Dark myths, medieval secrets, intrigue, and romance populate the pages of this first in a four-book teen series from the #1 bestselling author of The Other Boleyn Girl.
The year is 1453 and all signs point to it being the end of the world. Accused of heresy and expelled from his monastery, handsome seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is recruited by a mysterious stranger to record the end of times across Europe. Commanded by sealed orders, Luca is sent to map the fears of Christendom and travel to the very frontier of good and evil.
Seventeen-year-old Isolde, a Lady Abbess, is trapped in a nunnery to prevent her from claiming her rich inheritance. As the nuns in her care are driven mad by strange visions, walking in their sleep, and showing bleeding wounds, Luca is sent to investigate and driven to accuse her.
Forced to face the greatest fears of the dark ages—witchcraft, werewolves, madness—Luca and Isolde embark on a search for truth, their own destinies, and even love as they take the unknown ways to the real historical figure who defends the boundaries of Christendom and holds the secrets of the Order of Darkness.
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“Narrator Charlie Cox does an excellent job performing Isolde and Luca, as well as all the rich supporting cast—the narrator seems to almost relish playing the book’s smarmy characters. Additionally, Cox is adept at creating a sense of lingering dread and dramatic urgency. However, he is most impressive when he voices the two protagonists, so thoroughly capturing the essence of angry and fragile Isolde that listeners may forget that Cox is a male performer.”
— Publishers Weekly
Phillipa Gregory is an internationally bestselling author of historical novels whose success extends to the United States as well, where she is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. She earned her BA from the University of Sussex and a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from Edinburgh University, where she is a regent. Gregory is the author of the Wideacre trilogy, the Earthly Joys series, and the Plantagenet and Tudor novels, which include the enormously popular Other Boleyn Girl, of which there are over a million US copies in print. She is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff and was awarded the 2016 Harrogate Festival Award for Contribution to Historical Fiction.
Charlie Cox is an audiobook narrator. His readings include the Order of Darkness series by Philippa Gregory, among others.