The Gathandrian Trilogy by Anne Brooke is a series of fantasy novels mapping the physical and spiritual journey of itinerant scribe and mind-reader Simon Hartstongue in a mysterious and frightening land. Can one man, no matter how deeply regretted the sins of his past, ever save a nation?
Simon Hartstongue is branded a coward and a murderer. When his overlord Ralph Tregannon turns against him, he is forced to embark on a treacherous journey to the distant and magical land of Gathandria in order to save both his country and his own soul. During a series of terrifying trials, Simon must encounter the trickery of the deadly Mind Executioner and the secret dealings of those rather closer to hand.
The battle for survival has merely begun and the Mind Executioner's defeat is only temporary. Simon, together with Johan Montfort and Annyeke Hallsfoot, his friends from the city of Gathandria, must join forces in a tenuous alliance to fight for their survival. When the Mind Executioner kidnaps Simon and raises an army from the dead, all hope appears to be lost. But Simon, with the help of the mysterious mind-cane and the magical snow-raven, is determined to stay alive and, if possible, to win.
Book Three: The Executioner's Cane
Simon, accompanied by the mind-cane and the snow-raven, must travel back to the land he came from to offer support to the people he once tried to kill. From Gathandria, Annyeke and Johan endeavour to help him but their attentions must be on rebuilding the city after the wars. Alone and faced with the anger of his people and hindered by the fragility of Ralph Tregannon's leadership, Simon has to find a way of bringing healing to a dying country. But the odds and time itself are stacked against him.
