A book-recommendation - not children's books

[pengolodh_sc at yahoo.no]

In my previous book-mail, i spoke of my childhood reading.  Now it is 
time for grownup books.

Previously I spoke of Mark Hamill playing in a movie based on books 
by Swedish author Jan Guillou.  Now, Jan Guillou is quite a famous 
author in Sweden - not the least because of his 10 novels about Carl 
Gustaf Gilbert Hamilton, count Hamilton, alias Coq Rouge, Swedish 
Secret Agent.  Jan guillou is famous for this of course, but also for 
being a communist, having served jailtime for being a spy and things 
like that.  I will not get into this right now, however - I have some 
books to recommend.

Jan Guillou has not only written books about spies - he has also 
recently written three historic novels, from medieval Sweden and 
Palestine.  These books have not in fact been published in English 
yet, but on Amazon.co.uk, the first of the three books is slated for 
release as paperback on December 6th this year.  The title of the 
first volume is "The Road to Jerusalem Vol. 1"  (the first volume and 
the series has the same name).  Then comes "The Knight Templar", and 
the series ends with "The Kingdom at the End of the Road".

>From Amazon.co.uk:  "The hero of this historical trilogy is Arn 
Magnusson, born in 1150 to an aristocratic Swedish family. "The Road 
to Jerusalem" covers his childhood and education at the Cistercian 
monastry of Varnhem. There he is taught the best of spiritual and 
worldly learning, as well as being trained to become a master archer 
and swordsman by the giant Brother Guilbert, a former knight. At 17, 
equipped to become a monk or a warrior, Arn returns home, a young man 
and yet an innocent in the ways of the world. Two sisters cross his 
path: one seduces him, while with the other sister, Cecilia, he falls 
deeply in love. In loving two sisters he has committed a crime 
punishable by both civil and clerical authorities, and he is 
sentenced to serve 20 years as a Knight Templar in the Holy Land. "

The series details not only the development of Arn Magnusson (Arn de 
Gothia as he is known among the crusaders, while the Saracens know 
him as Al Ghouti), but also the early history of the unification of 
Sweden.  It is very well written, and very captivating.  When I saw a 
package offer for the three books at my favoured internet store, I 
ordered it right away, just as fast as I would order any new Harry 
Potter book.

Best regards
Christian Stubø