The Emperor's Winding Sheet - Softcover

Jill Paton Walsh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0374421218 ISBN 13: 9780374421212

Publisher: Sunburst, 1992

Synopsis

The life of a young boy set against the dramatic backdrop of the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Famished, terrified, exhausted, a boy drops from the tree in which he has hidden just as Constantine, last Emperor of the Romans, is about to receive his crown in a monastery garden. By this accident, Piers Barber, a shipwrecked young seaman from Bristol, England, now renamed Vrethiki ( lucky find ), becomes an unwilling talisman to the Emperor, for it has been prophesied that if even one person who is at his side when he takes the crown stays with him always, the City will not perish. This is the story of the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and of the siege that marked the end of the proud, ancient Byzantine Empire. Corrupt, riven by bigotries, jealousies, and national vanities, the City nevertheless commanded such bravery and loyalty as the world has seldom seen. Through the darkening months, Vrethiki is brought out of his sullen despair as he lives in the midst of heroism and treachery, dogged endurance and blazing faith. And in time he comes to see the City as a vision worth dying for and the Emperor as his own true lord.

About this title

About the Author

Jill Paton Walsh was born in London and was educated at Oxford. She currently lives in Cambridge where, with John Rowe Townsend, she runs a small specialist imprint, Green Bay Publications.

She is the author of many award-winning books for children. She won the Book World Festival Award in 1970 for Fireweed: the Whitbread Prize in 1974 for The Emperor's Winding Sheet: the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in 1976 for Unleaving; the Universe Prize in 1984 for A Parcel of Patterns and the Smarties Prize Grand Prix in 1986 for Gaffer Samson's Luck.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sunburst
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0374421218
• ISBN 13: 9780374421212
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 273