Bryan Givens

After the happiest summer he could remember, Jack is suddenly summoned to heal the Jarl of Cork, an important ally of the king. If Jack can't find a way to help him, war would consume all southern Ireland.But Jack is reluctant to get involved because he doesn't know what is causing the illness. And worse-much worse-the Jarl is a Dane, just like the ones Jack's father had fought against for so long.Will Jack help an enemy to help his country? Will he listen to the Jarl's plea?

In Jack and the Giant's Bargain, book two of the Adventures of Jack series, Jack finally begins to feel at home in the village of Lismore after rescuing his little sister from the clutches of a goblin. Then Jack receives an unexpected request from his best friend's uncle to help him resolve a problem with his mysterious business partner-a partner who is unnaturally tall and who seems to have magical powers. Jack reluctantly agrees to go, but he quickly realizes that it will take all his wits and courage to escape the giant's bargain...

Jack dreams of becoming a great warrior like his father, even though he's not sure he'll ever be big enough. But when his father doesn't return from fighting the Viking invaders, Jack knows he has to step up to protect his family. After he has to move to a different village, he meets new friends, makes new enemies, and discovers strange new places. And when an unseen menace threatens his loved ones, Jack must rely on his wits and courage to unravel the secret of the Hollow Hill.

On February 20, 1665, the Inquisition of Lisbon arrested Maria de Macedo, the wife of a midlevel official of the Portuguese Treasury, after she revealed during a deposition that, since she was ten years old, an enchanted Moor had frequently ""taken"" her to a magical castle in the legendary land of wonders known as the Hidden Isle. The island paradise was also the home of Sebastian, the former king of Portugal (1557--1578), who had died in battle in Morocco while on crusade in 1578. His body remained undiscovered, however, and many people in seventeenth-century Portugal -- including Maria -- eagerly awaited his return in glory. In Judging Maria de Macedo, Bryan Givens offers a microhistorical examination of Maria's trial before the Inquisition in Lisbon in 1665--1666, providing an intriguing glimpse into Portuguese culture at the time.Maria's trial record includes a unique piece of evidence: a pamphlet she dictated to her husband fifteen years before her arrest. In the pamphlet, reproduced in its entirety in the book, Maria recounts in considerable detail her ""journeys"" to the Hidden Isle and her discussions with the people there, King Sebastian in particular. Not all of the components of Maria's vision were messianic in nature or even Christian in origin; her beliefs therefore represent a unique synthesis of disparate cultural elements in play in seventeenth-century Portugal. Because the pamphlet antedates the Inquisition's involvement in Maria's case, it offers a rare example of a non-elite voice preserved without any mediation from an elite institution such as the Inquisition, as is the case with most early modern judicial records. In addition to analyzing Maria de Macedo's vision, Givens also uses the trial record to gain insight into the values, concerns, and motives of the Inquisitors in their judgment of her unusual case. He thus not only examines separately two important subcultures in early modern Portugal, but also analyzes how they interacted with each other.Introducing a unique feminine voice from the early modern period, Judging Maria de Macedo opens a singular window onto seventeenth-century Portuguese culture.