Bøker av David Donachie

The final volume in the powerful Crusades trilogyThe crusading armies go from besieging the citadel of Antioch to themselves being besieged. Although Bohemund, leader of the Apulian Normans, manages to take a firm grip on the city, the army of crusaders is depleted, thinned by death, disease, and defection.And for Bohemund and his nephew Tancred there is yet another difficulty: the dissent between the Crusade leaders has broken out into the open, with the wealthy Raymond of Toulouse stirring up conflict. If the Christian host is fighting on two fronts, so is Bohemund himself. With the enemy Turks at his front and his warring peers at his back, can he gain the mighty city of Antioch once and for all? Only one of the greatest battles of the age will decide.

The second volume in the powerful Crusades trilogy1096: The Pope has called for a crusade to free Jerusalem, and half the warriors of Europe have responded. Among them is the Norman Count Bohemund, one-time enemy of Byzantium, whose help is required if progress is to be possible. His first task, pushing back the infidel Turks from the holy places of Christendom, calls for an uneasy alliance with old enemy Emperor Alexius. But can the crusaders trust the wily emperor?With past tensions and grudges arising, Bohemund is faced once again with the opportunity to gain power, land, and riches for himself ¿ but will the risks of doing so outweigh the rewards? The crusaders must contend with sieges, open battles, hunger, and want on their journey to mighty Antioch, where they face the stiffest test of their mettle. As defeat threatens, only Norman discipline can save the day.

Following David Donachie's earlier Conquest trilogy, the de Hautville warrior dynasty shows no sign of falling back into obscurity. This is the first volume in the powerful Crusades trilogy.Eleventh-century Italy: The domination of the Normans, the most feared warriors in Christendom, is causing trouble. At their head is Robert de Hauteville, the ¿Guiscard,¿ who has colonised much of Italy and now commands the triple dukedom of the extended Norman family. But Robert has made many enemies, including the ever-powerful papacy in Rome.As Robert successfully suppresses a Lombard revolt, his firstborn, Bohemund ¿ now seventeen and blessed with the strength, height, and military prowess of his father ¿ has come to fight in his army. Already recognised as a formidable warrior, Bohemund seeks to assert his natural right as the heir of his father's dukedom. But with Robert's second son, Borsa, legally entitled to inherit, his quest is not without conflict. A battle between the sons is inevitable, and blood ties will count for nothing.

In twenty years, the de Hauteville brothers have risen from penniless obscurity to become the most potent warrior family in Christendom: depended on by the Pope, feared by Byzantium, and respected by the Holy Roman Emperor. And now Roger, the youngest son, has finally come to Italy, where he also proves himself to be a great warrior and canny politician. It is he who will raise the family to the pinnacle of influence, not as vassals beholden to a greater power, but rulers in their own right.But the path is not easy; brotherly love only goes so far and nothing has altered in the bubbling stew of Italian politics. There are enemies at Roger¿s back as well as before him, battles to fight and defeats to be reversed, treacheries both secret and transparent to circumvent. Yet the loyalty of blood that binds this family of warriors together is still present and it is that, above everything, which will in the end be the catalyst that propels the name de Hauteville to the pinnacle of power as they face the mighty Saracen Emirs of Sicily and undertake, with papal blessing, the first true crusade of the eleventh century.

The loyalty of brothers . . . the betrayal of warriors. In eleventh-century Italy, William de Hauteville, oldest of the mercenary de Hauteville brothers, and his men are the Lombards' greatest hope of overcoming the might of Byzantium.

1033, on the Norman¿French border: It is thirty years before William Duke of Normandy sails to England and does battle at Hastings, but the events leading up to that epic moment are already taking shape. The twelve sons of Tancred de Hauteville are following in their father¿s footsteps. As knights, they have but one true purpose: to fight. But denied service with their duke, they are forced to take employment as mercenaries. Their unequalled battle skills are for hire to the highest bidder.Victory and defeat, betrayal and revenge combine as the desperation to rule becomes an intense battle, testing even the strongest of ties. But through it all shines the loyalty of blood that binds families¿and warriors¿together. This is the epic story of a true band of brothers.

