A spellbinding journey through time and cultures...
Annie Thornton, an English midwife and apprentice witch, leads a pleasant yet uneventful life in her Yorkshire village, which she shares with her telepathic cat, Rosamund. All changes when she is summoned by her ancestral, witchy Aunt Meg living in the fifteenth century. Their challenge is to find seven-year-old twins stolen from their home in a tenth-century Viking village.
Aunt Meg vows to return the twins to the grieving parents. Their search begins in Viking Yorvik (York) and ends in magnificent Constantinople. They are accompanied by Ivar, father of the twins and a born troublemaker. Finne, a Viking trader and leader of a convoy of longships offers them passage to the fabled city but dangers abound.
Queen Gunnhild, a woman also skilled in magic, is determined to end their mission for financial gain. Will Annie find her inner power and conquer both the journey and Gunnhild or will the dark queen succeed?
There is a wealth of authentic detail about the rigours of the sea and river voyage which takes the group of would-be rescuers from York, England to Birka, an island near Sweden, with its busy trading town and active slave market. Then the group carries on across the Baltic Sea and then down major rivers in shallow lightweight river boats to get to Kiev and finally across the Black Sea to Byzantium. There, an eccentric and very wealthy man is rumoured to have bought the exotic blonde twins for his collection.
The description of the running of rapids or portaging around them, the constraints of campfire cooking and cautious dealings or bloody skirmishes with other tribes in the lands they are passing through all make for a gripping page-turner.
Caroline Woodward
Review from BC Book World
The Pentology
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“ I purchased both your books from you and am so glad I did! I thoroughly enjoyed them. I passed them on to friends with whom I don’t exchange gifts and those I do will be receiving them as gifts. Thank you for all the time you put into researching these novels.
I especially enjoy your characters. I would love to have them as friends. The pictures you paint are incredible. I find myself transported to the times and places in which your characters find themselves. Your descriptions and narration not only convey the physical aspects of the time, place and setting but also the emotional ones.
I am looking forward to the third book in your series!”
~ Susan from Saskatoon
“Maureen Thorpe casts her magical spell yet again as her characters embark on a perilous journey. Their adventures take them from the north of England to far-away Constantinople. With evil close at hand. A daring group of voyagers lead us on this historic adventure through rivers, seas and dazzling ancient streets. The time for action is always upon us as we travel with them. Time and again our worst fears unfold. Will Annie save the day or will evil triumph? The past is not so easy to predict as you might imagine.”
~ Thom Gordon, Author of ‘Abruption’
“ Have thoroughly enjoyed my Byzantium expedition! I felt like |I was right there with them – and was little sad when I came to the end. The good news is if I wait a month or two, I can read/”relive” it all again while I await book 3.”
~ Anne Futa