Medieval English

The Odyssey tells of the heroic journey of Odysseus after the Trojan war. In his attempt to return home to Ithaca, this ancient hero is faced with obstacle after obstacle, mythic creature after mythic creature. This is an epic poem encompassing an epic journey as famous as it is classic. Translated by Stanley Lombardo.

Alexander the Fatherless: nephew of the villainous King March of Cornwall, who murdered his father. Burning with vengeance, Alexander sets out on a journey to Camelot to seek justice from King Arthur. His path will lead him to the Dark Tower, where the sorceress Morgan le Fay lies in wait. Morgan seduces Alexander and sends him on a quest to Jerusalem to recover the Holy Grail - which she believes will help her take the throne.

Deceptively fragile-looking, Eleanore of Ashlin had promised her life to God...until fate intervened. With her brother's untimely death, Eleanore - known as Elf to those who love her - becomes the heiress of an estate vital to England's defenses. She is ordered by royal command to wed one of the king's knights rather than take her final vows. With resistant heart, but ever obedient to King Stephen's will, she complies.

Captain Robbie Grant has always had a way with the lasses, but his warrior's heart is too married to the battlefield to seek out a wife. Then Robbie saves a mysterious beauty from a Norse attacker. He knows little about Caralyn Crauford beyond that she has a damaged past and two wee daughters, but he volunteers to bring her and the lasses to a priory where they will be safe from the oncoming battle. The last thing he expects is for Caralyn to give him a night of unrestrained passion and then disappear.

Lady India Lindley is accustomed to having her own way in everything, and marriage is no exception. Determined to elope, she boards a ship bound for Italy with her intended. But when Ottoman pirates capture the vessel, Lady India finds herself a slave to the mysterious and very commanding Caynan Reis, ruler of the Barbary state of El Sinut. He makes it quite clear that she is no longer in charge - and that's his first mistake.

In this indispensable volume, one of America's ranking scholars combines a life's work of research and teaching with the art of lively narration. Both authoritative and beautifully told, The Middle Ages is the full story of the thousand years between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance - a time that saw the rise of kings and emperors, the flowering of knighthood, the development of Europe, the increasing power of the Catholic Church, and the advent of the middle class.

Spring, AD 777. Sigurd Hring, new King of the Svear, is summoning all the greatest warriors of the North to his banner. He invites Bjarki Bloodhand, the famous berserkr, to swear an oath of fealty to him. But Bjarki has already sailed away to rescue a beautiful Saxon princess. Tor Hildarsdottir, sister of Bjarki, now oath-bound to a powerful Svearland jarl, finds herself unwillingly enrolled in Sigurd’s mighty army. When Sigurd Hring arrogantly rejects the overlordship of Siegfried, King of the Dane-Mark, red war is inevitable.

Makenna Dunstan has never needed a man's protection before. But when her father's failing health places the safety of the clan in her hands, she has no choice but to marry Colin McTiernay. Fearing the emotions Colin awakens within her, she finds herself succumbing too easily to his lingering kisses and warm caresses. Yet she wonders if she can truly trust this highlander who is quickly stealing her heart....

Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Without Ireland, the transition could not have taken place. Not only did Irish monks and scribes maintain the very record of Western civilization, they brought their uniquely Irish world-view to the task. As Cahill delightfully illustrates, so much of the liveliness we associate with medieval culture has its roots in Ireland. When the seeds of culture were replanted on the European continent, it was from Ireland that they were germinated.

Simon the Loyal has vowed never to love, for love makes a warrior weak. His arranged marriage to a beautiful Norman heiress would be duty and no more. But more than duty stirs his blood when he first sees Ariane. She has known only coldness from men - and a betrayal so deep it all but killed her soul. Wanting no man, trusting no man, speaking only through the sad songs she draws from her harp, Ariane comes to Simon an unwilling bride.

Number one New York Times best-selling author John Flanagan returns to the world of Ranger's Apprentice, beginning a new story arc starring fan favorites, Will and Maddie (Ranger's Apprentice: The Royal Ranger). Picking up where Ranger's Apprentice: The Royal Ranger left off, this next installment continues the story arc featuring young apprentice, Maddie, and the student-turned-master, Will Treaty. The time has come for the next generation to assume the mantle and become protectors of the kingdom of Araluen.

Highland warrior Laird Ian Sinclair longs for adventure. After a lengthy time north in the Orkney Isles, he agrees to undertake a rescue mission at his brother’s behest. Crossing the English border to retrieve Lady Rhiannon is not going to be easy and, in fact, could prove deadly. Eager for the daring challenge, Ian dodges the enemy’s sword in order to see his task through. What he doesn’t expect is the feisty, beautiful lady he is charged with protecting or the sudden strong desire to claim her.

Both a history and an examination of human thought and behavior spanning three thousand years, On Politics thrillingly traces the origins of political philosophy from the ancient Greeks to Machiavelli in Book I and from Hobbes to the present age in Book II. Whether examining Lord Acton's dictum that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" or explicating John Stuart Mill's contention that it is "better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied," Alan Ryan evokes the lives and minds of our greatest thinkers in a way that makes hearing about them a transcendent experience.

Rowan thought she had escaped her life as a prisoner. But even in Lochlann, she is chained by the memories of everything she left behind in Socair. Of everyone she left behind. With her people clamoring for war, the responsibility falls on Rowan to enter into a marriage alliance to keep her kingdom safe. That should be easy, considering she’s already received proposals from half the clans in Socair. But even with plenty of options, she’s left with no good choices. Will she play it safe? Or will she risk everything for the kind of love she never wanted to begin with?

Enjoy the most notable plays of William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello. Shakespeare was known for his writings on tragedies and these four works are known to be some of the finest tragedies ever written.

The Empire’s mighty imperial armies are marching on Collegium once more. They’ve learnt from past failures and this time their Empress will brook no weakness. Stenwold Maker’s aviators still dominate the skies, but their rule will soon be over. For the Empire has developed a terrifying aerial weapon to level the battlefield. Yet victory may be decided elsewhere. In an ancient forest, where Mantis clans pursue their own civil war, Empress Seda is seeking a lost power from the old world.

Beautiful, headstrong, and defiant, Cailin Drusus possesses the pride of her Celtic-born mother, though she has been reared amid her Roman father's wealth and privilege. When Cailin's family is destroyed and their farmland seized, she marries Wulf Ironfist, a Saxon of enormous strength and power - a gentle giant who opens the door to a world of heady sensuality. But her happiness is short-lived.

Though Aedan Cameron would sooner spend his life as a scholar, reading, and watching the stars than assume a leadership role in his clan, his father's untimely death forces his hand. To make matters worse, he's immediately called upon to ride into battle to protect his land and his people. But everything changes for Aedan when a beautiful girl with a mind as curious as his own heals him. Suddenly, he realizes he's capable of becoming the leader his father wanted him to be while still pursuing the stars.

When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey Tower fed her to the crows and went back to their chores. No successor was named as Guardian, no one took up the fallen blade; the West Passage went unguarded. Now, snow blankets Grey in the height of summer. Rats erupt from beneath the earth, fleeing that which comes. Crops fail. Hunger looms. And none stand ready to face the Beast, stirring beneath the poisoned soil. The fate of all who live in the palace hangs on narrow shoulders.

Much of what we know about the greatest medical disaster ever, the Black Plague of the fourteenth century, is wrong. The details of the Plague etched in the minds of terrified schoolchildren the hideous black welts, the high fever, and the final, awful end by respiratory failure are more or less accurate. But what the Plague really was, and how it made history, remain shrouded in a haze of myths.