Shortlisted for the prestigious Costa Children's Book Award 2009 There’s romance, intrigue, religion and bloodshed all tightly interwoven in this historical thriller. Rather than marrying the old nobleman her father has chosen for her, Elinor determines to run away with Bertran the Troubadour. As the witness to a brutal murder for which the all-powerful Pope is bound to seek revenge, Bertran is on a mission to warn all other heretics of the terrible dangers which are pressing in around him. Elinor and Bertran make wonderful guides to the historical upheaval that threatened the south of France. ~ Julia Eccleshare
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A story of persecution and poetry, love and war set in 13th-century Southern France. A troubadour, Bertran, witnesses the brutal murder of the Pope's legate, and risks his life to warn others of the war that he knows is certain to follow this act. The lands of the peaceable Cathars - deemed heretics - are now forfeit and under threat from crusaders who have been given authority by the Pope to take the Cathar domains by force. But the Pope is trying to track Bertran down and so is somebody else: Elinor, a young noblewoman, in love with Bertran but facing a loveless arranged marriage, flees her family and becomes a minstrel herself. Soon both Bertan and Elinor find themselves enveloped in a rising tide of bloodshed that threatens the very fabric of their society.
Mary Hoffman has written over 100 books for children. Amazing Grace, commended for the Kate Greenaway medal, and its sequels has sold over 1.5 million copies. As well as the successful Stravaganza sequence of teenage novels, translated into over thirty languages, The Great Big Books series of information books for younger readers, illustrated by Ros Asquith has done very well. The first, The Great Big Book of Families, won the inaugural SLA Information Book Award in the under 7s category.
Mary loves to write historical fiction and her books for Bloomsbury - The Falconer’s Knot, Troubadour and David - have been followed by Shakespeare’s Ghost and now The Ravenmaster’s Boy. She runs a widely-read blog called The History Girls: https://the-history-girls.blogspot.com
Mary is an Honorary Fellow of the Library Association (CILIP) and lives in Oxfordshire.
