Credo

Description

An enthralling tale set in the 7th century - the story of Bega, a young Irish princess who flees to Britain following the murder of the man she is supposed to marry, and her tutor Padric, a British prince with whom she falls in love. Bega devotes herself to spreading the Christian faith, but struggles all her life against her love for Padric. He tries to forget her in the fight to free his Cumbrian kingdom from the Northumbrian Teutonic invaders, which, after the momentous Synod of Whitby, becomes bound up in a bloody conflict between the Celtic and Roman churches. This dramatic, passionate novel brings to life a land of warring kings, Christians and pagans, and tribes divided by language and culture, illuminating a little-known yet critical period in British history.

Melvyn Bragg's first novel, For Want of a Nail, was published in 1965 and since then his novels have included The Hired Man, for which he won the Time/Life Silver Pen Award, Without a City Wall, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Credo, The Maid of Buttermere and The Soldier's Return, which was published to huge critical acclaim in 1999 and won the WHSmith Literary Award. He has also written several works of non-fiction including Speak for England, an oral history of the twentieth century, Rich, a biography of Richard Burton and On Giants' Shoulders, a history of science based on his BBC radio series. He was born in 1939 and educated at Wigton's Nelson Tomlinson Shool and at Oxford where he read history. He is controller of Arts at LWT and President of the National Campaign for the Arts, and in 1998 he was made a life peer. He lives in London and Cumbria.

'A gripping saga of great passion ... sustained, impassioned and uplifting' -- The Times 'An absorbing epic ... as splendid a ripping yarn as any of the best classics' -- Daily Telegraph 'A gripping, deeply accomplished work' -- Evening Standard 'I loved it ... Bragg's stately, seething, passionate epic is several cuts above modern attempts at historical fiction' -- Literary Review 'A beguiling entry into a society strange, neglected, important, tragic in many of its triumphs' -- Spectator 'Wonderfully evocative, passionate and erudite ... No summary could do justice to a book of this erudition, romance and scope' -- Glasgow Herald