by Robert Thier
This volume is furthermore dedicated to my three fabulous proofreaders who’ve been helping to edit this series for quite some time now: Iris Chacon, Nela Korenica and Svasti Sharma. It is thanks to their ongoing help that this series has been published in the best possible condition. Thank you!
Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank all my loyal fans who have been enthusiastically supporting this series for four books in a row now. I wish I could thank every single one of you personally, but since I can’t, let me invite you to a party in the principality of Bakavāsa! I’m sure Karim would be happy to welcome you.
About the Author
Robert Thier is a German historian and writer of historical fiction. His particular mix of history, romance, and adventure, always with a good deal of humour thrown in, has gained him a diverse readership ranging from teenagers to retired grandmothers. For the way he manages to make history come alive, as if he himself lived as a medieval knight, his fans all over the world have given him the nickname ‘Sir Rob’.
For Robert, becoming a writer followed naturally from his interest in his-tory. ‘In Germany,’ he says, ‘we use the same word for story and history. And I've always loved the one as much as the other. Becoming a storyteller, a writer, is what I've always wanted.’
Besides writing and researching in dusty old archives, on the lookout for a mystery to put into his next story, Robert enjoys classical music and long walks in the country. The helmet you see in the picture he does not wear because he is a cycling enthusiast, but to protect his literary skull in which a bone has been missing from birth. Robert lives in the south of Germany in a small village between the three Emperor Mountains.
Other Books by Robert Thier
Storm and Silence
Freedom - that is what Lilly Linton wants most in life. Not marriage, not a brood of squalling brats, and certainly not love, thank you very much!
But freedom is a rare commodity in 19th-century London, where girls are expected to spend their lives sitting at home, fully occupied with looking pretty. Lilly is at her wits’ end - until a chance encounter with a dark, dangerous and powerful stranger changes her life forever…
The award-winning first volume of the Storm and Silence series! Winner of the People’s Choice Award and Story of the Year Award 2015.
ISBN-10: 3000513515
ISBN-13: 978-3000513510
In the Eye of the Storm
Egypt… land of romance, mystery, and exploding camels. Lilly Linton thought she’d be ready for anything after one month of working for her boss - cold, calculating businessman Rikkard Ambrose. But when they embark on a perilous hunt through the desert, she has to face dangers beyond anything she has encountered before: deadly storms, marauding bandits, and worst of all, a wedding ring!
Can the desert’s heat truly be enough to melt the cold heart of Britain’s richest financier?
The long-awaited second volume of the acclaimed Storm and Silence series.
ISBN-10: 3000513515
ISBN-13: 978-3000513510
Silence is Golden
Silent. Cold. Chiselled perfection. That is Rikkard Ambrose, the most powerful business mogul in Great Britain.
Free-spirited. Fiery. Definitely not attracted to the aforementioned business mogul. That is Lilly Linton, his personal secretary and secret weapon.
The two have been playing a cat and mouse game for months. So far, Lilly has been able to fight down and deny her attraction to Mr Ambrose. But what happens when suddenly, the dark secrets of his past begin to surface and they are forced to go on a perilous journey into the South-American jungle? A journey they can only survive if they band together?
Volume three in the award-winning Storm and Silence series.
ISBN-13: 978-3962600587
The Robber Knight
When you are fighting for the freedom of your people, falling in love with your enemy is not a great idea.
Sir Reuben, the dreaded robber knight, has long been Ayla’s deadliest enemy. She swore he would hang for his crimes. Now they are both trapped in her castle as the army of a far greater enemy approaches, and they have only one chance: stand together, or fall. Welcome to ‘The Robber Knight’—a tale full of action, adventure, and romance.
Special Edition with secret chapters revealed and insights into Sir Reuben’s mysterious past.
ISBN-10: 1499251645
ISBN-13: 978-1499251647
The Robber Knight’s Love
Ayla has uncovered a terrible secret: the man she loves is in fact her worst enemy. As a mighty army gathers to destroy her and her people, she must ask herself: will he join them to destroy her? Must she cut him out of her heart to survive?
Or is there another way—a way to forgiveness and…love?
Special Edition with secret chapters revealed and insights into Sir Reuben’s mysterious past.
ISBN-10: 3000536590
ISBN-13: 978-3000536595
WARNING! Fairy Tales
WARNING! Please be advised that this is not a bedtime story about sparkly fairies and pink unicorns. This book may contain graphic descriptions of poisoned apples and witches' ovens. It is not appropriate for supernatural beings under the age of 377 (excluding vampires and werewolves).
DISCLAIMER: Wicked Witches Inc. and Evil Stepmother Enterprises are not responsible for any maiming, mass murder or permanent insanity resulting from the reading of this book.
The first volume of Robert Thier’s WARNING! Fairy Tales series.
ISBN-10: 3000547118
ISBN-13: 978-3000547119
WARNING! Fairy Tales 2
WARNING! Please be advised that big bad wolves, wicked witches, and harmless-looking little girls are roaming the pages of this book. It may contain graphic descriptions of wolf teeth and grandmothers with big ears. This book is not appropriate for supernatural beings under the age of 388 (excluding anyone wearing a red hood).
DISCLAIMER: Wicked Witches Inc. and Evil Stepmother Enterprises are not responsible for wolf bites, vampirism or witch curses incurred during the reading of this book.
The second volume of Robert Thier’s WARNING! Fairy Tales series.
ISBN-13: 978-3962600013
WARNING! Fairy Tales 3
HEALTH WARNING! Reading this book may cause sudden attacks of magical metamorphosis. It may cause a fast and furry transformation into a beast, a troll, a vegetable, or, in a worst-case scenario, a cute little blue bird. No curse-breaking via kiss of true love guaranteed.
