The Tale of the English Templar received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Helena P. Schrader.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The Tale of the English Templar, published March 25, 2025
What’s the book’s first line?
The sound of hooves chinking on the icy road dragged Percy back from the comfort of oblivion.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
The young knight had been tortured and hoped only to die. His rescuers had other ideas. They formed a Resistance movement. But can they defy a tyrant — and win?
An English Templar travelling to Cyprus is one of thousands arrested on Friday 13 October 1307. Victims of Philip IV’s greed for the Order’s legendary riches, they are cruelly tortured. The English knight becomes the first non-French Templar to confess to the trumped-up charges. Then he disappears. Soon, other imprisoned Templars also go missing from the French King’s dungeons. Rumours begin to circulate of a band of free Templars.
Based on historical events, not fantasy, The Tale of the English Templar tells the story of the destruction of the Knights Templar in the early 14th century. In doing so, it explores the struggle between good and evil in human hearts — and of the power of love even in our darkest hour.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I wrote this book thirty years ago under the influence of several trips to the South of France. There, I discovered and explored many Templar properties and also visited several castles in which Templars had been held prisoner. These encounters with the Templars, combined with earlier research on the Albigensian heresy and its lasting legacy on the Languedoc, inspired this novel. Besides, Percy wanted me to write it.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
To measure the sincerity of their faith, to ask themselves what their Christian duty is today in the midst of inhumanity, corruption and the cynical abuse of power, and to find inspiration that will help them to be a better Christian and a better human.
The female protagonist in this book abides by the core Christian canon: Love your neighbor like yourself. She does not don armour, yet she is part of the resistance to tyranny that is the soul of this novel. As the IndieReader reviewer, Catherine Langrehr, noted: The Tale of the English Templar is a “deeply profound look at morality, principle, love and faith…. that affirms how love, compassion and honor are worth having—even while the world is collapsing in cruelty and corruption all around.”
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
The way Percy’s pride and strength co-exist beside his weaknesses and humility is unique. Percy is full of inner doubts and contradictions, yet never dithering nor indecisive in action. He’s an incredibly powerful and unique character. If pressed, I suppose there are strong parallels with Richard the Lionheart, especially as portrayed by Penman in “A King’s Ransom.”
Readers can learn more about Ms. Schrader and her other (IR Approved) books in an earlier interview here.