Alan Gold – författare

From the author of Jezebel comes the story of legendary 16th-century pirate Queen Grace O'Malley, and her tempestuous relationship with Elizabeth I. In the Elizabethan age, when only a handful of women held power by the fortune of their birth, one woman stands out as exceptional. Grace O'Malley, the Irish pirate queen, commanded a dozen ships and thousands of men. She was the first Irish woman ever to take her place as the leader of her nation and was feared and loved as much on sea as on land. A fierce Irish patriot, seductress of men, loyal and loving friend, wife and mother, Grace O'Malley caused nothing but trouble for Elizabethan England. through her piracy, she nearly bankrupted the English treasury. Yet Grace's name has been almost completely erased from history. Skilfully capturing the colour and excitement of life on the high seas and at the glittering English court, Alan Gold shows how the lives of two amazing women were intertwined and how they met and formed an extraordinary friendship.

Two individuals from different countries but who share one ancestral bloodline race to thwart a terrorist plot in Jerusalem—the first heart-pounding book in a new epic trilogy that delves into the dark underbelly of the Holy City.Bilal, a radicalized Palestinian youth, is promised paradise if he destroys the Western Wall. But his attempted terrorist attack fails and he finds himself in the hands of a young Jewish surgeon, Yael Cohen. After saving his life, Yael makes the startling discovery that her DNA and Bilal’s are nearly identical, sparking suspicion that their connection is greater than mere coincidence. Their search for answers soon puts them in the middle of a high-stakes international conspiracy—one that has its roots in the blood of thousands, and now threatens to spill the blood of thousands more. Unknown to Bilal and Yael, theirs is the last chapter in a story that crosses millennia. Century after century, two ancient families—bloodline ancestors of Yael and Bilal—defied the power of corrupt kings and conquerors, fighting to forge an alliance and lasting peace. But through many years of secret dealings and war, kinships were shattered, dynasties fell apart, and evil gained a foothold. Now, in modern Israel, those same sinister forces are at work, stopping at nothing to take control of the Holy Land and silence anyone in their way. Through imprisonment, assassination attempts, and political machinations, Bilal and Yael must ultimately confront the truth of who they are. But is the common blood of two individuals enough to bring two enemy peoples together, and stave off the destruction that threatens them both? Crossing borders, centuries, and battlegrounds, Bloodline is a thrilling, ultimately redemptive story taking place in the shadows of one of the oldest, most sacred cities in the world.

The dramatic fight for modern Jewish statehood forms the backdrop of this second book in the Heritage trilogy, a series of epic political thrillers set in Jerusalem.Following Bloodline, in which Bilal and Yael raced to thwart a terrorist plot in modern-day Jerusalem, Book Two travels six decades into the past and introduces Yael’s grandparents: Shalman, a freedom fighter turned peacenik archaeologist, and his young, beautiful wife Judit, a refugee from the horrors of Stalin’s USSR. As WWII draws to a close and the truth about Hitler’s genocide emerges, the need for a permanent safe haven for the Jewish people takes on unprecedented urgency. But the path to statehood is anything but clear. Throughout Palestine, Arab and Jewish forces battle each other and the British for supremacy in a nightmarish environment riddled with hatred and suspicion. A plot to fashion the fledgling Israeli nation as a puppet of the Soviet Union—undermining Israel’s future as an independent nation—rests upon a handful of committed Jewish Communists, led covertly by Judit. Meanwhile, in a parallel storyline going back to the darkest recesses of ancient history, Shalman’s ancestors flee the grisly Roman occupation of Jerusalem, witness the glories of the Islamic renaissance in Baghdad, and endure the rampages of the Crusaders. Set in one of the most fraught regions in the world and spanning centuries, this pulse-pounding, timely thriller centers on a turning point in the inexorable conflict that still rages today.

In a city where women are seen not heard, Artemisia Gentileschi dreams of becoming a great artist.She grows up in a family of painters – all men and she knows she is more talented than her brothers, but she cannot choose her own future because she’s a woman. She’s clever, ambitious, resilient, and driven and wants to experience the world, but she knows her place and she belongs to her father and her future husband.She goes from lesson to lesson, honing her craft and paints in private but she’s only allowed to paint the women who inspire her. When her mother died her father became very strict and followed the pope’s edicts about modesty, limiting the subjects she could paint.When one of her father’s collaborators enters her life, Tassi, he becomes her tutor, a handsome dashing figure, who represents everything that a life of freedom might offer. Until the unthinkable happens and her torture begins.