title: The Sword and the Miracle: A Novel
author:  Melvyn Bragg 
description: Bragg's title sums up exactly the tension he has created in this solid novel. In seventh-century Ireland, a priest has a vision of the Virgin Mary, who bequeaths him a sliver of the True Cross and tells him to pass it on to a young girl, who will serve the Lord in a remarkable way. That young girl turns out to be Bega, princess in the household the preist serves, and she indeed becomes inbued with her spiritual mission. But she is promised to the brutish Niall O'Neill, even as English prince Padric yearns for her. How Bega works out her destiny is a long time coming?this book has nearly 700 densely set pages?and though the prose is at best unremarkable and at times heavy-handed, British TV personality and director Bragg does offer much exacting detail, which draws in the reader and finally culminates in a satisfying read. Bragg was inspired to write this saga, a best seller in Britain, after discovering a lakeside church dedicated to St. Bega in his native Cumbria. A good bet for historical fiction collections.?Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"<BR>Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  SWORD
  
  
  
  
  
  &
  
  
  
  
  
  SORCERY
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../images/00001.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  MILLER HALF-ORC SAGA
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  By
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  J. R. Marshall
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright © J. R. Marshall 2019
  
  
  
  
  
  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by
  
  
  way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated
  
  
  without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other
  
  
  than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including
  
  
  this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.
  
  
  
  
  
  The moral
  
  
  right of J. R. Marshall has been asserted.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  DEDICATION
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _To my
  
  
  wife, Susan, whose patience, sometimes during antisocial hours, allowed the
  
  
  completion of this story, without hope of monetary gain._
  
  
  
  
  
  _To
  
  
  Mark Young, sitting on a beach sipping beer, reading yet another so-called
  
  
  ‘