Europe, Spring, 1486. Facing a grisly death if captured alive, veteran mercenary and Plantagenet henchman Sir John Hawker and his unlikely band of misfits return to Venice to attempt to free the woman he left behind there months before. Braving the spies and militia of the Serene Republic, Hawker must somehow reach his beloved Chiara, […]
Stoke Field, 1487: The ‘forgotten’ battle of the Wars of the Roses
Ethan Bale looks at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487, a ‘forgotten’ fight which finally secured the throne of England for Henry VII and the Tudor dynasty. It’s the perfect pub quiz gotcha: What is considered to be the last battle of the Wars of the Roses? If you said “Bosworth Field” you’d be […]
The Lost Prince by Ethan Bale
Are they saving a prince, or unchaining a monster? December, 1476. The infamous Vlad the Impaler – Dracula – is reported killed in a Turkish ambush. The brutal scourge of the Ottomans is no more… November, 1485. Nine years later, mysterious Hungarian noblewoman Maria Hunyadi lays a quest at the feet of Sir John Hawker, […]
The real Dracula: monster by nature – or nurture?
Dracula. Vlad the Impaler. Otherwise known as Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. Ethan Bale, whose latest novel, The Lost Prince, features the historical figure, examines the man behind the legend and asks: was he a monster by nature? By nurture? Or both? Just a few weeks ago, King Charles undertook his annual pilgrimage to Transylvania, […]
Hawker and the King’s Jewel by by Ethan Bale
August 1485, the eve of the Battle of Bosworth. King Richard III summons his loyal and grizzled retainer, Sir John Hawker, and charges him with one final mission. After the battle, he must return a priceless ruby – one of the mysterious Tears of Byzantium – to its giver, the Doge of Venice. Richard believes […]
The enduring mystery of the Princes in the Tower
The mystery of the fate of the two Princes in the Tower, Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, has fascinated people for over 500 years. Theories come and go. Possible murderers are put forward and knocked down. Richard III is still the favourite culprit, but there are plenty of other views, as […]