Bohemian Gospel
Hardcover | Kindle
By Dana Chamblee Carpenter
Pegasus Books
Release date: November 16, 2015

Historical fiction novels tend to cherrypick through the vast archives of Great Britain and its famous legacy of royalty. Bohemian Gospel, the debut novel from short-story writer Dana Chamblee Carpenter, forgoes the typical British storyline and instead brings us to 13th century Bohemia near the start of the reign of Ottokar II, the Iron and Golden King, for a supernatural tale of intrigue, royal betrayal, and dark powers.

The novel takes off right from the start, with the young King Ottakar wounded and near death from an assassination attempt, with his men racing him to the nearby Tepla Abbey where a young girl named Mouse miraculously saves him. But Mouse is no ordinary healer. An orphan raised from birth at the monastery and trained in the healing arts, the teenager has certain abilities that far surpass what a normal person can do. It is a gift — or, possibly a curse — where she innately knows not only how to save lives, but also how to commune with animals, will things to happen, and remember everything she reads or experiences, including her own birth.