The Castle of Kings - Rilegato

Praise for The Ludwig Conspiracy "Alternating between nineteenth-century Bavaria and our own time, The Ludwig Conspiracy functions like one of those glorious antique timepieces called a Nuremberg egg: intricate, shimmering, never missing a beat. Oliver Pötzsch has hatched a narrative redolent of Alfred Hitchcock’s best romantic thrillers, replete with mind-boggling ciphers, distinctive villains, secret societies (exotic yet historically accurate), and other pleasures both sensual and cerebral.”—James Morrow, author of The Last Witchfinder "Pötzsch makes clever use of Bavaria’s equivalent of the Kennedy assassination in this excellent stand-alone . . . Pötzsch’s sophisticated plotting and good use of a real-life historical puzzle place this far ahead of most Da Vinci Code wannabes."—Publishers Weekly, boxed and starred review Praise for The Beggar King "The Beggar King is a richly appointed historical novel, a compelling tapestry of violence, intrigue, and tenderness. Pötzsch drags you into his beautifully rendered and dangerous seventeenth-century Europe and doesn't let you escape until the final climactic page." —Glenn Cooper, international bestselling author of Secret of the Seventh Son  Praise for The Dark Monk "In this subtle, meticulously crafted story, every word is a possible clue, and the characters are so engaging that it’s impossible not to get involved in trying to help them figure the riddle out."—Oprah.com "Weaving together the mystery of a murdered priest, a Templar treasure, and a kind-hearted hangman, Oliver Pötzsch's The Dark Monk is a labyrinth of clues and rich characters in seventeenth-century Bavaria. Pötzsch keeps the action boiling, the clues intriguing, and the history fascinating and authentic." — William Dietrich, author of The Emerald Storm Praise for The Hangman's Daughter "I loved every page, character and plot twist of The Hangman’s Daughter, an inventive historical novel about a 17th-century hangman’s quest to save a witch—from himself." —Scott Turow "A brilliantly-researched and exciting story of a formative era of history when witches were hunted and the inquisitors had little belief in their methods beyond their effect in pacifying superstitious townspeople . . . Pötzsch, actually descended from a line of hangmen, delivers a fantastically fast-paced read, rife with details on the social and power structures in the town as well as dichotomy between university medicine and the traditional remedies, which are skillfully communicated through character interactions, particularly that of Magdalena and Simon. The shocking motivations from unlikely players provide for a twist that will leave readers admiring this complex tale from a talented new voice." —Publishers Weekly

“Combine Princess Bride with Germanic history circa 1500, add a dash of Lord of the Rings, and there's a week of good fun . . ." -- Kirkus Reviews

“Mr. Pötzsch is the author of a sequence of five novels, collectively known as ‘The Hangman’s Daughter,’ which have sold half a million copies in English translation. ‘The Castle of Kings’ is likely to enjoy similar success—and deserves it . . . The war scenes are grimly realistic, and the narration gripping . . . The author makes the fantastical elements work by harnessing them to the grim reality of the Peasants’ War, setting his far-fetched romance in an utterly convincing world of economic hardship, social strife and religious and political uncertainty. Oliver Pötzsch recognizes that the way to make the extraordinary credible is to anchor it in a thoroughly imagined depiction of real historical times.”  -- The Wall Street Journal “Combine Princess Bride with Germanic history circa 1500, add a dash of Lord of the Rings, and there's a week of good fun . . ." -- Kirkus Reviews  

In 1524, in what is now Germany, hundreds of thousands of peasants revolted against the harsh treatment they suffered at the hands of their aristocratic overlords. Agnes is the daughter of one of these overlords, but she is not a typical sixteenth-century girl, refusing to wear dresses and spending more time with her pet falcon than potential suitors. There is only one suitor she is interested in: Mathis, a childhood friend whom she can never marry because he is a commoner, the son of a smith. Though his knowledge of the new trade of gunsmithing gains Mathis a bit of prestige, it is not the sort that will bring money to Agnes’s struggling father. As they grow up amidst the turmoil of what becomes the Peasants’ War, it begins to seem that they are simply destined to be apart.

Over the next two years, Agnes and Mathis travel the countryside, tossed about by the war. They are each captured by and escape from various factions, participate in massive battles, make new friends both noble and peasant, and fall in love. Meanwhile, Agnes’s falcon finds a mysterious ring, and Agnes begins having strange but seemingly meaningful dreams. Dreams that lead the two lovers to revelations about their place in the world and in the emerging German states. With The Castle of Kings, Oliver Pötzsch has written a historical yarn that calls to mind Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth and Bernard Cornwell’s Agincourt.