McCracken and the Lost Sword

by Mark Adderley

December 1921. McCracken is exploring the South of France with a few of his friends, looking for the villainous Father Kerr, when an old acquaintance tells him of the theft of a medieval relic from a local church. Kidnappings, wild chases, fights on trains ensue, and McCracken meets a master of disguise, a priest who is the head of a spy network, and the master of a sinister secret society. All of them are after the missing relic, an sword both ancient and of miraculous power.

The sword of St. Joan of Arc.

210 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2023

About the author

Mark Adderley was born in the railway town of Crewe, England. Like many of his contemporaries, he grew up devouring the novels of C. S. Lewis and, later, Ian Fleming and J. R. R. Tolkien. It wasn’t until he was studying at Cartrefle College in Wales, however, that he discovered the passion for the Arthurian legend that has now lasted almost a quarter of a century.

During his studies in Wales, Mark also met an American woman, Adrianne, whom he married. Moving to America, he got, in not very rapid succession, four children and a PhD in medieval literature from the University of South Florida. He has lived in Florida, Georgia, Montana, Missouri, Wyoming and South Dakota. He now teaches in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has been writing for most of his life, but The Hawk and the Wolf is his first published novel.

"I've been writing since I was about eight years old. In fourth grade, however, Mrs. Parker (who had started the years as Miss Waterson, and changed her name much to the chagrin of every male pupil in her class) wrote on my report card, 'He should go in for being an author.' Later on—it would be about sixth grade—I asked my parents for a typewriter for Christmas. In school, of course, we were asked to tell the class about our Christmas presents. When I revealed to my class that I had got a typewriter, they laughed, though they were rapidly stilled by another fine teacher, Mr. Brown. Later still, Mr. Beach (poor, suffering soul) read my manuscripts, and didn't tell me what rubbish I had written, but was very patient in his comments.

"It seems that a plethora of teachers have inspired me to write, among them Mrs. Parker, Mr. Brown, Mr. Morley, Mr. Beach, and Mrs. Roberts. I'd like to propose a toast to the lot of them, wherever they are."