Who burned the Great Library of Alexandria?
When the Roman Empire collapses in the 5th century, the city of Alexandria, Egypt is plagued with unrest. Paganism is declared punishable by death and the populace splinters in religious upheaval.
Hannah, a beautiful Jewish shepherd girl is abducted from her home in the mountains of Sinai and sold as a slave in Alexandria to Alizar, an alchemist and successful vintner. Her rapturous singing voice destines her to become the most celebrated bard in the Great Library.
Meanwhile, the city’s bishop, Cyril, rises in power as his priests roam the streets persecuting the pagans. But while most citizens submit, a small resistance fights for justice.
Hypatia, the library’s charismatic headmistress, summons her allies to protect the world’s knowledge from the escalating violence. Risking his life, his family, and his hard-earned fortune, Alizar leads the conspiracy by secretly copying the library’s treasured manuscripts and smuggling them to safety.
When Hannah becomes the bishop’s target, she is sequestered across the harbor in the Temple of Isis. But an ancient ceremonial rite between a monk and priestess inside the Pharos lighthouse ignites a forbidden passion.
Torn between the men she loves, Hannah must undertake a quest to the lost oracles of Delfi and Amun-Ra to find the one thing powerful enough to protect the pagans: The Emerald Tablet.
Meanwhile, the Christians siege the city, exile the Jews, and fight the dwindling pagan resistance as the Great Library crumbles.
But not everything is lost. . .FROM AMAZON
- Hardcover | Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Balboa Press (July 6, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1452535159
- ISBN-13: 978-1452535159
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…K. Hollan Van Zandt has always loved libraries, oceans, ancient history and migrating birds. Her mentor, novelist Tom Robbins, instilled in her an abiding love and respect for language. She lives in Southern California, and dreams of a home in Greece. This, her first novel, took ten years to complete.
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Written in the Ashes, has been snatched up for a TV mini-series by Academy Award-winning producer Mark Harris (Crash 2005). We are working with Josh Conviser, the original writer from the HBO series, ROME, and my partner, Stuart Volkow.
FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Wonderful descriptions that made me feel like I was there in Egypt seeing and experiencing the life back then. For a first novel, it read beautifully and flowed well. I enjoyed the main heroine who despite becoming a slave after being captured and raped by men while she was watching her goats still remained beautiful, was intelligent, gifted with a voice, and of course noticed by others. She’s inspiring with her victory over her struggles. This is a novel packed with ancient history, religious history, some magic, action, great imagination, romance, and hard to put down, especially end. I wanted to continue on. I’m sure those who enjoy well rounded historical fiction will enjoy this one and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more by this author.
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