THE CONSPIRACY OF THE ROSE

The Marvelous and Tragic story of Frederick of Swabia, Holy Roman Emperor (a Novel)

By: Alastair Fontana

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Frederick was barely eight years when he looked death straight in the eyes. It was a warm spring morning. He was a small child, with red hair and blue-green eyes. No one would have ever believed that he would become king at fourteen and emperor at seventeen. That he would revive the empire of Caesar and Hadrian. That he would wipe out the dark ages with his court of scholars and mathematicians of all races and religions. Or that he would speak seven languages, write love poems in Italian, and win countless battles and wars without ever having to use his sword. Nobody, on that pleasant March day, would have ever imagined the amazement that his adventure would arouse in the centuries to come. But death, not love, would be his faithful companion on that wonderful journey. The ghost he had stared at on a spring day would follow him like a faithful dog, like a shadow at sunset. It would wake him up in the middle of the night, dripping with sweat, turning friends into enemies, kisses into daggers, and ultimately becoming the very obsession of his soul. This is the story of the incredible life of Frederick and of how he was deceived. This is a story about the greatness and the baseness of the human soul. A story about the infinite sadness of betrayed love and about the enthusiasm that moves the universe. But above all, this is a story about the loneliness that we all hide deep inside. Always too busy to be able to notice it, until the day when taking our gaze away from the abyss will be no longer possible.

Voice

It was always unclear who was talking. The fake reader didn’t act different narrators. Made the book difficult and uninteresting.