The heirs of la madeleine trilogy
History is written by the victor. So it's no surprise that the most patriarchal institution in human history was, in fact, founded by a woman. Her central role in the ministry of Jesus was soon eclipsed by apostles and popes—but never forgotten. Unbeknownst to the Church, her progeny has preserved her legacy in secret. Two thousand years later, it's time for a matriarch to step into the spotlight and take centerstage once more.
1940. As Nazi Germany's blitzkrieg engulfs Europe, Africa, and the North Atlantic, Sebastian von Kessel—a brilliant archaeologist and heir to a three-hundred-year-old German industrial dynasty—walks a dangerous line between loyalty and resistance. Publicly compliant with the Reich, he secretly aids Jewish colleagues, a balancing act that turns lethal when he's drawn into the orbit of the SS.
Posted to the Louvre in occupied Paris, Sebastian is blackmailed into continuing a search begun by his murdered mentor: a suppressed Templar secret believed powerful enough to influence the Vatican itself. The man directing the hunt is Reinhard Heydrich, whose interest in ancient relics is anything but academic.
Sebastian's only hope lies with Sarah Weißmann, a Jewish violinist who survived Kristallnacht and the brutality of Dachau—and who possesses an uncanny ability to sense the emotional imprints left behind by objects. Together, they race to decode medieval clues stretching from Paris to Jerusalem, uncovering a heresy buried since the Crusades—one that challenges the foundations of faith, power, and history.
As the Nazis close in and their alliance deepens, Sebastian must decide how far their willing to go to preserve the bloodline—and whether some truths are too dangerous to reveal.