Neil Oliver (http://www.neiloliver.com/, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Oliver) must be a busy man. The historian, archaeologist and TV presenter has found time to write a novel. Some find his presentation of the past gripping. Others find the declamatory style off-putting. If you are the former you may enjoy his new book Master of Shadows. The summary is as follows. In fifteenth-century Constantinople, Prince Constantine saves the life of a broken-hearted girl. But the price of his valour is high. John Grant is a young man on the edge of the world. His unique abilities carry him from his home in Scotland to the heart of the Byzantine Empire in search of a girl and the chance to fulfil a death-bed promise. Lena has remained hidden from the men who have been searching for her for many years. When she’s hunted down, at last she knows what she must do. With an army amassing beyond the city’s ancient walls, the fates of these three will intertwine. As the Siege of Constantinople reaches its climax, each must make a choice between head and heart, duty and destiny. It’s all a long way from scraping the dirt from bits of Roman pottery in a trench. The ground is a too hard for that at the moment anyway. Let your imagination fly and let Neil Oliver be your guide.
Enquire at your local library or consult http://www.amazon.co.uk/Master-Shadows-Neil-Oliver/dp/140915811X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444975780&sr=1-1&keywords=master+of+shadows for full bibliographic detail.
448 pages in Orion
First published 2015
ISBN 978-1409158110
Neil Oliver