The Shield of Mashona

"In this epic tale, Rothman uncompromisingly sets the reader deep in the 16th-century world of the Mediterranean - unmitigated, with no nod to modern sensibilities or expectations. It's wonderful and refreshing." -Justin M. Lindsay, Historical Novel Society

"Love and death in the time of Siege... Even today, 451 years after the four terrible months that almost wrested Malta out of its European context and yanked it back into the Muslim world, the allure of the Great Siege of 1565 lives on, and not just in the local collective memory...The Course of Fortune is a good read which gives a reliable version of the events of the siege and should provide many hours of pleasant reading." -Louis J. Scerri, author of Malta: Origini Della Civilta Mediterranea/ Malta: Origins of Mediterranean Civilization

In three volumes, The Course of Fortune -A Novel of the Great Siege of Malta, follows the adventures of a young Spanish soldier-of-fortune Francisco de Barai over the course of fifteen of the most turbulent years in the most turbulent century in history, adventures that climax in the Great Siege of Malta of 1565. During that most momentous of all sieges, tens of thousands of Turks descend on the island, defended by some 600 Knights of Malta and another few thousand mercenaries and Maltese civilians. The horrific and heroic events are recounted with the utmost attention to historical accuracy, just as the entire escalating chain of events is played out against a finely researched tapestry of Renaissance values, superstitions and culture.