Promise of the Black Monks – The Dark Ages Saga of Tristan de Saint-Germain Book I

by Robert Hirsch is now available!

When Tristan Saint-Germain and his brother, Guillaume are sent to live with the Black Monks in Cluny, they had no idea their fates, nor those whom they are destined to encounter, would change the history of the world.

Born of nobility in France in the year 1066, the fate of seven-year-old Tristan de Saint-Germain is thrown to the winds upon the execution of his father for treason against William the Conqueror of Normandy. Then, abandoned by his mother who remarries and departs for England, Tristan and his four-year-old brother, Guillaume, find themselves thrown into the monastic world of the Benedictine Black Monks of Cluny, France. Under the tutelage of Grand Prior Odo de Lagery, who one day will ascend to the very pinnacle of power within the Catholic Church in Rome, Tristan develops into an academic and linguistic prodigy by the age of twelve and becomes known as the ‘Promise of the Black Monks’.

Tristan’s unusual talents become useful to the Benedictines as well as to Rome, and the boy soon finds himself pulled into the visceral power struggle between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Heinrich IV as they mercilessly wage spiritual, political and military war upon each other to claim supremacy over the continent of Europe.

Hirsch, who has experienced his own adversities concerning racial stigmas and Catholic doctrine, writes with distinct accuracy of the walled façade individuals construct to insulate themselves against others and the terrors of life no less formidable than those constructed by powerful and established institutions. Contrition, his first novel (JournalStone, 2012) explores the dark underside of the conscience; that infected and decaying region of our past existence that draws each of us back to the pillories of punishment time and time again.

Hirsch received his undergraduate degree from Cameron University and began teaching history and French, then earned his Master’s Degree at the University of Southern Mississippi and Doctoral Degree from Nova Southeastern University of Miami/Ft. Lauderdale,

Robert Hirsch is a long-time resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Promise of the Black Monks’ sequels, Hammer of God (2016), Horde of Fools (2017), God’s Scarlet Fury (2017), and the final is yet to be announced, have been acquired and are being published by Argus Publishing. Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.robertehirschcom.com