John the Angelic

Volume I - The Latecoming West

“Andes shines in the first volume of this ninth-century historical literary fiction quartet, The Latecoming West, based on the early medieval life of Pope Joan. . . . impeccably researched and skillfully written.”

—BookLife

What is history, a faithful accounting of events or a carefully crafted narrative, edited and reshaped by the powerful to manipulate and undermine the powerless? John the Angelic, Volume I of A.P. Andes’ quartet, The Latecoming West, weaves multiple storylines across the millennia and explores one of history’s most egregious omissions, excised from the record with cold precision: the brilliant, willful woman, Pope Joan.

A fearless yet soulful spirit, Joan has survived a vicious Viking raid, her father’s murder, and the loss of their home. Now a minor on her own in the brutal world of the ninth century, she adopts the dress and mannerisms of a young man to enter a monastery, meeting a count who becomes her mentor and lover.

The story of Johannes Angelicus, as Joan becomes known, and her ascent to the papal throne, like all histories, is complicated by the motives of those who survived to share it. Electrically inventive, this genre-bending novel brings unsung heroes and silenced demons through the ages out of the catacombs of collective memory and onto the pages of a new, restored record.