Honour Be Damned finds the fiery British lieutenant George Markham in the waning days of the French Revolution. The revolution is turning in on itself¿Robespierre has met the guillotine¿but still the French fight on. After completing the siege of a French fortress in Corsica, Markham and his men are assigned to the sloop Sylphide under the impetuous Captain Germain. Before long, Germain's foolhardy hunt for glory throws Markham and his ¿Lobsters¿ into desperate ship-to-ship action. Fortunately, fighting hand to hand is what the battle-hardened Marines do best. Like Markham, Germain has been branded a coward, but in his zeal to restore his good name he sets Markham on another, more perilous venture. This time, Markham must go ashore to escort a group of French royalists on a secret mission. Dodging the French army patrols is difficult enough, but it is particularly hazardous because he is shackled with a French count, a devious Catholic prelate, a young lady, and their contingent of servants. But what is the secret prize they are hunting for? Why have they embarked on this fool's errand? Markham must answer these questions as he untangles the deceit and subterfuge all around him. And he must rely on the loyalty of his men and the ever-grudging assistance of Sergeant Rannoch to succeed in this most unusual and dangerous mission¿one complicated by the unexpected arrival of a figure from Markham's past.

In the tradition of Patrick O¿Brian¿s adventure novels and C.S. Forester¿s Horatio Hornblower series, A Shred of Honour is an epic of eighteenth-century warfare that introduces Lieutenant George Markham of His Majesty¿s Royal Marines.Irishman, papist, reputed coward: Markham is a man with something to prove. The death of his commander¿killed by a lucky French musket ball to the throat¿provides him with a chance to lead his men to glory.But it¿s not that easy. Markham, a foot soldier by training, is no sailor, and he is suddenly left with a band of surly, disgruntled conscripts under his command. The salty marines aboard the frigate Hebe deride his ignorance and undermine his authority. The soldiers from Markham¿s old regiment who have been transferred to the Hebe blame him for the fact that they now must spend their days crammed on a ship.Worse, as the winter of 1793 comes, Markham and his troublemaking men must face the expansive terror of Revolutionary France. The fighting takes Markham to the city of Toulon, where he makes the acquaintance of a French soldier named Napoleon Bonaparte.Acclaimed author David Donachie follows Markham through bloody battles, lively seductions, fights with superiors, and run-ins with French spies to offer a stirring tale of derring-do that heats the blood and fires the imagination.

Lucius Falerius is dead, and Rome in its entirety mourns the passing of its most powerful senator. It falls to his young son Marcellus to carry out his father¿s legacy and restore the rights promised to the defeated Sicilian slaves, yet there are those who will not see the honour of Rome compromised and the slaves assuaged.On the Roman border provinces there is also trouble, and the legions move north to neutralize the threat posed by the Celts. The confederation of Celtic tribes is united under one chieftain, the formidable and unpredictable Brennos, but a plot is being crafted to see him dead and the confederation broken. For Brennos, the treachery comes from within his own family, for which he will exact a brutal and bloody revenge.Meanwhile Aquila, accompanied by his `nephew,¿ Fabius, finds himself under the command of a young tribune who bears the same name as the man responsible for the death of his old friend and mentor. And still there remains the question of the eagle charm he wears around his neck¿the only clue as to his real identity.

Rome has lost its greatest warrior; Aulus Cornelius is dead. Although he is hailed as a hero, the stench of betrayal by cowardly governor Flaminus lingers heavy in the air. The death of their father has left Aulus¿s sons, Quintus and Titus, with new and grave responsibilities. While Titus swears vengeance against Flaminus and aims to be as great a general as his father, Quintus chooses to pursue politics¿under the guidance of Lucius Falerius, now the most powerful senator in Rome.Despite his fortune, Lucius is still haunted by the prophecy that binds his fate to Aulus¿s. And as he trains his son, Marcellus, in the ways of wielding their immense power, he manipulates the Cornelius family in an attempt to achieve his own goals.Meanwhile, the young Aquila broods over his mother¿s deathbed revelation. With only memories and a mysterious eagle amulet left to him, Aquila joins a band of mercenaries. Unknowingly he heads straight into the heart of a slave uprising and takes a step closer to a destiny entwined with the fate of the great Roman Republic.

1787: Captain Edward Brazier is wounded and in desperate need of medical attention, but those from whom he could seek help have no idea where he is¿although neither do his enemies. With his beloved Betsey currently imprisoned by her brother Henry, who is considering committing her to an asylum to take her off his hands, time is running out for Brazier to rescue her and end the tyranny of the local smuggling ring of Deal once and for all.

