Michaela Merz is a devoted reader of historical fiction. Inspired by authors such as Bernard Cornwell (Richard Sharpe) and C. S. Forester (Horatio Hornblower), she set out to bring a fresh perspective to the Napoleonic Wars – one rooted in a country often overlooked during the time frame, yet crucial to the future of Europe: Prussia.

Born in Germany herself, to Prussian great-grand parents, in a region that would have remained Prussian had history taken a different course, she immersed herself in contemporary archives and documentation, much of it written in German, to capture the spirit of the age. Through meticulous research and careful attention to historical detail, she chose to tell Prussia’s story through the eyes of Friedrich von Berg, a young nobleman who will carry the black eagle banner through Prussia’s darkest years.