George C Myles

Lioslaith George C Myles

It is the 9th century; the center of world knowledge and trade is Baghdad. The city's population is nearly one million, stark contrast to pre-medieval Europe where towns and villages were embryonic. Islamic culture under the Abbasid Caliphate and the Emirate of Cordoba, stretch from Central Asia across the Middle East, North Africa, into Spain and Portugal during an era commonly referred to as the 'Golden Age of Islam'. A world away, Scotland is striving to become a nation. Lioslaith, a young Pict woman of head turning beauty leaves her homeland and marries the son of a prominent Viking warlord ready to exploit trade routes in the Middle East. Surrounded by a world of human slavery, Lioslaith naively tries to foster justness in an age where compassion is a rarity. Grappling with her own inner conflict, betrayal by the hateful oarsman Einaar dooms her to life of seclusion in a desert land where a surprising encounter with royalty uncovers a deep secret. Lioslaith's destiny is far from certain when vast cultural differences spill into the unexpected and kith and kin half a world away set out to find her.