1787: Captain Edward Brazier is on a mission. Recently paid off from his frigate and comfortably off with prize money, he is headed to Deal to propose marriage to young widow Betsey Langridge. He must navigate the bustle of the town¿s narrow streets that are busy with legal, illicit, and depraved business flowing from and around the ships at dock. But all does not go well; between Betsy¿s brother and guardian Henry Tulkington prohibiting the match, and Brazier marked out for trouble by a local smuggling gang, his plans fall into disarray. And when it slowly emerges that there may have been a decades-old injustice closer to home, Brazier is caught up in more than he¿d bargained for.

With barbarians at the gate and enemies within, two men must fight for the soul of the Republic and the greatest empire in the world.Inside a cave hacked out of the rock, lit by flickering torches, two young boys appeal to the famed Roman oracle for a glimpse into their future. The Sybil draws a blood-red shape of an eagle with wings outstretched: an omen of death. As the boys flee from the cave in fear, Aulus and Lucius make an oath of loyalty until death¿an oath that will be tested in the years to come.Thirty years on, Aulus is Rome¿s most successful general and faces his toughest battle. Barbarian rebels have captured his wife and are demanding the withdrawal of Roman legions from their land in return for her life. It is unthinkable for Aulus to agree, and he fears his beloved must be forfeit to Rome. Meanwhile, Lucius has risen to high rank in the Senate, a position he uses and abuses. But when Lucius is suspected of arranging a murder, the very foundations of the Republic are threatened. Lucius and Aulus soon find themselves on very different sides of the conflict¿perhaps the prophecy of the eagle will come true after all.History and adventure, brutality and courage combine to powerful effect, making The Pillars of Rome an outstanding opening to the Republic series.

Edward Brazier is enlisted by Prime Minister William Pitt to assist his investigation into smuggling activity in Deal. However, with his love Betsey now locked into a loveless marriage with Tom Spafford, a useless drunk, and living as a prisoner, Brazier is distracted from his mission. Although he manages to foil Spafford¿s plan to steal Betsey away to her family-owned plantation in the West Indies, Brazier finds himself taken captive. Only his ingenuity will help engineer his escape, and his cunning use of subterfuge will then allow him to infiltrate the smuggling gangs of Deal in a determined bid to unmask those in control. But with suspicion raised around him and his enemies banding together, can Brazier survive long enough to bring those responsible to justice?

When John Pearce is sent on a mission to collect fleeing members of the Corsican government, he seeks the aid of a local clan chief, inadvertently putting himself, his crew, and his rescued charges in jeopardy.

With his fiery Irish blood and well-known reputation for trouble, Lieutenant George Markham leads his embattled Royal Marines against the French in Corsica. His mission: to seize the island. His problem: not just the French, but spies, traitors, and jealous rivals¿including jealous husbands. As the bastard son of a Catholic father and a Protestant mother, Markham has a lot to prove. But as a scarred veteran of the war in America and against the French, Markham is battle-hardened in a way too many of his senior officers aren't, and his hardness wins over his men¿men whom even their own officers regard as the scum of the earth. With the help of these men, Markham ventures across the island to persuade the veteran war hero Pasquali Paoli to unite the Corsicans behind him. But their loyalty remains torn by a heritage of vendettas, French bribery, and cross and double-cross. Enemies abound, in both French blue and British red, and the only men Markham can rely on are the grim, taciturn Sergeant Rannoch and a man who owes Markham his life: Bellamy, the educated, black Marine. Brimming with violent action and an energetic, pulsating plot, Honour Redeemed is a worthy successor to A Shred of Honour in the gripping Markham of the Marines series.

"It is the sixth century of the Byzantium Empire. When Flavius Belisaurius witnesses the death of his father and the irretrievable tarnishing of his reputation, his life changed for good. Flavius swears vengeance on the man who betrayed his father and begins a journey from which there is no virtuous way back"--

Volume #3 in The Last Roman trilogy. Sixth-century Byzantium is a hotbed of intrigue. Count Flavius Belisarius, the empire's most successful military leader, must navigate a world infested with too many enemies and few friends-and fight and win battles along the way.

