THE SPEAR ABOVE THE HEARTH - Softcover

Chase, W.M.

9798175646567: THE SPEAR ABOVE THE HEARTH

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798175646567

Publisher: Independently published, 2026

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The spear above the hearth once made his name. Now it is the one thing his son cannot understand.
Years earlier, a Gallic warrior learned what songs and stories leave out: the choking breath of a wounded man, the families left counting losses, the way one act of vengeance becomes permission for the next. He has not become harmless. He has simply stopped believing that every insult must be answered with blood.
His son sees something else. Other boys train, boast, and begin taking their place among the men. His father was allowed to earn a reputation with a weapon, yet now refuses to let him measure himself by the same standard.
When livestock disappear and an old grievance threatens to widen into retaliation, the argument between father and son becomes more than private. The household, kin, and local leaders all have claims of their own. Then reports from beyond the familiar country grow harder to dismiss. Rome is moving. Neighboring peoples are choosing sides. Men are being spent in local quarrels while a greater danger takes shape.
The Spear Above the Hearth is a research-grounded historical novella set in late Iron Age Gaul, about fathers and sons, warrior prestige, kin obligation, restraint, and the boundary between necessary force and violence chosen for pride. At its center is a simple question: what should a strong man teach the boy who will inherit his world?

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