The Order of the Dragon - Book One unfolds in 15th-century Europe, terrorized by brutal wars, cursed by superstition, and divided by religion during the lifetime of Prince Vlad of Wallachia. He struggles to master his destiny and govern the fate of his homeland. As a younger son raised within royal courts, Vlad lingers in the shadow of others. Until, alongside the capricious Luxembourg king of Hungary, Zsigmond, Vlad gains a knighthood and a new sobriquet, Dracul, meaning the dragon or the devil. His family, friends, lovers, and enemies know him as both.
In a journey from the land of his birth to the decadent and dangerous royal court at Buda Castle, across Europe's oldest medieval cities and fields of carnage, Vlad Dracul must survive the path to power. A bloody road mired in warfare and savagery, littered with more than the corpses of his Turkish enemies. Strange creatures haunt his imagination and his battlefield encounters. Deceit and betrayal dictate the course of old friendships and holy alliances. Discover the sacrifices Vlad Dracul makes in pursuit of his goal; the preservation of his family and Christendom's borders. Read Order of the Dragon - Book One, the first in a series of novels about the real Dracula family, the House of Basarab.
Author Biography:
Lisa J. Yarde is the author of a six-part series set in Moorish Spain, Sultana, Sultana's Legacy, Sultana: Two Sisters, Sultana: The Bride Price, Sultana: The Pomegranate Tree, and Sultana: The White Mountains, where rivalries and ambitions threaten the fragile bonds between members of the last Muslim dynasty to rule in Europe. The first title in the series is available in multiple languages. She has also written The Order of the Dragon - Book One, the first novel in a series about the family of the real Dracula.
Lisa has also published two historical novels set in medieval England and Normandy, On Falcon's Wings, featuring a star-crossed romance between Norman and Saxon lovers before the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and The Burning Candle, based on the life of the first Countess of Leicester and Surrey, Isabel de Vermandois, progenitor of modern royal and non-noble families. Lisa's short stories include The Legend Rises, in the HerStory anthology, which chronicles the Welsh princess Gwenllian of Gwynedd's fight against twelfth-century English invaders, and The Heretic, in the anthology We All Fall Down, wherein the Hispano-Muslim doctor Ibn al-Khatib struggles to survive the Black Death.
Born in Barbados, Lisa lived abroad for 33 years until a recent, permanent return to her island home. For more than a decade, she has been affiliated with the Historical Novel Society, presented at its 2015 Denver conference, and served as the co-chair of the Historical Novel Society - New York City chapter (2015-2017) and social media manager (2017-2022). She remains involved as the current program chair. An avid techie, she has presented to varied audiences on the topics of historical fiction, self-publishing, and website and social media management. She has moderated and contributed to Unusual Historicals, Great Historicals, and History & Women, and previously reviewed historical fiction for the History & Women blog, Washington Independent Review of Books, and through NetGalley. Her personal blog is The Bajan Scribbler.
Learn more about Lisa and her writing at the website www.lisajyarde.com.
