Local B&B owner Lee Swanson has just published his first novel entitled, “No Man’s Chattel.” It is available on Amazon (ISBN:978-0578444314) as well as on its world-wide distribution affiliates in paperback and Kindle versions.

“The thought of trading her subservient role in her father’s home for that of being the dutiful wife of someone she had never met caused her to shudder with revulsion.” - Christina Kohl, “No Man’s Chattel,” page 10.

“No Man’s Chattel” is set in Lubeck, Germany and London, England at the beginning of the 14th century. In the novel Chistina Kohl is a young woman who dreams of a life of independence and adventure. She realizes she has small chance of experiencing either as, like other respectable women of the era, she is destined to marry and spend the rest of her life managing a household and giving birth to her husband’s heirs. When a series of tragedies befall her family, however, she is presented with an unlikely opportunity to attain what she most desires, but at what cost?

Lee Swanson has enjoyed a lifetime interest in medieval history. Living in both Germany and England for extended periods of his life, he traveled extensively to seek out-of-the-way places with a little-known story to tell. Among his favorite places are the cities and towns that serve as settings for his novels, such as Lubeck, Bruges in Belgium, and London.

Holding a master’s degree in European history from the University of North Florida, Lee’s thesis centered on the Hansa, a confederation of merchants from, primarily northern German cities in the 12th - 17th centuries. Many of the colorful characters who populate his novels are drawn from the lives of these resolute men who traveled the waterways of Europe in search of profit and prestige.

After lengthy careers as a soldier and an educator, Lee now spends his time as the owner of the Bayberry Bed and Breakfast in Boothbay Harbor with his beloved wife, Karine, and their dog, Banjo.

“No Man’s Chattel” is also available at Sherman’s in Boothbay Harbor - and the bookstores other locations quite soon.