Lion Heart - Hardcover

"One of the finest novelists currently at work." --"The Guardian" (UK)

"A senior member of a masterful generation of English novelists that includes Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and Kazuo Ishiguro." --"Los Angeles Times"

"A literary master. It's astonishing that he still isn't spoken of in the same breath as Amis and McEwan: he ought to be." --"Independent on Sunday" (UK)

"Few living British novelists write English fiction quite as well as Cartwright. [What] sets him apart from most if his contemporaries is that, beneath the humour and the irony, he has a subtle awareness of the essential fragility of humans." --"The Irish Times"

"Justin Cartwright's novel "Lion Heart" may win him the audience he deserves." - "Daily Beast""[Cartwright] no doubt will garner further accolades for his latest . . . [He employs] a striking formula that gives this literary thriller uncommon depth -- and makes it uncommonly satisfying." - "Publishers Weekly""[A] deeply involved and involving quest tale . . . Remarkable . . . Cartwright has created a work that deftly locates the parallels between the politics of the 12th century and those of the 21st but that is ultimately more about the frailities and foibles of the human heart." - "Library Journal""[An] extraordinary novel . . . Like its protagonist, eccentric, funny and invincibly self-deprecating, it strenuously avoids the mainstream and picks its own meandering way towards truth . . . Such is Cartwright's brilliance that it works triumphantly." --"The""Guardian""Timely . . . An ambitious meditation on history and fiction." --"The""Independent on Sunday""A highly ambitious book, the tangled connections between past events and modern players plaited with sophistication and an effortlessly beguiling style . . . A Romance in the bygone, broadest sense." --"The""Herald""Astonishing . . . A highly complex, multi-layered story straddling continents and centuries." --"Daily Mail"

Justin Cartwright's novel "Lion Heart" may win him the audience he deserves. "Daily Beast"

[Cartwright] no doubt will garner further accolades for his latest . . . [He employs] a striking formula that gives this literary thriller uncommon depth -- and makes it uncommonly satisfying. "Publishers Weekly"

[A] deeply involved and involving quest tale . . . Remarkable . . . Cartwright has created a work that deftly locates the parallels between the politics of the 12th century and those of the 21st but that is ultimately more about the frailities and foibles of the human heart. "Library Journal"

[An] extraordinary novel . . . Like its protagonist, eccentric, funny and invincibly self-deprecating, it strenuously avoids the mainstream and picks its own meandering way towards truth . . . Such is Cartwright's brilliance that it works triumphantly. "The Guardian"

Timely . . . An ambitious meditation on history and fiction. "The Independent on Sunday"

A highly ambitious book, the tangled connections between past events and modern players plaited with sophistication and an effortlessly beguiling style . . . A Romance in the bygone, broadest sense. "The Herald"

Astonishing . . . A highly complex, multi-layered story straddling continents and centuries. "Daily Mail""

"Justin Cartwright's novel Lion Heart may win him the audience he deserves." --Daily Beast

"[Cartwright] no doubt will garner further accolades for his latest . . . [He employs] a striking formula that gives this literary thriller uncommon depth -- and makes it uncommonly satisfying." --Publishers Weekly

"[A] deeply involved and involving quest tale . . . Remarkable . . . Cartwright has created a work that deftly locates the parallels between the politics of the 12th century and those of the 21st but that is ultimately more about the frailities and foibles of the human heart." --Library Journal

"[An] extraordinary novel . . . Like its protagonist, eccentric, funny and invincibly self-deprecating, it strenuously avoids the mainstream and picks its own meandering way towards truth . . . Such is Cartwright's brilliance that it works triumphantly." --The Guardian

"Timely . . . An ambitious meditation on history and fiction." --The Independent on Sunday

"A highly ambitious book, the tangled connections between past events and modern players plaited with sophistication and an effortlessly beguiling style . . . A Romance in the bygone, broadest sense." --The Herald

"Astonishing . . . A highly complex, multi-layered story straddling continents and centuries." --Daily Mail

Richard Cathar recalls his recently deceased father, Alaric, as a delusional hippie, one who fancied himself an intellectual and a historian. One of many far-fetched claims was that he had discovered-and then lost-documentation of a meeting between his hero, Richard the Lionheart, and Robin Hood after the Third Crusade.

In a quest to sort out the fact and fiction of his father's life, Richard (named for the legendary king) leaves London and travels to Jerusalem, where he falls in love with the mysterious Noor, a journalist who herself has many secrets. Back in England, he continues his research, finding his own evidence that Richard the Lionheart recovered the True Cross from Saladin. Again he sets out, this time on the trail of the True Cross, which leads him through the Middle East and Europe-and to the powerful sense that myth and history may be inseparable.

Justin Cartwright's latest novel is an utter original. Full of insight into the life and times of Richard the Lionheart, it is exciting, deeply moving, funny, and profound.