The Road to Jerusalem

By Jan Guillou and Steven T. Murray

The epic story of one man’s fight for his love, his God and his Country

The Road to Jerusalem – Book 1 in the Crusades Trilogy.

Arn Magnusson, born into an aristocratic Swedish family, is raised in an old monastery because of an old promise made by his mother. From the start he shows the natural skill and aptitude of a born fighter, yet despite his strength he is innocent in the ways of the world. He is sent from the sheltered walls of the convent to experience something of real life. On his journeys Arn falls foul of various fighting groups, but is also delighted with the women he encounters. Seduced by one sister, he falls in love with the other and ends up sleeping with them both – a mortal sin in the medieval church. While his love is sent to a convent, Arn’s sentence is commuted to forced commitment to the cause of the Crusades, where he becomes a notable soldier and eventually a high ranking commander of the Knights Templar and both friend and enemy to the charismatic Saladin.

Arn’s Story continues in the next two books: The Knight Templar and Kingdom at the End of the Road.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Jan 5, 2009
• ISBN: 9780007313952

Jan Guillou

Jan Oscar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou was born in Sweden in January 1944. He made his name as a journalist and rose to fame when he exposed a secret intelligence organisation, was convicted of espionage and spent 10 months in prison, 5 of which were spent in solitary confinement. He is now a bestselling novelist and writes regularly for Sweden’s leading tabloid, commenting on current affairs.

Reviews for The Road to Jerusalem

[victoriajz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed this book and the entire series. Believable characters. Interesting and to me, unknown, historical period.

[bostonian71 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm having a hard time deciding how I feel about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed learning a few things about Sweden (a country I know little about), and most of the characters are interesting, especially Arn and the monks who raised him. On the other hand, the author had some definite points he wanted to make and definite places he needed characters to be, so he's sometimes not terribly subtle with either his foreshadowing of certain people's fates or with the unlikely sequence of events (unlikely, because not even Arn should've been that stupid) that predetermines Arn's journey for the next two books. So while I didn't mind reading this, I don't feel the need to seek out the sequels, which will probably have even more heads being chopped off than this one did.

[bookaholic2-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This title was recommended by a Scandinavian friend after having discussed another author who uses the medieval period (slightly later) to write historical fiction. I am a detail oriented type and found this title to be a treat in that regard. Despite the exceptional detail, I was able to read it in a few days. How much did I like it? Answer: I have ordered the remainder of the trilogy.

[cbfiske · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book. Jan Guillou pulled me into this time period, place, and the life of Arn Magnusson. The depiction of the conflicts and compromises between the old, traditional ways and the new ways introduced to Arn and the local people by the monks was very interesting. The Road to Jerusalem truly set the stage for the later books in the Trilogy and made me want to read more.

[travis1259 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is Book One of The Crusades Trilogy, promoted as an epic story of The Knights Templar. And, I really liked this book. The reason I gave it three and a half stars instead of a higher rating is the plain fact that this book doesn't really touch on the Knights Templar in any detail. That was most disappointing to me. I would have preferred that the author made this book a separate look at Sweden during this period, as a tale of how someone came to fight the infidels.Having said that, this book gives a very personal look at this point in history. Guillou, the author, possess the gift of crafting historical information in great detail and yet building such character development that it becomes indeed very much about the central character, Arn.A real bonus results because I learned so very much about what transpired in the North countries in Medieval times. Something I really knew nothing about. I just could not put the book down.Still, I bet the next two books of this trilogy will focus on the Knights Templar and their efforts during the Holy Wars. That's what I expected to read in the first place. And, I look forward to that..

[kasthu_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Arn of Gotha is born in 1150, the younger son of a wealthy landowner. After a miracle occurs, Arn is sent to a monastery, where he is trained in both spiritual and physical matters—in the latter, by a former Knight Templar. The novel covers Arn’s early years, up until the time he is sent off to fight as a Knight Templar himself. The outcome of the novel is inevitable, but it’s the way that Arn gets there that is particularly interesting.It’s not an easy read, by any stretch; I don’t know if it’s Jan Guillou’s writing style or the way the translator translated the book, but there were certain passages that were a bit slow going for me. There’s also a lot in here about faith and sin, although I didn’t find the religious bits off putting. Rather, it led an air of veracity to the whole novel. There’s also a fair amount of Swedish history thrown in, though Guillou doesn’t hit his reader over the head with it. The political maneuverings of medieval Sweden can be a bit confusing, though.More than anything, though, this is a coming of age novel, set in a place that I really didn’t know much about 9I’m familiar with 12th-century history in other parts of Europe, but Sweden was a whole new ball game for me). It was a little hard for me to believe that Arn could be such an innocent about certain things, but I think the author handled Arn’s development as the central character especially well. The Road to Jerusalem is the first book in a trilogy that continues with The Knight Templar and Birth of the Kingdom.