History is written by the victor; so, is it any wonder that the most misogynistic institution the world has ever known was actually founded by a woman. Unfortunately for all women, Mary Magdalene’s central role in the ministry of Jesus was soon eclipsed by apostles and popes, but it was never forgotten. Unbeknownst to the Church, her progeny has preserved her legacy, and now, after two millennium hiding in the shadows, it’s time once more for a matriarch to assert herself on the world stage.
Book I: The Heirs of La Madeleine
In 1940, as Nazi Germany’s blitzkrieg engulfs Europe, Africa, and the North Atlantic, Sebastian von Kessel—a brilliant archaeologist and heir to a 300-year-old German industrial dynasty—walks a dangerous line between loyalty and resistance. Publicly compliant with the Reich, he secretly aids Jewish colleagues and preserves forbidden knowledge, a balancing act that becomes lethal when he is 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 forbidden alliance deepens, Sebastian must decide how far he is willing to go to save Sarah—and whether some truths are too dangerous to remain hidden.
Book II: The Heirs of La Madeleine: New Orleans
For many, 2020 will become the ‘Forgotten Year,’ but in New Orleans, Rebecca Bouchon and her father René are on the frontlines of humanity’s battle against a global pandemic. Becca, an ER doctor, is waging a relentless fight against the novel respiratory virus on the front lines, while her father’s groundbreaking research in gene editing has propelled him to the pantheon of scientific gods alongside Darwin and Newton.
When a local news article celebrates Becca’s imminent departure as a volunteer at the epicenter of ethnic violence in the Gaza Strip, she unexpectedly receives a mysterious package addressed to her deceased grandmother. Inside the package is a faded field journal bearing an infamous name and an ominous symbol of hate: Sebastian von Kessel. Suddenly, unearthing the Nazi skeletons in her family’s closet takes center stage, and with the assistance of a dashing Israeli archaeologist, she quickly realizes the only way to prevent a second Holocaust is to unravel the 2,000-year-old mystery of the Holy Grail.