Jack Whyte books in order

A.D. 1305. An hour before dawn. London's Smithfield prison.

In a dank cell, the outlaw William Wallace waits to be executed at first light. He is visited by a Scottish priest who has come to hear his last confession - the confession of a life even more exciting, violent and astonishing than the legend that survived.

From internationally bestselling author Jack Whyte comes a story of brutal battles and high adventure, of heroism and redemption - the story of William Wallace as the world has never heard it before.

NB: This book is also known as The Forest Laird.

Robert I, or as he is known to a grateful Scottish nation, Robert the Bruce, was one of Scotland's greatest kings, as well as one of the most famous warriors of his generation. He spearheaded the valiant Scots in their quest for freedom, leading his people during the Wars of Scottish Independence against the Kingdom of England during the middle ages. His reign saw the recognition of Scotland as an independent nation, and today Bruce is remembered in Scotland as a national hero.

It was by no means a fair and easy road for this indomitable fighter. As a young man he saw the English king Edward I award the vacant Crown of Scotland to John Balliol. The nation quickly splintered into factions and this spurred Robert and his father to at first side with Edward and then against John, whom many of the nobles did not feel was the correct person to guide the nation. Thus began a decades-long path for Scottish freedom. 

To achieve this goal, Robert sometimes had to delicately balance the power of the nobles against the might of the English. He was a tireless campaigner and after a full life of battle and diplomacy, in May 1328, King Edward III signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, which recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom and Bruce as its king.

NB: This book is also known as Resistance, and The Renegade.

Some men strive for greatness. And some men find themselves thrust into the role of their nation's saviors. Such are the two heroes who reshaped and reconfigured the entire destiny of the kingdom of Scotland. 

Wallace the Braveheart would become the only legendary, heroic, commoner in medieval British history; the undying champion of the common man. The other, Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick, would perfect the techniques of guerrilla warfare developed by Wallace and use them to create his own place in history as the greatest king of Scots.

In the spring of 1297, the two men meet in Ayr, in the south of Scotland, each having recently lost a young wife, one in childbirth and the other by murder. Each is heartbroken but determined in his grief to defy the ambitions of England and its malignant king, Edward Plantagenet, whose lust to conquer and consume the realm of Scotland is blatant and unyielding. Their combined anger at the injustices of the invading English is about to unleash a storm in Scotland that will last for sixteen years-and destroy England's military power for decades-before giving rise to a new nation of free men.

NB: This book is also known as Uprising.

The story behind the story that began it all.

Fleeing the massacre of his entire family save a single uncle, young Roman aristocrat Quintus Varrus arrives in fourth-century London not knowing who is to blame for the murders nor whom he can trust now. He fears for his life, but when he meets a young Irish woman named Lydia Mcuil, their lives quickly become intertwined and her father offers to set the young Roman up as a smith (under an Irish alias) in the town of Colchester while the young lovers get to know each other from a distance.

But the assassins haven't forgotten Quintus and a deadly ambush is barely thwarted, bringing the young Roman into friendship with his rescuer, a hardened former military policeman known as Rufus Cato, who has his own score to settle with the powerful man behind the attack. 

Quintus is introduced to the secrets of an ancient brotherhood that is trying to halt the rot that is destroying their beloved Empire--secrets that may finally reveal the identity of those who murdered his family, and expose the shocking reason why.

We all know the story―how Arthur pulled the sword from the stone and how Camelot came to be.

But how did it really happen?

The Roman citizens of Britain faced a deadly choice: leave to live in a corrupt Roman world, or stay amidst the violence of the warring factions of Picts, Celts, and invading Saxons.

For Publius Varrus and Caius Britannicus, there is only one answer. They will stay, try to preserve the best of Roman life, and create a new culture from the wreckage.

In doing so, they will plant the seeds of a legend. For these two men are Arthur's great-grandfathers and their actions will shape a nation...and forge the sword known as Excalibur.

NB: This book is also known as War of the Celts.

We know the legends: Arthur brought justice to a land that had known only cruelty and force; his father, Uther, carved a kingdom out of the chaos of the fallen Roman Empire; the sword Excalibur, drawn from stone by England's greatest king.

But legends do not tell the whole tale. Legends do not tell of the despairing Roman soldiers, abandoned by their empire, faced with the choice of fleeing back to Rome, or struggling to create a last stronghold against the barbarian onslaughts from the north and east. 

