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Book Title: The Fugitive’s Sword
Series: Lord’s Learning
Author: Eleanor Swift-Hook
Publication Date: 8th October 2024
Publisher: Schiavona Books (author’s own imprint)
Pages: 305
Genre: Historical Adventure
Autumn 1624
Europe is deeply embroiled in what will become the Thirty Years' War.
A young Philip Lord, once favoured at King James' court, has vanished without a trace, under the shadow of treason.
Outside the besieged city of Breda, Captain Matthew Rider faces the brutal reality of wintering his cavalry in the siege lines, until he crosses paths with Filippo Schiavono, a young man whose courage and skill could change everything.
Kate, Lady Catherine de Bouqulement, arrives in London prepared to navigate the dangerous politics of King James' court to ensure troops are sent to her mistress, the exiled Queen of Bohemia.
Within Breda’s walls, a foundling named Jorrit unwittingly stumbles into a lethal conspiracy when Schiavono hires him, supposedly to help sell smuggled tobacco. But Schiavono’s plans go awry and they are compelled to flee the city, only to be captured at sea.
If Schiavono is unable to prove his loyalty and ruthlessness to a savage Dunkirker privateer captain, both he and Jorrit will face certain death.
Meanwhile, in London, Kate is forced to fight her own battle against those seeking to coerce her into their schemes and finds herself trapped in a terrifying and deadly power struggle.
Driven by violence, treachery, and the sea's merciless tides, their fates collide.
Buy Links:
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Universal Buy Link: https://mybook.to/TheFugitivesSword
Author Bio:
Eleanor Swift-Hook enjoys the mysteries of history and fell in love with the early Stuart era at university when she re-enacted battles and living history events with the English Civil War Society. Since then, she has had an ongoing fascination with the social, military and political events that unfolded during the Thirty Years’ War and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
The Soldier's Stand, book two in Lord's Learning and the sequel to The Fugitive's Sword, is now available for preorder and will be released on 25 February, 2025.
She lives in County Durham and loves writing stories woven into the historical backdrop of those dramatic times.
Author Links:
Website: www.eleanorswifthook.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/emswifthook/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LordsLegacySeries
Amazon Author Page:
Goodreads:
Schiavona: The Queen of Swords
Detail from a portrait of Philip Lord by Ian Bristow (author's commissioned artwork) |
Often books that have the word ‘sword’ in the title mean it metaphorically. It is there in the title to show that this is a book that features swashbuckling swordplay, duelling maybe, or armed conflict of some kind. However, in The Fugitive’s Sword the title references a very specific weapon. There is also a real fugitive to whom that sword belongs: the fifteen year old Philip Lord, forced to flee England to avoid a traitor’s fate. He spends much of the book trying to regain the sword when it is taken from him. In the end, the things he has to do in that cause gain him a great deal more than any possible value the weapon itself might have. Not just in material gain but, in terms of knowledge, skill, growth and maturity. These are all things most might consider a very good exchange for any sword, but they are not enough to distract our young hero from his intention to reclaim it from the man who took the sword from him.
In many ways it is the sword that comes to define the character. He even takes his name from it when he becomes Filippo Schiavono. For his sword is of a type known as a Schiavona, marked out as such by its distinctive hilt and pommel.
Early Modern Basket Hilts |
Why is it called a Schiavona? Most likely from the Schiavoni Guard, a sort of early modern Venetian navy SEALs unit, operating as marines and forming the elite guard protecting the Doge of Venice. They came to favour this style of sword hilt in the late 16th century. The men who served in it were Slavs (‘Schiavoni’ at that time in Italian) recruited from the Slavonic Venetian territories of Istria and Dalmatia (modern day Croatia).
There were many designs of basket hilt developing at this time, but the Schiavona sword was unique amongst them. It was set apart by the slanting swirl of its ‘basket’. Other basket hilts were cup shaped and had a strengthening bar which ran from the pommel to the guard. But the Schiavona, unlike all other basket-hilted swords, was entirely free around the grip and the hilt only attached to the sword at the guard. Its strength came from the angled sweep of its basket which allowed the hand holding it to move freely, unrestricted by any tethering bar and giving the swordsman both protection for his sword hand, and greater agility with it in a fight. In addition, where most swords had pommels that were round, the Schiavona’s was flat with a curved top that had raised angular ends. This was known from its appearance as a cat’s head pommel.
Dalmatian Schiavona c 1570 |
So the fugitive’s sword that is referred to in the title of my book is a fine Schiavona and if you are wondering whether at the end of it all Filippo Schiavono gets back the sword whose name he borrowed, well that is a question I think is best left to the pages of the book to answer.
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(note: Helen has not yet read the book herself)
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