For Sceptre and Crown: A Romance of the Present Time. Vol. 1 (of 2)

This is a novel of empire and longing, where the architects of modern Germany plot in smoke-filled offices while ordinary lives unfold in shadowed villages. Gregor Samarow, writing in the twilight of the 19th century, weaves a dual narrative that moves between the marble corridors of Prussian power and the quiet, beating hearts of those who will be shaped, willingly or not, by the forces of history. Bismarck and Manteuffel meet in tense consultation over matters that will reshape Europe, their conversation a chess match of ambition and duty. Yet the novel refuses to let the great men have the last word. In Wendland, a village sleeps in tranquility, its inhabitants unaware that the decisions made in distant capitals will consume their world. This is a romance of the present moment, but the present in 1860s Prussia is a forge. The novel asks what survives when nations are forged in blood: love, friendship, duty, or only power itself. For readers who crave historical fiction that treats politics as the personal, intimate art it truly is.