The Lion and the Cross A Novel of Saint Patrick and Ancient Ireland

The man who would become Ireland’s beloved patron saint confronts his destiny during the tumultuous Dark Ages in this vibrant, enthralling novel

In 410 CE, arrogant sixteen-year-old Magonus Sucatus Patricius denounces Christianity as a religion for cowards when the Roman legions withdraw, leaving Britain vulnerable to raiders from the west. Determined to wield a sword despite being the grandson of a priest, the affluent young man is taken captive by barbarians and sold into slavery to a cruel Irish king. On a mountaintop in Eire, a shepherd strips him of his grand Roman name and calls him Padraic, marking him a man of no consequence.
 
Set against the magnificent backdrop of ancient Ireland and based on available historical facts, Saint Patrick’s Confession, and Celtic myth, this gripping novel follows Patrick as he finds his faith while fighting to escape bondage in Eire. Friendship with a king, love for a queen, and enmity with the druids who fear his God will embroil him in a civil war in a land from which he will struggle to flee—only to be called to return.

 

Joan Lesley Hamilton began writing at the age of seventeen. Her first historical novel, The Lion and the Cross: A Novel of Saint Patrick and Ancient Ireland (1979), was inspired by the man behind the myths. Writing under the pseudonym William Sarabande, Hamilton is also the author of Wolves of the Dawn (1986), a novel of Bronze Age Britain, and the international bestselling eleven-volume First Americans series. She lives in Southern California.