Patrick: Son of Ireland - Softcover

Lawhead, Steve

Softcover

ISBN 10: 006001282X ISBN 13: 9780060012823

Publisher: Harper Torch, 2004

Synopsis

Slave, soldier, lover, hero, saint,—his life mirrored the cataclysmic world into which he was born. His memory will outlast the ages.

Born of a noble Welsh family, he is violently torn from his home by Irish raiders at age sixteen and sold as a slave to a brutal wilderness king. Rescued by the king's druids from almost certain death, he learns the arts of healing and song, and the mystical ways of a secretive order whose teachings tantalize with hints at a deeper wisdom. Yet young Succat Morgannwg cannot rest until he sheds the strangling yoke of slavery and returns to his homeland across the sea. He pursues his dream of freedom through horrific war and shattering tragedy—through great love and greater loss—from a dying, decimated Wales to the bloody battlefields of Gaul to the fading majesty of Rome. And in the twilight of a once-supreme empire, he is transformed yet again by divine hand and a passionate vision of "truth against the world," accepting the name that will one day become legend . . . Patricius!

About this title

Review

‘An enjoyable, sweeping and often touching tale of bravery’
SFX

‘This is a rip-roaring adventure story; the pace rarely flags. There’s scheming, murder and betrayal aplenty’
Interzone

‘A vivid historical setting and a lengthy and satisfying plot’
Publishing News

From the Back Cover

In the summer of 405AD, Irish raiders attack the western coast of Wales, carving a fiery swathe through the peaceful countryside. Among the survivors who are rounded up and taken back to Ireland is Succat: an impulsive sixteen-year-old son of a powerful Roman family.

Succat is sold as a slave and put to work tending sheep. Repeated escape attempts lead to ever more brutal and savage beatings, until he comes to the attention of Cormac, a young novice Druid. The two strike up an unlikely friendship and, as Succat learns the ways of the Irish people, he is given a new name by the Druid: Patrick.

With a new name begins Patrick’s new life: he is married, and the two decide to return to his home to claim his inheritance, only to find his father’s estate in ruins. So begins a calamitous journey that will lead him to Tours; see him join the Roman Legion as a soldier; suffer the the horrors of a plague-filled Rome; and thence back to Ireland, where he will embark on a mission for which his name will be remembered throughout history.

In the spirit of Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian cycle, Patrick is a gritty and unsentimental portrait of one of the Western world's great icons, featuring an accurate and compelling rendering of the historical period – an era full of brutal conflict, adventure, turmoil, and visionary inspiration.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Torch
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 006001282X
• ISBN 13: 9780060012823
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 592