My Enemy, My Friend
Readers are drawn deep into the world of the 12th century, during the time of the Third Crusade (1189-1192) as alternate chapters introduce the lives of two boys, Salim and Adam, both of whom are about to experience enormous changes in their lives.
Salim, a Muslim, lives in Acre with his family and becomes apprenticed, initially unwillingly to Doctor Musa, a Jew, from whom he learns much about healing skills. Adam, a Christian, is a serf on a manor in England. Recently orphaned, he joins, as a dog handler, a party lead by his Lord heading for the Holy Land. The two do not meet until halfway through the novel when circumstances conspire so that each needs help from the other in the situations that develop.
Evocation of place and period is strong, and complex history is convincingly conveyed through the stories of these two empathetic boys and the wide-ranging cast of characters they encounter.
This book was first published in 2007 with the title Crusade in the Wake of the Iraq War. In an afterword written at the time, the author comments that this war provided the motivation for her writing it. Conflict in the Middle East has never really ceased in the intervening period but in view of the current situation in Palestine/Israel it is a fitting time for this new, retitled edition which will aid young people in understanding the history of the region and its implications and parallels in modern times.
