About the Author

Robert George Cruise was born in an unassuming corner of the world where the coffee was suspicious and the history books plentiful. He studied the past with the kind of focus usually seen in treasure hunters or people who alphabetise their spice racks for sport. Degrees happened. So did opinions at dinner parties.

Eventually he took a more “hands-on” approach. This led, entirely by accident, to a trowel, a collapsing stairwell, a stern customs officer, and a goose with unresolved issues—though not in that order. He swears every scar is from “fieldwork,” and he refuses to comment on whether a certain famous academic stole the hat look from him, or the other way around.

These days he writes historical and alternate-history novels from a study that smells faintly of leather, gunpowder, and misplaced optimism. He is allergic to unnecessary speeches and strongly pro-calendar. If you hear a bell strike noon and see a rumour die, he probably left a note.