1640, and the pall of war hangs over France...The young Chevalier de Roland has scarcely set foot in the city before he crosses swords with a cruel nobleman to defend a young woman's honour. Too late he learns he has stumbled on a conspiracy within the King's own household to seize power by secret alliance with Spain. Accused of treason and forced to flee into hiding, Andr must fight on alone, staking both his life and his honour in the battle to save France.Blood and Steel is an epic swashbuckling pageturner that sweeps from the political intrigues of Cardinal Richelieu to the great battlefields of the Thirty Years War.