Eagle: Book One of the Saladin Trilogy(Saladin trilogy)

Salah ad-Din, or Saladin as he is known to the Franks, was a Kurd, the son of despised people, and yet he became Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He united the peoples of Allah, recaptured Jerusalem, and drove the Crusaders to the very edge of the sea. He battled, and in the end tamed King Richard the Lionheart, who well deserved his savage name. He was a great man, the greatest man that I ever knew, but when I first met him, he was only a skinny child . . . The Chronicle of Yahya al-Dimashq But alongside the legend of Saladin there is another story. When the Crusader army is routed beneath the walls of Damascus in 1148, a young Saxon named John is captured and enslaved. He is bought by Yusuf, a slight, bookish boy, for the price of a pair of sandals. And so begins the story of two enemies brought together by fate and of a friendship that will change the face of the Holy Land. Timid Yusuf will grow up to become the warrior Saladin, nicknamed 'the Eagle'; John will first teach his young master the art of war, before returning west to serve first the King of Jerusalem and then King Richard himself. From spectacular set-piece battles to the political manoeuvrings of the corrupt Crusader court, from the brutality of single combat to the sophistication of Islamic life, this is the first in a remarkable trilogy that will chart the story of the greatest leader the Middle East has ever known.

About the Author :
Jack Hight is an American historian. He lives with his wife and dog in Washington DC where he is currently finishing the Saladin Trilogy. Hight's acclaimed first novel, Siege, is also available from John Murray.

Review :
'Hight's stirring book is brimming with all the excitement, action, romance and adventure that readers would expect from a tale set in the turmoil of the Crusades - but it is also an eye-opening window on to the sophistication and complexity of Islamic life in the late Middle Ages and a superb early portrait of one of history's most fascinating characters' Lancashire Evening Post 'Hight has used his skills as an historian ... to build a framework of solid historical fact on which he builds his exciting tale. And exciting it is ... lively and a real page-turner, but what makes it special is that shining through is his deep knowledge of the Arabic culture ... promising and compelling' Eastern Daily Press 'Epic is the word to sum up this thundering historical adventure which begins Hight's ambitious new Saladin trilogy' Peterborough Evening Telegraph 'Exciting and interesting' HNR