Tim Leach: 3 books

A SUNDAY TIMES HISTORICAL NOVEL OF THE YEAR. Tenth-century Iceland. In the midwinter darkness, on the lifeless black soils of a newly settled land, two friends kill a man. Kjaran, an itinerant storyteller, and Gunnar, a once-feared warrior, must make a choice: conceal the deed or confess to it and...

A defeated king stands on top of a pyre. His conqueror, the Persian ruler Cyrus, signals to his guards; they step forward and touch flaming torches to the dry wood. Croesus, once the wealthiest man of the ancient world, is to be burned alive. As he watches the flames catch, Croesus thinks back over...

The king is dead. Long live the king. When power falls on the shoulders of a young man, only his slave can teach him how to be great. But power corrupts, and absolute power. . . A new novel of the ancient world—in all its splendor and barbarity—from a hotly talented, prize-nominated rising star....