Stephen O'Shea is a Canadian writer and historian. His previous books on the history of the middle ages are this book's best-selling predecessor The Perfect Heresy: the Life and Death of the Cathars, 'popular history at its best' (Allan Massie) and Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World, described by Andrew Wheatcroft as 'a masterpiece'. Stephen O'Shea lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and France.

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Secret tribunals, illegal rendition, torture, trumped up charges ... all in a society controlled by fear. Such was the tenor of life in Languedoc around 1300. The dungeons housed hundreds of despairing innocents. The charge - heresy.

About the Author

Stephen O'Shea is a Canadian writer and historian. His previous books on the history of the middle ages are this book's best-selling predecessor The Perfect Heresy: the Life and Death of the Cathars, 'popular history at its best' (Allan Massie) and Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World, described by Andrew Wheatcroft as 'a kind of masterpiece'. Stephen O'Shea lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Reviews

O'Shea's vivid and evocative story of the extraordinary and moving career of Bernard Délicieux rests on thorough and wide-ranging knowledge and shrewd historical judgement ,
*author of The Formation of a Persecuting Society*

So exuberantly coloured that O'Shea's narrative crackles with the pace of a gripping historical novel
*Saga*

Vividly describing this wonderfully sleazy and corrupt world... This is a great story, full of fascinating characters corrupted by power, and O'Shea tells it well with a real sense of excitement that makes it a pleasure to read.
*BBC History*

Fascinating
*Independent*

He writes beautifully and has a rare ability to bring the past to life.. revel in the author's mighty narrative skill.
*Catholic Herald*