<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>Set during the Hundred Years War, this is the gripping, atmospheric true story of the "duel to end all duels" in medieval France: a trial by combat pitting a knight against a squire accused of violating the knight's wife.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER - NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE - "A taut page-turner with all the hallmarks of a good historical thriller."--<i>Orlando Sentinel</i></b> <p/><b>The gripping true story of the duel to end all duels in medieval France as a resolute knight defends his wife's honor against the man she accuses of a heinous crime</b> <p/>In the midst of the devastating Hundred Years' War between France and England, Jean de Carrouges, a Norman knight fresh from combat in Scotland, returns home to yet another deadly threat. His wife, Marguerite, has accused squire Jacques Le Gris of rape. A deadlocked court decrees a trial by combat between the two men that will also leave Marguerite's fate in the balance. For if her husband loses the duel, she will be put to death as a false accuser. <p/>While enemy troops pillage the land, and rebellion and plague threaten the lives of all, Carrouges and Le Gris meet in full armor on a walled field in Paris. What follows is the final duel ever authorized by the Parlement of Paris, a fierce fight with lance, sword, and dagger before a massive crowd that includes the teenage King Charles VI, during which both combatants are wounded--but only one fatally. <p/>Based on extensive research in Normandy and Paris, <i>The Last Duel</i> brings to life a colorful, turbulent age and three unforgettable characters caught in a fatal triangle of crime, scandal, and revenge. <i>The Last Duel</i> is at once a moving human drama, a captivating true crime story, and an engrossing work of historical intrigue with themes that echo powerfully centuries later.<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"Succeeds brilliantly in combining page-turning intensity with eye-opening insights into the bizarre ritual of judicial combat in the Middle Ages."<b>--<i>The Times</i> (London)<br></b><br>"This high-suspense, sanguinary tale ensnares readers. . . . The tension is nearly unendurable. . . . Sex, savagery, and high-level political maneuvers energize a splendid piece of popular history." <b>--</b><i><b>Kirkus Reviews</b><br></i><br>"An enthralling story that reads like fiction but is based on reliable sources. A world of passion, cruelty, and mismanaged law." <b>--Norman Cantor, author of<i> Inventing the Middle Ages</i> and</b><i><b> In the Wake of the Plague</b><br></i><br>"If you read only one book about the Middle Ages, Eric Jager's thriller is the one to read." <b>--Steven Ozment, author of<i> A Mighty Fortress</i> and</b><i><b> The Burgermeister's Daughter</b><br></i><br>"Eric Jager uses the historical record to marvelous effect when recounting the riveting story of two men locked in mortal combat. . . . Two worlds duel in this fascinating portrait of an end of an age-the feudal aristocracy and the chivalric court--and who we deem the true victor is brilliantly left open to interpretation in Jager's engrossing tale." <b>--Margaret F. Rosenthal, author of</b><i><b> The Honest Courtesan</b><br></i><br>"A spectacular panorama of the late Middle Ages. . . a historical thriller that leaves us with the impression of having known and lived in another world. It combines the vivid erudition of Barbara Tuchman's<i> Distant Mirror</i> with the suspense and drama of Umberto Eco's<i> Name of the Rose</i>. Eric Jager has invented a genre that reminds us that human nature has not changed very much over the ages and that sometimes reality is bigger than life and more riveting than fiction." <b>--R. Howard Bloch, Augustus R. Street Professor of French, Yale University</b><br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>Eric Jager</b> holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and has also taught at Columbia University. An award-winning professor of English at UCLA, he is the author of two previous books, including <i>The Book of the Heart</i> (a study of heart imagery in medieval literature) and numerous articles for acclaimed academic journals. He lives in Los Angeles.
Cheapest price in the interval: 12.89 on October 22, 2021
Most expensive price in the interval: 12.89 on November 8, 2021
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