Like the famous Cat, Mark Adderley was born in Cheshire, England. His early influences included C. S. Lewis, Enid Blyton, J. R. R. Tolkien and T. H. White, as well as adventure books of various kinds, and his teacher once wrote on his report card, “He should go in for being an author,” advice that stuck with him. He studied for some years at the University of Wales, where he became interested in medieval literature, particularly the legend of King Arthur. But it was in graduate school that he met a clever and beautiful American woman, whom he moved to the United States to marry. In 1999, he received a PhD in Medieval and Renaissance Literature from the University of South Florida. He has spent some time teaching writing and literature in America, and now lives in North Carolina and teaches at Drexel High School. He is the author of a number of novels about King Arthur for adults, and originally wrote the McCracken books for his younger two children.
Mark Adderley
If Catholic Adventure Has a Name,
It Must Be McCracken
If you weren’t aware of McCracken, you should know that he’s been described as “Indiana Jones with a Rosary.” Engineer, adventurer, big-game hunter, defeater of nefarious villains . . . and of course husband and father.
The McCracken Adventures take place in the early years of the twentieth century, when many of the philosophies that formed the modern imagination were taking shape. Consequently, McCracken’s adversaries are representatives of the Culture of Death. What is the Catholic response to nihilism, communism, eugenics and many others? McCracken provides young readers with a guide through the minefield of twentieth-century thought.
But the focus is on adventure. So come along and dodge the bullets, flee from the Cossacks and head-hunters, jump out of zeppelins, dive to the ocean floor or soar above the clouds in a biplane, because life is an adventure!
Follow the adventures of Merlin, King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, and the other Knights of the Round Table in this exciting series for Catholic adults.
The Matter of Britain begins in pre-Christian times, and the subject matter of the first three books (all of which are in completed form) is the conversion of Britain from the pagan to the Christian religion. The central event of the books is the coming of the Holy Grail to Britain—the consequences of this event are the quest to find the Grail by Arthur’s warriors, and their disintegration into factionalism when it is lost.