30 Day Book Challenge - Day 11

Day 11 - A book from your favourite author.

Finally, an easy one! My favourite author is Sara Douglass. I first came across Sara's books in the library at the school where I taught. The Axis Trilogy was my first taste of her work and I was hooked. She mostly writes historical fantasy, although some of her books (primarily the Axis Trilogy/Wayfarer Redemption) involve some sci-fi elements. Sara was a history lecturer and actually lectured one of my friends when he was at university. She's a keen gardener and blogs about her garden when she is able. She's very interactive with her fans and posts frequently (when she's well enough) on her facebook page. She answers questions and asks questions as well, getting people to suggest names or comment on ideas.

Unfortunately, Sara is very ill. She has been living with cancer for some time now and it has returned quite aggressively. It makes me very sad that she is too ill to write or tend her garden.

Choosing one of her books is difficult, as I love so many of them. I'm not going to go with Battleaxe, the first of the Axis trilogy, even though I love it. Instead I'm going to choose The Nameless Day which is the first book in The Crucible Trilogy. It gets mixed reviews on Amazon, but I really enjoyed the series and it's among my favourite of Sara's works. The book is set in Europe in the Middle Ages, however it's not quite the Middle Ages as we know them. As Sara herself says, "I take historical fact ... and then warp it to my own pleasure. ;)" So we have the Black Prince fighting Joan of Arc. The story involves Heaven and Hell and the eternal fight between them.