AshehougAgency

Lionheart

At the age of fifteen he leads an army against his father. Fourteen years  later he is the Pope’s obvious choice in leading the third crusade and conquering  Jerusalem. His main enemy is the Muslims’ leader Saladin. But is it true that he is God’s chosen one, like his mother says? And is Saladin really the Devil himself?  

Lionheart is a concentrated novel about a man living in the shadow of his own myth, a fanatic general who wants to conquer the world’s greatest sanctum and a king that is suddenly vulnerable. The novel is built on extensive research and paints a convincing literary portrait of a person that has engrossed historians, poets, novelists and readers for centuries.

Click here for English sample translation.

Praise for Lionheart:
 
“Sober and elegant about a historical icon. Thorvald Steen’s new novel Lionheart is a fascinating read. … Steen manages to give flesh and blood to a historical icon, and creates a story with energy, dressed in sober, yet sublime language… Steen is an elegant stylist and rarely resorts to grand language; this lends his historical narrative legitimacy and credibility… It is a dark and conflicting medieval portrait Thorvald Steen has drawn, in a stylistically elegant novel.”
(Dagsavisen)

”A lion’s heart holds more than strength with Thorvald Steen illuminating it…. Thorvald Steen is a master of soft-spoken prose. His historical novels are characterized by accuracy and knowledge, combined with a respectful breath of life for the people he writes about. If one wants to read more about Saladin, pick up Camel Clouds from 2004. And those who want to read more by Thorvald Steen have much to look forward to.”
(Vårt Land)

”Steen’s historical novel becomes so valuable as a representative of the genre, it gives a picture of the European Middle Ages, but also has an implicit light beam towards our own time. … He is best when he closes in on the enigmatic, historical Richard, and when we see the contours of the talented and peaceable commander Saladin.”
(Tønsbergs Blad)

”Thorvald Steen is a skilled storyteller.”
(Aftenposten) 

”Thorvald Steen has once again given us a solid historical novel.”
(Dag og Tid)

First published: 2010, Forlaget Oktober
Thorvald Steen: Biography and bibliography

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