Emeralds of the Alhambra

Book excerpt: "How could we forget? Our world is stained with the blood of religious conflict and fanaticism, yet we managed to forget that for hundreds of years in medieval Spain, Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together in relative peace, sharing languages and customs, whispering words of love across religious boundaries, embracing a level of mutual acceptance and respect unimaginable today. Together, they launched one of the great intellectual and cultural flowerings of history. Our world aches for a future graced with tolerance and peace. Let us join together in reawakening the glory of medieval Muslim Spain, of al-Andalus. Emeralds of the Alhambra is a love story set in the resplendent Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, during the Castilian Civil War (1367-1369), a time when Muslims took up their swords to fight alongside Christians. Here is the story of William Chandon, a Christian knight, and the Sufi Muslim princess, Layla al-Khatib. As Chandon's influence at court grows, he becomes trapped between his forbidden love for Layla and his Christian heritage, the demands of chivalry and political expediency. Chandon and Layla must make choices between love and honor, war and peace, life and death, choices which ultimately will seal Granada's fate as the last surviving stronghold of Muslim Spain. Emeralds of the Alhambra is the first book in the series Anthems of al-Andalus" --Back cover.