1936: When a favor to a friend leaves Cal Jardine caught up in the Spanish Civil War, he finds himself with an interesting assortment of fighters. His new compatriots are a group of athletes in Barcelona for the People's Olympiad. Together, they make an effective team and are primed for the fight; however, with a communist fanatic in the ranks, trouble is brewing. Even worse, a murderous betrayal lies ahead which threatens not just the fight, but Jardine himself. From the street battles of Barcelona to the fighting in the countryside, Jardine finds action as well as friendship?but will he have suitable revenge on his betrayer?

"Justinian, a paranoid leader, desperately wants the lost provinces returned to his rule but must first dispatch his brave general, Belisarius, to fight the Persians in the East. Justinian grows concerned that Belisarius will grow successful and courageous in his feats, thus becoming a threat to his power and person. He subsequently dispatches him on a near-impossible mission to North Africa to take back from the Vandals what was once ancient Carthage. Meanwhile back in Constantinople, Marcus Donatus has found favor with Empress Theodora, wife of Justinian, in the hopes of being able to influence Justinian himself"--

1935: Cal Jardine is a soldier of fortune. Forced to leave Hamburg, where he has been helping Jews flee the Nazis, he is recruited by a secretive British committee to smuggle guns to Abyssinia, a country threatened by Italian invasion. But first Jardine must procure the weapons from Romania, a country full of treacherous locals as well as German agents seeking his arrest. By sleight of hand, he contrives to steal the weapons he wanted to buy before escaping the country, leaving both the Romanians and Germans floundering. Taken to the Horn of Africa, the arms are then transported over a harsh landscape, along an old slave trader's route full of danger, into the hands of the Ethiopian Army. On his travels, Jardine acquires more baggage than he anticipated, including a beautiful but difficult American woman in search of her archaeologist mother, a determined reporter, and a daredevil French flyer, while missing out on a painful death by sheer good fortune. But the Ethiopians are ill-equipped to face a modern Italian army using tanks, bombers, and poison gas. Trained for war, can Jardine simply walk away? Or will he be drawn into a bloody conflict against massive odds, and manage to save those who now depend on him?

1938: While Hitler sets his sights on the Sudetenland, not everyone in Britain is willing to appease him. Convinced that the Fuhrer's land-hunger is insatiable, the head of the SIS recruits Cal Jardine to help him prove that Czechoslovakia is threatened with invasion. As jealousy and mutual suspicions within secret service ranks make it impossible for Jardine to tell friend from foe, he rediscovers old friends of dubious loyalty and makes new enemies of untested ruthlessness. This is the final installment in Ludlow's sweeping series set in the pre-WWII European powder-keg.

"Fourteenth-century Italy: The Hundred Years' War is over but the country is in upheaval. Unable to rely on their own citizens to fight their battles, cities and Popes are forced to pay vast amounts of money to mercenary captains to fight on their behalf. Hawkwood, a valiant Englishman, shrewd and relentless on the battlefield, finds himself fighting for and against any state of Italy prepared to pay handsomely"--

1794: Stationed in the Mediterranean, John Pearce finds himself entangled in a political plot and fighting against a superior force of Barbary corsairs.

1794: Stuck in the Mediterranean, headstrong lieutenant John Pearce must repair his battle-damaged ship, face a court-martial, and survive a battle against a bloodthirsty and piratical Turk.

John Pearce's promotion means that he is free to follow his own wishes. While Pearce is indulging himself in London, his trio of friends are shipped off to the Mediterranean. Pearce vows to liberate them from the brutal tyrant they are serving under. But Pearce is obliged to embark on a dangerous mission before he can free his friends.

1794. Lieutenant John Pearce is caught between a feuding trio of admirals. One puts him in a position of danger while another asks him to undertake a hazardous commission in order to protect his friends, the Pelicans. Meanwhile, Pearce is also trying to construct a perjury case against Admiral Ralph Barclay. Barclay''s own wife has turned against him, but by law she cannot testify against her husband. Her cowardly nephew has become a pawn in the Admiral''s game, the objective of which is to finally silence Pearce.

Lieutenant John Pearce must undertake an urgent commission from Lord Hood, track down midshipman Toby Burns, and placate Emily Barclay. He can only hope that his troubles will end along with his mission, but are they only just beginning?