France: Historical and cultural regions

LONGLISTED FOR THE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE 2022.An action-packed historical novel featuring Danish warrior Styrkar, and his journey through the violent Norman Conquest as he fights for vengeance.The champion of a dead king has nothing left to lose... And nothing more to fear.Hastings, 1066.Styrkar the Dane stumbles wounded and delirious from the corpse-strewn battlefield of Senlac Hill. He has watched his king butchered at the hands of foreign knights, seen his countrymen defeated in battle, and he will not stop until there is a reckoning.Styrkar embarks on a bloody quest to avenge his dead master, becoming an outlaw in the wilds and earning a fearsome reputation. When a Breton knight seeks to track down this fugitive and make his own name, he can little envisage the task he has set himself. For Styrkar, the Red Wolf, last surviving housecarl to King Harold Godwinson, will carve the story of his vengeance in Frankish flesh... or die in the attempt.Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Giles Kristian, and Guy Gavriel Kay. As well as those who enjoyed the world of "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla."Praise for Richard Cullen:"Oath Bound is a terrific novel... It's a brutal yet compelling tale, and one that gripped me from the first page to the last." - Paul Fraser Collard, author of "Fugitive""A perfect example of tight, gritty, character-driven storytelling." - Luke Scull, author of "The Grim Company"Richard Cullen hails from Leeds in the heartland of Yorkshire, where he writes fantasy and historical fiction. He is also the author of The Age of Uprising series, published under the name R. S. Ford.

1333. Edward III is at war with Scotland. Nineteen-year-old Sir Harry de Lyon yearns to prove himself and jumps at the chance when a powerful English baron, William Montagu, invites him on a secret mission with a dozen elite knights.They ride north, to a crumbling Scottish keep, capturing a feral, half-starved boy within and putting the other inhabitants to the sword.But nobody knows why the flower of English knighthood snuck over the border to capture a savage, dirty teenage boy. Montagu gives the boy to Harry as his squire, with only two rules: don't let him escape, and convert him to the English cause.At first, it's hopeless. The Scottish boy is surly and violent and eats anything that isn't nailed down. Then Harry begins to notice things: that, as well as Gaelic, the boy speaks flawless French, with an accent much different from Harry's Norman one. That he can read Latin too. And when Harry finally convinces the boy – Iain mac Maíl Coluim – to cut his filthy curtain of hair, the face revealed is the most beautiful thing Harry has ever seen.With Iain as his squire, Harry wins tournament after tournament and becomes a favourite of the King. But underneath the pageantry smoulder twin secrets: Harry and Iain's growing passion for each other, and Iain's mysterious heritage. As England hurtles towards war once again, these secrets will destroy everything Harry holds dear.A sexy, slow-burn, enemies to lovers historical romance, Alex De Campi delivers a steamy but tender love story. "Brokeback Mountain" meets "50 Shades of Grey" set again the vivid backdrop of Medieval Britain. Perfect for fans of Madeleine Miller's "Song of Achilles", the novels of C. S. Pascat, and K.J. Charles.This novel contains explicit sexual content and adult themes.Alex de Campi is a thriller writer with an extensive backlist of critically-acclaimed prose and graphic novels including Eisner-nominated heist noir "Bad Girls" (Simon & Schuster). Her most recent books were pulp horror graphic novel "Dracula, Motherf**ker" (Image Comics), sci-fi thriller "Madi: Once Upon A Time in the Future" co-written with Duncan Jones (Z2 Comics), and "True War Stories", an anthology of soldiers’ deployment tales. She is on most social media as @alexdecampi.