One of our Great Reads You May Have Missed in 2012.
Meticulous research, brilliant characterisation, compelling storytelling and stunning battle sequences bring this epic novel about one of Western civilisation's most traumatic events, the Fall of Constantinople, to life. From the author of the cracking Jack Absolute series.
Constantinople. For a thousand years, the city was the heart of the vast Byzantine empire. Beloved of Greeks. Coveted by Turks. 1453. The empire has shrunk to what lies within its no-longer magnificent walls. Yet for one man, Constantinople is the stepping stone to destiny. Mehmet 11, just twenty when he is anointed Sultan, brings an army of one hundred thousand, outnumbering the defenders ten to one, and the most deadly threat the city has ever faced - the largest cannon in the world. But a city is more than stone, its fate inseparable from its citizens'. Like Gregoras, mercenary and exile, returning to the hated place he once loved. Theon, his twin - and betrayer. Sofia, loved by two brothers, forced to choose between them. And Leilah, mystic and assassin, seeking her own destiny in the flames...
C.C. Humphreys is an actor, playwright, fight choreographer and novelist.
‘My first job out of school was as a motorcycle messenger, based in St Giles, where much of Plague and Fire takes place. It was a ghastly slum in 1665, and thousands died horribly there in the Great Plague. And much of this area suffered during The Great Fire of London in 1666. I think many Londoners have a deep-buried memory of the devastating things that have happened to their city. Walking those streets again, it’s not hard to sense the bones just below the paving stones.’
Chris has written nine historical fiction novels including The French Executioner, the Jack Absolute Series, Vlad and Shakespeare’s Rebel. Fire is a thriller set in London 1666 and follows on from Plague..
