CALL THE INTENTION GOOD
By 1236 AD the once glorious city of Córdoba, former capital of the mighty Caliphate of Al Andalus in what is now Spain, had been in Moorish hands for 500 years. But at last Córdoba is retaken by the exulting Christians in the course of the Reconquista. As the city falls, Knights Templar seize an ancient book written in Arabic from fleeing Moors. The mystery book, if it is what it seems, promises the secret to great wealth. But alarmingly, it also threatens to unleash a persuasive new heresy through medieval Europe, undermining the all powerful Catholic Church.
As others learn of this unique book and its rumoured significance, a frenzied contest for its possession erupts, spilling dramatically from Córdoba through medieval Spain and across the Pyrenees Mountains.
Only a few learn of the book. Some covet it for the wealth it promises; some for its scholarship. Others seek to destroy it. All will do anything to have it.
This epic historical fiction novel is a suspenseful mystery thriller set in a colourfully depicted medieval Europe, with a full panoply of characters, from merchants, scholars, pilgrims and friars to knights and squires. This Europe of the High Middle Ages is intellectually reawakening in what has become known as the Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, but remains riven by medieval bigotry, superstition, cruelty and war. Against this background, the story abounds with the timeless human passions of love, hate, idealism and greed.