Author Event at Griffin Bay Books

The Barbed Crown
by William Dietrich

Pulitzer-prize winning writer William (Bill) Dietrich will be appearing with his latest Ethan Gage novel at Griffin Bay Bookstore on Friday evening, May 17, 7:00 pm. A prolific author with a long and distinguished career as both a journalist and novelist, he is a New York Times bestselling author with fifteen books to his credit, including historical thrillers that have been translated into thirty-one languages and prize-winning science and environmental works.

Fans of his historical fiction are surely delighted to see Ethan Gage back in action again in The Barbed Crown, the sixth novel in his internationally acclaimed series. Filled with the romanticism and glitter of the period, such as Napoleon’s coronation, which packed 20,000 people into Notre Dame and cost twenty million francs, The Barbed Crown is a splendid tale that sees Ethan once again embroiled in European history and the fate of the modern world. This is the first Ethan Gage novel to rest heavily in Europe, and the scenes of Napoleon’s court and the grandeur of the time will also appeal to fans.

Against a background of imperial pomp and the gathering clouds of war, Gage plots revenge on Napoleon Bonaparte for the kidnap of his son. While Ethan spies on the French court, his wife, Astiza, works to sabotage Napoleon’s coronation using the Crown of Thorns, a legendary relic said to have come from the Crucifixion itself. But when Napoleon is crowned nonetheless, they flee to England where Ethan joins a circle of brilliant renegades, including Robert Fulton, designer of the first submarine; rocket artillery pioneer Sir William Congreve; and smuggler Tom Johnstone. As two empires face off at sea, Gage is plunged into the decisive and lethal Battle of Trafalgar, trapped on board a French ship as Nelson’s Victory bears down on him. Moving from the glittering boulevards and squalid back alleys of Napoleonic France to the high seas of Regency England, filled with romance, danger, intrigue, and glory, The Barbed Crown is a thrilling romp that sees Ethan Gage once again embroiled in European history . . . and the fate of the modern world.

About the Author
Bill Dietrich is a Pulitzer-prize winning science reporter. A native of Tacoma, he is a graduate of Fairhaven College at Western Washington University and later had a one-year Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.

Dietrich has worked for several Northwest newspapers and as a correspondent in Washington, D.C. He was one of a team of four Seattle Times reporters who won a Pulitzer in national reporting for coverage of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
His first book, The Final Forest: The Battle for the Last Great Trees of the Pacific Northwest won the Washington Governor Writers Award and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, and has recently been reissued by University of Washington Press. His second, Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River was published to critical praise in both regional and national newspapers.

Natural Grace, a collection essays Dietrich wrote about nature for the Seattle Times, is a favorite in the Northwest. Royalties from the sale of Natural Grace are donated to land preservation and environmental education.

A lover of history, he is also the author of eleven novels, including five previous Ethan Gage titles: The Emerald Storm, Napoleon’s Pyramids, The Rosetta Key, The Dakota Cipher, The Barbary Pirates. When not writing, Dietrich spends time as a professor teaching environmental journalism at Western Washington University.

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