Poland is at war.
He must choose between his lifelong ambition and his heart.
Exploiting Muscovy’s Time of Troubles, Poland has invaded the chaotic country. Twenty-two-year-old Jacek Dąbrowski is an honorable, ferocious warrior in a company of winged hus-sars—an unrivaled, lethal cavalry. When his lieutenant dies in battle, Jacek is promoted to re-place him, against the wishes of his superior, Mateusz, who now has more reason to eliminate him.
Jacek dedicates his life to gaining the king’s recognition and manor lands of his own. Conse-quently, he closely guards his heart, avoiding lasting romantic entanglements. Unscathed on the battlefield, undefeated in tournaments, and adored by women eager to share his bed, Jacek has never lost at anything he sets out to conquer. So when he charges toward his goals, he believes nothing stands in his way.
Upon his return from battle, Jacek deviates from his ordinarily unemotional mindset and res-cues enemy siblings, fifteen-year-old Oliwia and her younger brother, Filip, from their devas-tated Muscovite village. His act of mercy sets into motion unstoppable consequences that ripple through his well-ordered life for years to come—and causes him to irretrievably lose his heart.
Oliwia has her own single-minded drive: to protect her young brother. Her determination and self-sacrifice lead her to adopt a new country, a new religion, and a new way of life. But it’s not the first time the resilient beauty has had to remake herself, for she is not what she appears to be.
As Jacek battles the Muscovites and Tatars threatening Poland’s borders for months at a time, Oliwia is groomed for a purpose concealed from her. All the while, Mateusz’s treachery and a mysterious enemy looming on the horizon threaten to destroy everything Jacek holds dear.
What inspired you to start writing?
It was a challenge to myself. Ever since college, when my English professor said, “You should write,” I’ve wondered if I could. So I set a goal for myself to see if I could fill 250 pages (double-spaced). It seemed daunting at the time. After a few fits and starts over the course of a week or two, the novel blossomed in my head and I wrote … and wrote … and wrote. In the end, I had over 1400 pages! Fortunately, I had a wonderful editor who helped me pare the behemoth back to a more manageable 800+ pages, and the story was split into a duology.
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
The research. While I loved it, and often got lost in it, I sometimes felt as though I was searching for a needle in a haystack. I could get hung up for hours on rather simple questions like, “What did they wear inside their boots?” or “Did they tend to ride stallions, mares, or geldings?” The other challenge with the research was the scarcity of sources, and those I found were often in Polish, which I neither speak nor read.
Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?
It has to be the male lead, Jacek. He embodies honor and loyalty, yet he is flawed. He lives in a black-and-white world, and he adheres to strict lines. He doesn’t deal well when those lines become blurred, or when the world takes on shades of gray.
If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?
This is a toughie because I don’t watch much TV and haven’t been to a movie in the past 2 years, so I’m woefully unfamiliar with today’s actors and actresses. When I wrote the story, though, I had a vague picture of a young Chris Hemsworth as Jacek. For the female lead, an actress named Ferrin Guerreiro (in the movie Black Field from 2009) caught my eye, and that picture stuck. Or a younger Nadia Bjorlin, or even a blue-eyed Kate Middleton!
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
I would love to light a spark that causes readers to learn more about the Winged Hussars and Poland’s rich history before it was divided and disappeared in the 18th century. The country was a dominant world power in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as being culturally and politically enlightened, and I feel those details have become lost in history.
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Griffin Brady
Griffin Brady is a historical fiction author with a keen interest in the Polish Winged Hussars of the 16th and 17th centuries. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society and Rocky Moun-tain Fiction Writers. The Heart of a Hussar took third place in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2018 Colorado Gold Contest and was a finalist in the Northern Colorado Writers’ 2017 Top of the Mountain Award.
The proud mother three grown sons, she lives in Colorado with her husband. She is also an award-winning, Amazon bestselling romance author who writes under the pen name G.K. Brady.
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