On an idyllic spring day in 1978 in a church outside Cambridge, England, an organ tuner named Malory loses his virginity to Louiza, a dyslexic math genius. When she disappears, Malory follows her trail to Rome. The quest to find his love is sidetracked when he is declared the heir to the Kingdom of Septimania, given by Charlemagne to the Jews of 8th- century France. In the midst of a Rome reeling from the kidnappings and bombs of the Red Brigades, Malory is crowned King of the Jews, Holy Roman Emperor and possibly Caliph of all Islam.
Over the next fifty years, Malory's search for Louiza leads to encounters with Pope John Paul II, a band of lost Romanians, a magical Bernini statue, Haroun al Rashid of Arabian Nights fame, a shadowy U.S. spy agency and one of the 9/11 bombers, an appleseed from the original Tree of Knowledge, and the secret history of Isaac Newton and his discovery of a Grand Unified Theory that explains everything. Septimania is the quest for love and knowledge, perfect for fans of Garcia Marquez, David Mitchell and Salman Rushdie.
