The Religion - Hardcover

Willocks, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 022407797X ISBN 13: 9780224077972

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2006

Synopsis

In 1994 Tim Willocks burst onto the scene with an unforgettable novel called Green River Rising. Hailed as 'the best thriller since The Silence of the Lambs' (Daily Telegraph), it was particularly praised for the quality of Tim Willocks' prose and for his extraordinarily dark imagination. Both these qualities are very much in evidence in his new novel, The Religion.

Malta. May 1565.

From the shores of the Golden Horn, Suleiman the Magnificent, Emperor of the Ottomans, has sent the greatest armada since antiquity to wipe out Islam's most implacable foe, the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, in their stronghold on the island of Malta. To the Turks the knights are known as 'The Hounds of Hell'. The knights call themselves 'The Religion'.

Meanwhile, in Sicily, a disgraced and exiled Maltese noblewoman, Carla La Penautier, has been trying to return to the doomed island in an attempt to find the bastard son who was taken from her at his birth. The Religion have refused her every plea and a tormented Roman Inquisitor, Ludovico Ludovici, seeks to imprison her. But Carla recruits a notorious adventurer and arms merchant - Mattias Tannhauser - to help her evade the Inquisition and to escape on the last galley to run the Turkish blockade. As the ensuing apocalyptic conflict between Islam and Christianity becomes the most brutal and harrowing siege in military history, Tannhauser and Carla must survive the bloody inferno and track down a twelve-year-old boy whose face they have never seen and whose name they do not know. And neither of them reckon on the return of the avenging Inquisitor, Ludovico Ludovici...

The Religion is an epic and exuberant tale of love and war, of intrigue and obsession, of politics and faith and high adventure. Against a rich and meticulously detailed historical backcloth, it tells of a small band of intrepid men and women who defy the madness of Holy War to realize their own vision of God and Eternity.

About this title

Review:

"macho, sexy, profoundly bloody and concerned with spiritual salvation" -- Lisa Hilton, The Sunday Telegraph

"the ideal man to do justice to the conflict...gripping...a classic of its kind" -- John Williams, Mail on Sunday

'a griping story with reliable factual underpinnings.' - Jane Jakerman -- Times Literary Supplement

Patrick Ness commenting on book covers. Credits The Religion.
`stands out because its pages are dyed a deep red'
-- Guardian Saturday.

Splendidly envisioned
-- Historical Novels Review

‘a novel of high adventure, blood, guts and romantic love...as master craftsman, [Willocks] tells his story with extraordinary pace.’ -- Brian Martin in Literary Review

From the Publisher:

The return of Tim Willocks, author of the legendary Green River Rising, with another epic novel of almost unbelievable tension, violence and simply brilliant writing.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 022407797X
• ISBN 13: 9780224077972
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 640