year is 1448. Transylvania and Wallachia, the sword and the shield of the Kingdom of Hungary, are invaded by an immense army under the banner of Sultan Murad II, the man who calls himself The Shadow of Allah upon the World. Lorian Comosicus, the heir to a mysterious Draconic ring, and his twelve-year-old brother, Silvan, are sent across the border mountains to the fortress of Roter Turm with a secret message from the conspirators who killed Vlad Dracul of Wallachia for pledging allegiance to the Ottoman Empire. Lost in the vast forests of Transylvania, they meet Sir Gregor Dahr Altair, an imperial knight who just escaped from Roter Turm before the Ottomans destroyed it. Gregor is an Excubitor, a powerful secretive fraternity who could change the outcome of the war. He leads Lorian and Silvan ahead of the tempest to the great trading city of Hermannstadt before it is surrounded and destroyed by the Sultan's army.

One of Rosemary Sutcliff's acclaimed books set in Roman Britain. The Eagle of the Ninth tells the story of a young Roman officer who sets out to discover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of the Ninth Legion, who marched into the mists of northern Britain and never came back. Rosemary Sutcliff spent most of her life in a wheelchair, suffering from the wasting Still's disease. She wrote her first book for children, The Queen's Story, in 1950 and went on to become a highly respected name in the field of children's literature. She received an OBE in 1975 and died at theage of 72 in 1992.

“Action-packed …. Rice's writing is solid and the premise intriguing.” --Publishers Weekly (regarding A Quest of Heroes) “The beginnings of something remarkable are there.” --San Francisco Book Review (regarding A Quest of Heroes) A SEA OF SHIELDS is Book #10 in the 17 book bestselling series THE SORCERER'S RING, which begins with A QUEST OF HEROES (book #1)--a FREE download on Google Play, with over 1,000 five star reviews! In A SEA OF SHIELDS, Gwendolyn gives birth to her and Thorgrin’s child, amidst powerful omens. With a son born to them, Gwendolyn and Thorgrin’s lives are changed forever, as is the destiny of the Ring. Thor has no choice to but to embark to find his mother, to leave his wife and child and venture away from his homeland on a perilous quest that will have the very future of the Ring at stake. Before Thor embarks, he unites with Gwendolyn in the greatest wedding in the history of the MacGils, and he is given the honor he has always dreamed of when he is inducted into the Silver and becomes a Knight. Gwendolyn feels a looming danger to the Ring, and furthers her plans to rescue all of her people in the case of a catastrophe. Erec receives news of his father’s illness, and is summoned back home, to the Southern Isles; Alistair joins him on the journey, as their wedding plans are put in motion. Reece, despite himself, falls in love with his cousin, and when Tirus’ sons find out, they set in motion a great treachery. And Romulus, in the Empire, discovers a new form of magic which may just destroy the Shield for good. With its sophisticated world-building and characterization, A SEA OF SHIELDS is an epic tale of friends and lovers, of rivals and suitors, of knights and dragons, of intrigues and political machinations, of coming of age, of broken hearts, of deception, ambition and betrayal. It is a tale of honor and courage, of fate and destiny, of sorcery. It is a fantasy that brings us into a world we will never forget, and which will appeal to all ages and genders. All 17 books in THE SORCERER’S RING are now available! And Morgan Rice’s new fantasy series, KINGS AND SORCERERS is also available, beginning with book #1, RISE OF THE DRAGONS, a free download on Google Play, with over 400 five star reviews! “A spirited fantasy ….Only the beginning of what promises to be an epic young adult series.” --Midwest Book Review (regarding A Quest of Heroes) “THE SORCERER’S RING has all the ingredients for an instant success: plots, counterplots, mystery, valiant knights, and blossoming relationships replete with broken hearts, deception and betrayal. It will keep you entertained for hours, and will satisfy all ages. Recommended for the permanent library of all fantasy readers.” --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos