The Valet
Will be published approx. on 6. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
152 pages
978-1-80309-622-3 (ISBN)
Description
A gripping historical novel that explores how the Fourth Crusade plundered Constantinople and forever changed the course of European history. The year is 1204. Stripped of his power and held captive, Massimo Gasparino, once the most trusted aide to the Doge of Venice, pens a desperate secret letter to Pope Innocent III. His confession? He has witnessed the most egregious crime in human history: the deliberate diversion of the Fourth Crusade from Jerusalem to the heart of Christian Europe, Constantinople. As the city is ruthlessly plundered and its treasures shipped to Venice, Gasparino's letter exposes the Doge's shocking betrayal, a sin that irrevocably alters the course of history. But with his life and the fate of this explosive truth hanging precariously in the balance, can he get his message to Pope Innocent III before the Doge silences him forever? The Valet is a tense, intimate drama of ambition, guilt, and the enduring shadows of a war that still resonates in today's world.
More details
Series
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
254 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80309-622-3 (9781803096223)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Thorvald Steen is a major Norwegian author who has published a wide range of novels, plays, collections of poems and short stories, children's books, and essays. His books include Lionheart, The Little Horse, The Invisible Library, and The White Bathing Hut, all also published by Seagull Books. Olivia Lasky is an Oslo-based translator who focuses on Norwegian to English literary translations. Her literary translations include work by Karl Ove Knausgård, Laila Stien, Sigbjørn Skåden, and Tor Åge Bringsværd.