The Cecelia Holland Historical Fiction Collection

Until the Sun Falls, Jerusalem, and Pillar of the Sky

Three epic and acclaimed historical novels from “a first-rate storyteller” (People).
 
From Mongol conquests to the Knights Templar and the Crusades to a speculative saga of how the monoliths of Stonehenge rose in primitive Great Britain, this collection of novels reveals the breadth and depth of an author who “has the unique ability to make most any historical period her own” (Sarah Johnson, Solander, Historical Novel Society).
 
Until the Sun Falls: Set against the backdrop of the conquest of Russia and eastern Europe by the Mongol horde in the thirteenth century, Holland’s sweeping novel follows Mongol general Psin, whose battles against the enemies of the Kha-Khan sometimes seem easier than his struggles with his wives and his son. Wise, brave, and bloody-minded, Psin embodies the passions and dreams of the greatest conquerors the world has ever seen.
 
“Cecilia Holland belongs to that small band of writers who can still show us what distinction the historical novel can attain.” —The Times Literary Supplement
 
Jerusalem: Set in the Holy Land in 1187 A.D., this “vivid and deeply felt” novel of the Knights Templar masterfully explores the conspiracies and political maneuvers leading up to the Third Crusade (The New York Times Book Review). Following a stunning victory at the Battle of Ramleh, Norman Templar Rannulf Fitzwilliam must negotiate a truce with the enemy and determine the order of succession to the throne of Baudouin, the young Christian king dying of leprosy. However, Rannulf’s instincts are for battle, not diplomacy. Temptation and betrayal await him at every turn.
 
“[Holland] brings as much suspense to political intrigue as to the sprawling battle scenes at which she excels.” —The New York Times Book Review
 
Pillar of the Sky: In this “intelligently and lushly developed saga,” Holland imagines primitive England and the origin of the breathtaking and mysterious monoliths known as Stonehenge (Booklist). In a time before recorded history, Moloquin, the Unwanted One, dreams of a pathway to the heavens. Cast out as a child, he survives on the fringes of tribal society and grows into manhood driven by one powerful and unshakable ambition: to build a link between the earthly and spiritual worlds through the raising of an impossible structure.
 
“[An] engrossing narrative . . . Holland succeeds in stretching our imagination; she has breathed new life into those forty-ton monoliths that for all these centuries have been standing so mutely on the Salisbury Plain.” —Los Angeles Herald Examiner