Prisoner of the Inquisition

Description

A gripping, dramatic adventure set during the Spanish Inquisition - a time of fire and fury when people turned traitor to save themselves. Zarita, only daughter of the town magistrate, lives a life of wealth and privilege. Indulged by her parents, she is free to spend her days as she pleases, enjoying herself in the company of an eligible young nobleman, horse riding, or leisurely studying the arts. Saulo, son of a family reduced by circumstances to begging, witnesses his father wrongfully arrested and dealt with in the most horrifying way. Hauled off to be a slave at sea and pursued by pirates he encounters the ambitious mariner explorer, Christopher Columbus. Throughout his hardships Saulo is determined to survive - for he has sworn vengeance on the magistrate and his family. As Zarita's life also undergoes harsh changes the formidable and frightening Inquisition arrives in the area, bringing menacing shadows of suspicion with acts of cruel brutality - and ultimately, amid the intrigues of the court of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in the splendid Moorish city of Grenada, betrayal and revenge . . .

THERESA BRESLIN is the Carnegie Medal winning author of over thirty books for children & young adults whose work has appeared on stage, radio and TV. Her books are hugely popular with young people, librarians and teachers. Remembrance, her top selling YA novel of youth in WW1, has now been reissued to include Book Notes. The Dream Master was shortlisted for the Children's Book Award. Divided City was shortlisted for ten book awards, winning two outright.

Breslin's ability to weave a well-researched, page-turning plot around sympathetic, believable characters has been displayed before in The Medici Seal and The Nostradamus Prophecy . . . It's unputdownable -- Amanda Craig * The Times * From the past to the future via a highly unstable present . . . Prisoner of the Inquisition has Christopher Columbus in a walk-on part, but the main story is of the families caught up in the Spanish Inquisition -- Jasmine Fassell * Scotland on Sunday * It's a fantastic, mesmerising and enjoyable book . . . This is a brilliant tale of revenge, betrayal and courage. From the start I was gripped -- Shannon Waters * Sugarscape *