ANCESTRY NOVELS
Each novel can be read alone or chronologically.
Every novel is filled with history, martial arts, capable women, and romance.
LANTERN ACROSS the SEA
In 1277, Bastone, a sailor and crossbowman, sets out on a trading expedition across the Mediterranean. He departs Genoa, arranged to be married to a woman of the most powerful family in the city, but on the voyage becomes enthralled with Esmeray, the daughter of a Greek fisherman. He travels across the expansive Genoese trading empire, using the commercial venture to conceal his prime mission. Charles of Anjou is massing his fleets, proclaiming he will lead a crusade to free Jerusalem from the Muslims, hiding his actual goal of attacking Christian Constantinople. At each port of call, Bastone secretly meets with leaders from Constantinople to Sicily to Spain, as a part of the conspiracy to thwart the king’s attack. Bastone and Esmeray, amid a chaotic and dangerous world of pirates, assassins, slave traders, and hostile family prejudice, must prevent a history-changing catastrophe.
The medieval adventure novel,
Lantern Across the Sea is NOW available on Amazon as a Kindle eBook, paperback, and hardcover.
Here is a review by a reader of an advance release copy (ARC): “This book has everything. Adventure, romance, intrigue, history, conflict, and resolution. It even includes an enticing teaser at the end, hinting of perhaps (hopefully) a sequel. Clearly well researched, the author is able to seamlessly blend historical fact and knowledge into a spellbinding novel that is hard to put down. Ponzio continues to develop his ability as an author of historical fiction. This reader hopes he continues on the path to bring us more tales of Bastone and Esmeray, along with others throughout history who have captured his interest and imagination.”
Credit-Cover Photo
By Giovanni Dall'Orto - Own work, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16881463
WARRIORS AND MONKS Vol. 1
The Count of Toulouse: The ruler of a region in the south of France in 924 A.D.. Ramon Pons wants to fulfill his dying father’s request to build a monastery in honor of their ancestor, Saint Pons of Cimiez, but he must serve his people first. He is obligated to marry and produce an heir, put down rebellions by vassals, and protect his domains against Saracens and Hungarians.
WARRIORS AND MONKS Vol. 2
In the Wake of the Conqueror: Four brothers, knights from Aquitaine, join William the Conqueror’s invasion of England in 1066 to find their fortunes. They strive to maintain their values in the midst of a bloody and morally stained war.
WARRIORS AND MONKS Vol.3
Pons: Abbot of Cluny: Pons, born in the south of France in 1075 as the second son of the Count of Melgueil, was given to the Church at the age of four. He became a Benedictine monk and thrived in the monastery as a devotee of the Order’s rules, working, praying, and studying. Maturing during a time of Church reforms, Pons’s faith and morals were challenged. For generations, the clergy had been allowed to marry, but a papal edict endangers Pons and the village woman he loves.
It was a lawless time when people of the land were threatened with violence as they cultivated their fields or traveled. The Benedictine monks were compelled to become warriors, and brandishing walking staves and farm tools as weapons of self-defense. Pons’s Uncle Ramon takes up the cross to lead the French crusaders to the Holy Land. Pons is climbing the hierarchy of the Order and is elected as Abbot of Cluny Monastery. He decides the time then is not right, but eventually, he will join the fight for Jerusalem.
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