A Book of Lost Songs

In the late 13th century, a young Basque monk, Itzal, is sent on a seemingly meaningless mission- to gather the melodies to Troubadour songs. His qualifications? His ability to navigate the many languages of Provence, his crude knowledge of transcribing music, and his guitarra Latina.Along his journey he acquires companions: a dim monk, a converted Moor, a maimed jongleur, a restless young woman, a renegade German monk. Clever but unworldly, Itzal has to negotiate the shifting world of a land newly conquered - the wounded populace, barbaric invaders, and his corrupt church superiors. He must be careful not to attract notice from the nobles, the church, or most dangerous of all, the new Office of the Inquisition, who keep an infamous prison for the Albigensian heretics at Carcassone.There' s danger everywhere - from the Church, local authorities, and outlaws scattered throughout the ruined beauty that the land once was. And they hear epic tales of the great outlaw, La Lobita, the woman warrior fighting northern invaders.Finally, Itzal and his ragtag band of companions take to the mountains, a region left largely untouched by the fifty years of warfare. It' s here that the greatest danger awaits."A Book of Lost Songs" is a picaresque tale of long-lost roads, shot through with echoes of troubadour poetry. Laced with humor and tragedy, it tells the story of one man' s growth, and his disillusionment in the face of brutal acts committed in the name of his church. He finds and loses love, loses and finds faith, all while trying to decipher the meaning of his meaningless mission.