Legends do not tell of Arthur's great-grandfather, Publius Varrus, the warrior who marked the boundaries of a reborn empire with his own shed blood; they do not tell of Publius's wife, Luceiia, British-born and Roman-raised, whose fierce beauty burned pale next to her passion for law and honor.

NB: This book is also known as The Round Table.

Most know the new leader of the Colony as Merlyn; all call him Commander. Cauis Merlyn Britannicus is responsible for their safety, and all look to him for guidance, leadership, justice, and salvation. It is a harsh life but a good community, and Merlyn is dedicated to spreading the influence of Roman culture beyond the Colony's borders.

Uther Pendragon, the man who will father the legendary Arthur, is the cousin Merlyn has known and loved since they were birthed, four hours apart on the same day, the year the legions left Britain. He is the tireless warrior--the red dragon to Merlyn's great silver bear--and between the two of them, the Colony knows few enemies.

As different as they can be, they are inseparable: two faces of the same coin. In a world torn apart by warfare and upheaval, each is the other's certainty and guarantee of the survival of the Colony . . . until a vicious crime, one that strikes at the roots of Merlyn's life, drives a wedge between them. A wedge that threatens the fate of a nation....

NB: This book is also known as Merlyn.

Merlyn Britannicus and Uther Pendragon---the Silver Bear and the Red Dragon---are the leaders of the Colony, lifeblood to the community from which will come the fabled Camulod.

But soon their tranquility is in ruins, Uther lies dead from treachery, and all that is left of the dream is the orphaned babe Arthur. Heir to the Colony of Camulod, born with Roman heritage as well as the blood of the Hibernians and the Celts, Arthur is the living incarnation of the sacred dream of his ancestors: independent survival in Britain amidst the ruins of the Roman Empire.

When Arthur is adopted by Merlyn Britannicus, an enormous responsibility is placed on Merlyn's shoulders. Now he must prepare young Arthur to unify the clans of Britain and guard the mighty sword Excalibur.

And, above all, Merlyn must see that Arthur survives to achieve the rest of his ancestors' dreams, in spite of the deadly threats rumbling from the Saxon Shore.

NB: This book is also known as Excalibur.

Merlyn Britannicus, leader of the colony known as Camulod, is faced with the task of educating his young charge, Arthur, future King of the Britons. 

Fearing for the life of his nephew when an assassination attempt is thwarted, Merlyn takes Arthur and his boyhood companions Gwin, Ghilleadh, and Bedwyr, to the ruins of a long-abandoned Roman fort far from Camulod. Once there, Merlyn realizes it's time for Arthur to become worthy of the sword he is destined to wield later in his life-the mighty Excalibur.

But beyond their idyllic hiding place, forces threaten the tenuous peace of Camulod. In Cambria, the death of Arthur's father Uther has left his people leaderless, and in Cornwall, Merlyn's enemy Peter Ironhair is gathering forces to destroy all Merlyn holds dear.

And Merlyn himself is struggling, because in order to make his dream of a united Britain real, he must put the person he loves most in the world in mortal danger-he and Arthur must return to Camulod.

NB: This book is also known as The Boy King.

Throughout the widely praised Camulod Chronicles, Merlyn Britannicus has been driven by one sacred dream--to see Britain united under one just, powerful king. In The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis, it is time for the Sorcerer to fulfill his promise--to present the battle-proven Arthur as the Riothamus, the High King of Britain. 

When Arthur miraculously withdraws the Sword of Kingship from the stone in which it is set, he proves himself the true and deserving king--sworn to defend the Christian faith against invaders, and to preserve Britain as a powerful, united force.

The Sorcerer has fulfilled his promise. The King is crowned, Britain is united--and the face of history and legend is forever changed.

NB: This book is also known as Metamorphosis.

From the trials of boyhood to the new cloak of adult responsibility, we see Uther with fresh eyes. He will travel the length of the land, have adventures, and, through fate or tragedy, fall in love with the one woman he must not have. Uther is a compelling love story and, like the other books in the Camulod Chronicles, a version of the legend that is more realistic than anything that has been available to readers before.

NB: This book is also known as Pendragon.

A mighty warrior. A faithful friend. An immortal love.

As Arthur forges a union in Britain, across the sea a royal son is denied his birthright. The Romans are gone and war is coming to Gaul.

