WAYNE TURMEL, LISLE Acre’s Bastard Over twenty-five years ago, Wayne Turmel moved to the United States from Canada as a professional stand-up comedian, a profession he enjoyed for over fifteen years. Now a consultant and training professional for the Remote Leadership Institute, he uses his comedic skills within his training, blogging and writing. He has written and contributed to 9 non-fiction books, most of them business books centering on communication for remote teams.

“Still, I didn’t consider myself a ‘real writer’ until my first novel, The Count of the Sahara came out in 2015 and won honorable mention at the Great Midwest Book Festival,” says Wayne.

His new novel, Acre’s Bastard, is a gritty but often funny adventure story about a young orphan boy named Lucca running the streets of Acre (the wickedest city in the world) during the Crusades. A terrifying assault drives him from his orphanage onto the streets where a mysterious stranger rescues him. He finds himself serving as a spy for the Crusaders against Salah-adin and the Saracens. Can one small boy, however, save the Kingdom of Jerusalem from disaster at the Horns of Hattin? “The novel is definitely not for children or the weak of heart,” says Wayne. “War is scary and violent and doesn’t spare anyone, no matter their age.”

Acre’s Bastard was inspired by the adventure stories Wayne was raised on including Three Musketeers and Kim. For this story, he started with the question, “what if Kim had taken place in the Crusades?” When the iconic photo of the young Syrian boy in the ambulance went viral, he knew he had his touchstone for Lucca, his main character.

Acre’s Bastard is available on most online book purchasing sites as well as some of the local Barnes and Nobles and Centuries and Sleuths in River Forest. -Mindy Kyle,Photos Submitted

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