Search results for ""Author Margaret Skea""

RUNNER-UP Historical Novel Society New Novel Award 'Assured, evocative, compelling. A fascinating reading experience.' Catherine Cho, Lead judge HNS At five Katharina is placed in a convent. At twenty-three she escapes. At twenty-five she marries Martin Luther, the most controversial man in Europe. This is her story - of courage, resilience in the face of adversity and a determination to choose her own life. It is very shameful that children, especially defenceless young girls, are pushed into the nunneries. Shame on the unmerciful parents who treat their own so cruelly.' Martin Luther Germany 1505 Following the death of her mother and her father's remarriage, five-year-old Katharina is placed in the convent at Brehna. She will never see her father again. Sixty-five miles away, at Erfurt in Thuringia, Martin Luder, a promising young law student, turns his back on a lucrative career in order to become a monk. The consequences of their meeting in Wittenberg, on Easter Sunday 1523, will reverberate down the centuries and throughout the Christian world. A compelling portrayal of Katharina von Bora, set against the turmoil of the Peasant's War and the German Reformation ... and the controversial priest at its heart. From award-winning historical fiction author, Margaret Skea (Historical Fiction Winner Harper Collins / Alan Titchmarsh Competition; Beryl Bainbridge Award; Runner-up Historical Novel Society New Novel Award), a well-researched and beautifully written novel that breathes life into the 'woman at Luther's side.'

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Eagerly-awaited conclusion to Katharina Deliverance Runner-up in the Historical Novel Society New Novel Award 'Behind even a great (sometimes, noisy, fractious) man, there is often a quietly strong, more amenable woman. Margaret Skea's deep research and empathy brings alive one of those. If you like your historical fiction truthful and complex, then this novel about Katharina Luther is for you.' Sarah Dunant 'Beautifully written and meticulously researched - historical fiction at its best.' BooksPlease Fans of Sarah Dunant, Hilary Mantel, C J Sansom and Winston Graham will love this book. 'We are none of us perfect, and a streak of stubbornness is what is needed in dealing with a household such as yours, Kat... and with Martin.' Wittenberg 1525. The unexpected marriage of Martin Luther to Katharina von Bora has no fairytale ending. A sign of apostasy to their enemies, and a source of consternation to their friends, it sends shock waves throughout Europe. Yet, as they face persecution, poverty, war, plague and family tragedy, Katharina's resilience and strength of character shines through. While this book can be read as a standalone, it is also the powerful conclusion to her story, begun in Katharina: Deliverance. Authentic, immersive and packed with drama.

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`When you must face Maxwell, give evidence before the King. Have you thought on that?' `If I do not face Maxwell, I will not be able to face myself.' Ayrshire 1597. The truce between the Cunninghame and Montgomerie clans is fragile. And for the Munro family, living in hiding under assumed names, these are dangerous times. While Munro risks his life daily in the army of the French King, the spectre of discovery by William Cunninghame haunts his wife Kate. Her fears for their children and her absent husband realized as William's desire for revenge tears their world apart. A sweeping tale of compassion and cruelty, treachery and sacrifice, A House Divided is set against the backdrop of a religious war, feuding clans and the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597. This eagerly awaited sequel to Turn of the Tide can also be read as a stand-alone novel and will appeal to fans of Winston Graham's Poldark and C J Sansom's Shardlake series.

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Scotland 1586. A land in turmoil, a family torn apart. An ancient feud threatens Munro's home, his family, even his life. Munro owes allegiance to the Cunninghames and to the Earl of Glencairn. He escapes the bloody aftermath of a massacre, but cannot escape the disdain of the wife he sought to protect, nor inner conflict, as he wrestles with his conscience, with divided loyalties and, most dangerous of all, a growing friendship with the rival Montgomerie clan. Intervening to diffuse a quarrel that erupts between a Cunninghame cousin and Hugh Montgomerie, he suceeds only in antagonising William, the arrogant and vicious Cunninghame heir. And antagonising William is a dangerous game to play. Set against the backdrop of the turmoil of the closing years of the sixteenth century, Turn of the Tide follows the fortunes of a fictional family trapped at the centre of a notorious historic feud. Known as the Ayrshire Vendetta, it began in the 15th century and wasn't finally resolved until the latter part of the 17th, the Cunninghames and Montgomeries dubbed the `Montagues and Capulets' of Ayrshire.

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Eagerly-awaited third volume in the Munro saga. 1598. The French Wars of Religion are drawing to an end, the Edict of Nantes establishing religious freedom in all but Paris.1598. The exiled Adam and Kate Munro are looking forward to a new life free from past troubles, despite their lingering nostalgia for Scotland and the friendship of the Montgomeries. But when the family are called to court they find that religious tensions remain high, and Paris holds dangers as well as delights. For the Munros and Montgomeries alike, these are troubled times... A tumultuous tale of pride and folly, loyalty and betrayal, political manouvreings at both the French and Scottish courts, treachery and peril, and ultimately justice; set against the backdrop of the closing years of the 16th century and the continuing antagonism between the Cunninghames and Montgomeries which has plagued Scotland for more than 100 years.

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