The stunning third volume in the Guardians series

From the master of the sweeping historical epic comes the story of two heroes who reshaped and reconfigured the entire destiny of the kingdom of Scotland by defying the might and power of Edward Plantagenet, the king of England, Hammer of the Scots. Wallace the Braveheart would become the only legendary, heroic commoner in medieval British history and the undying champion of the common man. The other, Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick, would perfect the techniques of guerilla warfare developed by Wallace and use them to create his own place in history as the greatest king of Scots who ever lived.

In the spring of 1297, the two men meet in Ayr, in the south of Scotland, each having recently lost a young wife, one in childbirth and the other by murder. Each is heartbroken but determined in his grief to defy the ambitions of England and its malignant king, whose lust to conquer and consume the realm of Scotland is blatant and unyielding. Their combined anger at the injustices of the invading English is about to unleash a storm in Scotland that will last for sixteen years—and destroy England’s military power for decades—before giving rise to a new nation of free men.

Jack Whyte’s masterful storytelling breathes life into the rugged men who waged Scotland’s brutal wars of independence and shaped her future.

Best known for his original series of Arthurian novels, A Dream of Eagles (called The Camulod Chronicles in the US), and his Knights Templar trilogy, Jack Whyte has written 10 international bestsellers. He left Scotland for Canada in 1967 to teach high-school English, but soon gravitated to life on the road as a professional singer, actor and entertainer. In the 1970s he gained a wide audience as he wrote and performed his one-man tribute to Robbie Burns across North America. Public recitals of his own narrative verse led to him being appointed the bard of the Calgary Highlanders regiment, an honour he maintains to this day. A stint as a CBC national television writer preceded a successful business career in communications, but it was his long-time interest in both the legend of King Arthur and the 5th-century Roman military occupation of Britain that dictated Jack’s destiny. Since becoming a successful author, with his books translated into many languages, Jack has made time to support upcoming authors and participate in many writer gatherings, including the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. He writes every day and resides near his favoured golf course in Kelowna, BC. He is married with five adult children.

Jack Whyte's profile page

“Whyte writes with a clear sense of history as an ongoing chess game….There is more to the book than what might refer to as the marquee events of history. It’s wiser than that and Whyte has the skills as a writer to pull it off with aplomb…. [The Guardian] is both captivating and transporting, plunging the reader into an utterly alien world of conflict, the repercussions of which are being felt to the present day.” - Vancouver Sun

"To read Jack Whyte is to surrender to a storyteller of the old school. His writing is firmly rooted in the basics of good storytelling: strong characterization, effective plotting, and excellent writing." - Quill & Quire

"Whyte's found the key to refreshing legend and making it live again.... The wealth and richness of the historical detail are fascinating. If James Michener is the past master of the sweeping epic, then Jack Whyte may well be the future one." - Calgary Herald

"Whyte, a master at painting pictures on an epic-sized canvas, pulls the reader into the story with his usual deft combination of historical drama and old-fashioned adventure." - Booklist