In an age of cruelty and barbarism, Lancelot - known as Clothar - has been raised to champion justice and righteousness, but as his boyhood world in Gaul disintegrates, he seeks sanctuary in a new home: Britain.

There he finds Arthur Pendragon, newly crowned High King, who, dreams, like Clothar himself, of living in a better world. The friendship of these men, and the love they share for a woman, will grow into Britain's most enduring legend.

NB: This book is also known as Clothar the Frank, and  Lancelot.

The Eagle brings us at last to the heart of the tale, the creation of fabled Camelot and the love story that enshrined its glory. Whyte takes us into the minds and lives of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot, three astonishing but fallible people who were bound together by honor, loyalty, and love. Three who created the glory that was Britain's shining dream…and, some say, caused its downfall.

The Gaulish nobleman Clothar―known in our time as Lancelot―is drawn to the young High King's court by tales of honor and nobility, where he meets a man whose love of law matches his own. More, he finds in Arthur a life-long friend whose dream of uniting the people of Britain in peace Clothar embraces. And Clothar meets Arthur's queen, a wondrous beauty whose passion and ideals match those of her husband. Together they work to bring Arthur's dream to life.

But dark forces rise in opposition to Arthur's plans for creating this noble island nation and it is hard to tell friend from foe in the swirling chaos that ensues. Many tales have been told of the dream that shined and died. This one will astonish even the most jaded.

NB: This book is also known as The Last Stand.

To the millions of readers who have found themselves entranced by Jack Whyte's historical novels over the past twenty years, this first collection of Jack Whyte short stories might seem like a radical change of direction, if not an absolute contradiction in terms. But that simply isn't true. There is no change of direction on Whyte’s part in these shorter tales, merely an adjustment of focus, from the panoramic perspective to the personal, intimate viewpoint.

The ten stories featured here are distilled from all the elements that have earned Whyte a worldwide readership among lovers of epic historical fiction, an audience that has remained loyal to him for decades. The people they deal with are real – credible and utterly, convincingly human – and the existential realities that govern their lives are as demanding and immutable as such things have always been. Yesterday’s battles are no different from those of tomorrow.

Jack Whyte is known worldwide for his books about Arthurian England. But before he was the Jack Whyte, he was a high-school English teacher and a professional singer, musician, actor and entertainer. 

Then a job writing for CBC national television steered him into an advertising career. Along the way, his "fervent preoccupation with the Arthurian legend" led him to write the series A Dream of Eagles/The Camulod Chronicles.

But there's more to Jack Whyte than work. He arrived in Canada in 1967 at the height of this nation's centennial celebrations. And what he found in Canada made him stay. The effervescent optimism about the coming 100 years in the richest and most gifted country in the western world. 

The textures and vibrancy of Canada: crunchy lettuce and tomatoes, 10-cent coffee, brilliant Prairie sunshine and the smells of summer; jackfish running in Calling Lake and moose carcasses hanging in the butcher shop; snow and cold continental winter with Hockey Night in Canada and Don Messer's Jubilee.

Jack Whyte: Forty Years in Canada is a memoir that includes Whyte's narrative verse and reminiscences to mark the 40th anniversary of his arrival in Canada. His experiences in 1967 are only part of a journey that includes ruminations about Canada's "two solitudes," Pierre Trudeau, heroes and feet of clay, Alberta oil, multiculturalism, fast food, the military, health care and more.

A brother of the Order-a medieval secret society uniting noble families in a sacred bond-Sir Hugh de Payens has emerged from the First Crusade a broken man seeking to dedicate his life to God. But the Order has other plans for him: to uncover a deadly secret that could shatter the very might of the Church itself.

Knights Templar order member Sir Henry St. Clair is asked by Richard the Lionheart to join his army and free the Holy Land in a war. Sir Henry reluctantly agrees, but the many intrigues of Crusade leaders bring the St. Clair family and the Order to the edge of disaster.

The Order - a secret society of men from ancient, noble families, drawn together to safeguard the Christian Church's most precious secrets - has been decimated by a King's petulant will. Its members are being persecuted and most have been forced to flee for their lives as their leaders are burnt at the stake.

But the Order's secrets must continue to be protected and hidden; so as their world falls apart, the dangerous task of smuggling the sacred treasure out from under the nose of a vengeful king falls to just a few brave men.