The Falcons of Fire and Ice

by Karen Maitland

First published 2012

Amazon

4.0(388)

Lisbon, 1564. The Portuguese Inquisition is extending its reach when the royal falconer is imprisoned on false charges after two of the young king’s prized white falcons are killed. His daughter Isabela is offered a brutal bargain: find two rare white gyrfalcons in Iceland within a year, or her father and family will die.

Isabela’s journey carries her from the controlled fear of the Portuguese court into unfamiliar northern landscapes shaped by harsh weather, competing faiths and unsettling folklore. Pursued by people with reasons to prevent her return, she must survive the voyage, obtain the birds and discover how much of the danger around her comes from politics, belief or forces that cannot easily be explained.