DISCLAIMER: Beastly Beasties Inc. and the Royal Society of Enchanted Princes are not responsible for any acquaintances, personnel and/or random bystanders accidentally transformed into furniture. Furniture polish and feather dusters must be purchased separately.
The third volume of Robert Thier's WARNING! Fairy Tales series.
ISBN-13: 978-3962600020
Upcoming Titles
At present (2018), the titles listed above are Robert Thiers’s only books published in English. However, book three of the Robber Knight Saga, The Robber Knight’s Secret, as well as his latest project, Black Diaries, are being edited for publication. Keep updated about the books’ progress on the internet.
Website: www.robthier.com
Facebook profile: www.facebook.com/robert.thier.161
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheSirRob/
Twitter: @thesirrob
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/6123144.Robert_Thier
Copyright © 2018 Robert Thier
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.
The cover of this book was created by the author using various licensed images.
Disclaimer:
This work is a work of fiction. All names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real
names, businesses, places, events and incidents, or to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book is also available in print book format. More information on this and any other subject connected with Robert Thier’s books on: www.robthier.com
Endnotes
[1] Victorian expression for ‘brothel’.
[2] The southernmost village of Scotland, and first to reach via the great northern road. Due to its location, and because marriage in Scotland could, up until quite recently, be easily performed by any Scotsman you met on the street without any legal matters or paperwork to take care of, it was a popular place for runaway English couples to get married.
[3] This is a historical fact. The Buggery Act 1533 (officially named An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie) made homosexual acts of sex punishable by death. It remained a capital offence until 1861, about two decades after the events of this book, and a criminal offence in some parts of the United Kingdom until 1982.
[4] In case anyone was wondering about the tradition of the Christmas tree in Victorian times, here is a short history: while popular myth says that Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, brought the tradition over from Germany in the 1840s, it was actually Queen Charlotte, the German wife of George III, who put up the first Christmas tree in England in 1800. True, Prince Albert was hugely influential in popularizing the tradition among the middle class, but by that time it was already well-established as a tradition among the British aristocracy.
[5] In the 19th century, Newcastle (or Newcastle upon Tyne, which is the town’s full name) was one of Great Britain’s biggest mining centres, exporting huge amounts of coal. In fact, the city became so well known for its main export that the expression ‘taking coals to Newcastle’ became proverbial for doing something utterly superfluous and senseless. The expression is still used today with some justification, for although the British Newcastle ceased being a big name in the coal industry years ago, Newcastle in Australia, named for its famous predecessor, is today’s biggest exporter of coal.
[6] Refers to the British gold sovereign, a gold coin worth one pound sterling. It was called ‘sovereign’ because it had the head of the current sovereign (or a past one, if the coins were older) embossed on one side.
[7] This is not a joke. The Victorians’ method for detecting gas in a mine was indeed sticking a canary in there and seeing if it came out alive again. However, they were not commonly referred to as CGDIs. That lovely term is my own invention.
[8] Fragrant Yellow Flower in the Happy Moonlight
[9] Nonsense
[10] Fragrant Yellow Flower in the Happy Moonlight
[11] This refers to two leaders of the Uruguayan independence movement, Juan Lavalleja and Fructuoso Rivera. Lavalleja’s supporters were unsatisfied with Rivera being chosen as president, whereupon they decided to retire him into an early grave. This sparked the conflict that is known as the Uruguayan Civil War, and which lasted from 1839 until 1851. The British and the French eventually got involved, strangely enough on the same side.
[12] This is not a typo. One really has to use ‘the’ twice to announce such a nobleman correctly.
[13] This might sound like a marvellous joke, but these delicacies did indeed exist. They were a common snack among the lower and middle classes.
[14] Limnology: the study of rivers.
[15] In case anyone is wondering why modern medical terminology is used here: the term ‘shock’ is quite old, and was first employed by French surgeon Henri François Le Dran in 1743. He had observed the phenomenon while operating on wounded soldiers. His work was translated, and soon the term was used throughout the English-speaking medical world.
[16] The latter part of this isn’t just taken from the Book of Common Prayer, but from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 5:22-24 in the Bible. It was taken from the latter by the writers of the Book of Common Prayer and inserted in the standard marriage ceremony, and quite accurately reflects social norms in the nineteenth century. This goes some way to explaining, I think, why Lilly might be somewhat opposed to the concept of matrimony.
[17] Historians have debated for a long time whether this quote was indeed created by Queen Victoria. Now we know - she pinched it from Mr Rikkard Ambrose.
[18] Back in the Victorian Era there were no cell phone cameras that could take photographs with just one easy click. Cameras were in a very early stage of development, and instead of one quick flash, the exposure of a photograph could sometimes take minutes, or in very early cases even hours. This led to the invention of the posing stand, a wooden construction with straps attached to which people were strapped in order to help them stand in a certain pose for a long, long time.
[19] A Spanish phrase which literally means ‘Go fry asparagus!’ Regarding its not-so-literal meaning…well, that is not quite so polite. I’ll leave you to figure that out for yourself.
[20] This is a historical fact. While specific laws against contraception only existed in America during the 19th century, not in England, there were anti-obscenity laws in England which were sometimes used to combat contraception. For instance, when Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh published the contraception guide Fruits of Philosophy by American physician Charles Knowlton, they were sentenced to six months in prison for publishing obscene material. While the sentence was later overturned, it does demonstrate the enormous prejudice against contraception during that time period. On the flipside, the trial caused the book to become an instant bestseller in Britain, with over 200,000 copies selling while the trial was going on, so things probably didn’t go as the prosecutor had intended.
[21] A Victorian expression for making love rather energetically.
[22] Ligger: a British term for “freeloader”, i.e. a person who likes other people to buy stuff for them, and doesn’t like paying those other people back.
[23] Son of a buffalo!