The Splendour Falls [Paperback]

<p>"I've loved every one of Susanna's books! She has bedrock research and a butterfly's delicate touch with characters—sure recipe for historical fiction that sucks you in and won't let go!"— <strong>DIANA GABALDON</strong>, #1 <em>New York Times</em>bestselling author of Outlander</p><p><strong>An Ancient Castle, a Tragic Love, and a Web of Secrets Begins to Unravel...</strong></p><p>Emily Braden has stopped believing in fairy tales and happy endings. When her fascinating but unreliable cousin Harry invites her on a holiday to explore the legendary own of Chinon, and promptly disappears—well, that's Harry for you.</p><p>As Emily makes the acquaintance of Chinon and its people, she begins to uncover dark secrets beneath the charm. Legend has it that during a thirteenth-century siege of the castle that looms over the city, Queen Isabelle, child bride of King John, hid a "treasure of great price." And in the last days of the German occupation during World War II, another Isabelle living in Chinon, a girl whose love for an enemy soldier went tragically awry.</p><p>As the dangers of the past become disastrously real, Emily is drawn ever more deeply into a labyrinth of mystery as twisted as the streets and tunnels of the ancient town itself.</p><p><strong>Other bestselling books by Susanna Kearsley: <br></strong>The Winter Sea<br>A Desperate Fortune<br>The Firebird </p><p><b>Prologue</b></p><p>...when all was lost or seem'd as lost...</p><p>The first night had been the worst. They had come on so violently, and without warning. One moment she'd been peacefully at prayer within the chapel, and the next the captain of her guard was pounding at the door, with orders she should seek in haste the safety of her chamber. And then someone had whispered "siege"...</p><p>It had been dreal3*