The Road to Jerusalem (The Crusades Trilogy)

by Jan Guillou.

This is the first book of a trilogy about the crusader Arn Magnusson, by the famous Swedish writer, Jan Guillou. Arn is a fictional character, but the events, places and many of the characters from the novels are based on reality.

Arn Magnusson was born in 1150 to an aristocratic Swedish family. At age 5 he is sent to a Cistercian monastery where he spends his next twelve years. He is trained by the giant monk Brother Guilbert, a former knight, to become a warrior, and a master archer and swordsman. But Arn is innocent in the ways of the world, and when he meets two beautiful sisters, he falls in love with one of them, Cecilia, but he is seduced by the other.

This is a great story about love and war and it is also a story about many important Swedish historical events. The surroundings, churches and places still exist.

The Crusades trilogy, consists of the following books:

The Road to Jerusalem, originally ' Vägen till Jerusalem', (1998)
The Knight Templar, originally 'Tempelriddaren', (1999)
The Kingdom at the End of the Road, originally 'Riket vid vägens slut', (2000)

Guillou also wrote a follow-up novel, The Heritage of Arn (2001).