KEEPER OF THE GRAIL

KEEPER OF THE GRAIL (The Youngest Templar, Book 1), by Michael Spradlin (Putnam, 2008). Fifteen year old Tristan is an orphan abandoned as a baby at a Cistercian monastery in England. Having no other prospects, when a noble Knight Templar named Sir Thomas offers to take him into service, he accepts. But Sir Thomas is on his way to the Holy Land with Richard the Lionheart, where the Templars are to defend the stronghold of Acre.

As the city is about to fall, Sir Thomas reveals to Tristan that the Templars are the keepers of the greatest artifact in Christendom -- the Holy Grail. And he, Tristan must now spirit it out of the city to England and keep it out of the hands of the Saracens.

Together with the archer Robard and the mysterious Maryam, Tristan escapes treachery and death, but perhaps not the high seas...

A rousing adventure, KEEPER OF THE GRAIL is a fast-paced tale that provides a new take on the stuff of legends.