(187) Shattered Icon by Bill Napier

Here is another book that touches on ancient religious icon. Prior to reading Da Vinci Code after hearing all kinds of attacks by all types of well meaning Christians, I did not even know the meaning of icon. I did read of the Holy Grail in Robin Hood as a teenager but did not know what it was until I accepted Jesus as my savior and hung out in church circles.

Before this book, I have read another book written as a boy conscripted to work on a boat in the 1500s. I worked tediously through another that talked about the Roanoke settlement that was abandoned. This book supplied a good explanation to the Roanoke mystery. I have read about the Spanish Inquisition. But I did not link the animosity of British versus Spanish in the high seas until I read the word "auto-da-fe". I cannot imagine such barbaric acts like flogging until a person dies nor could I associate hanging, cutting one's male organ off and opening the bowels before the prisoner dies. It sounds as barbaric as the ancient Mongols.

If you are not already frightened by my statements, perhaps it would be interesting to read this book. Life was certainly harsher and harder in those days of sailing compared to our modern comforts.