What they witness will haunt them for decades.
What follows will divide a nation.
A gripping legal thriller that moves from the shadowed woods to the blinding lights of thecourtroom, Altar of Ashes asks the hardest questions of our time:Where does cultural respect end and moral responsibility begin? Can justice survive whentradition and law collide?
Why Readers Love Altar of Ashes
Shock You Can’t Forget
The story begins with two teenage boys stepping out of the Indiana woods to witness something America thought was long gone, a ritual fire, a living sacrifice, a moment that will haunt them forever.
Courtroom Drama That Grips You
Experience tense, believable legal battles, complex witnesses, and a defense attorney who will stop at nothing. Fans of Grisham and Turow will recognize the pulse-pounding courtroom tension, elevated by emotional and cultural stakes that linger long after the verdict.
Questions That Stay with You
This isn’t a simple fight of good versus evil. Altar of Ashes challenges you to confront tradition,child protection, religious freedom, and the meaning of justice in modern America, all withoutever feeling preachy.
Characters Who Live in Your Mind
From frightened teens Ted and Tim to a haunted young prosecutor, a relentless defense lawyer,and families caught in the crossfire, the characters are vivid, flawed, and unforgettable.
ALTAR OF ASHES
A Legal Thriller by Bruce Westrate Two high school seniors slip into the misty backwoods for one last hunting trip before college. What they find instead changes their lives and the conscience of a nation.
Deep in the forest, beneath flickering torchlight and the sound of drums and chants, they witness the unthinkable: a ritual fire that should have been extinguished more than a century ago. A child bride. A funeral pyre. A living sacrifice.
The Arab Bureau
Founded in 1916, the Arab Bureau was a small collection of British intelligence officers headquartered in Cairo and charged with the task of coordinating imperial intelligence activities in the Middle East. It is most often remembered for its flamboyant cast of characters, particularly T. E. Lawrence, and its role in instigating the Arab Revolt to break Turkish control over the Arab-speaking Middle East. From the beginning, however, the Bureau was vilified within imperial circles as a group of amateurish and incompetent pro-Arab dilettantes. And ever since, it has borne much of the blame for Britain’s terrible mishandling of Middle Eastern policy during and shortly after World War I.
Apotheosis
Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden leaf printing on spine. This book is printed in black & white, Sewing binding for longer life, where the book block is actually sewn (smythe sewn/section sewn) with thread before binding which results in a more durable type of binding. Reprinted in 2022 with the help of original edition published long back 1615. As this book is reprinted from a very old book, there could be some missing or flawed pages.
Read a Sample
Step into the misty backwoods of rural Indiana, November 1, 1996.
Chapter One: The Discovery
The November frost had settled thick over the Indiana woods when Tom Harper first noticed the smoke. Not the white-gray wisps of a campfire, but something darker, oilier—the kind of smoke that meant something wasn’t right.
He lowered his rifle and glanced over at Mike Peterson, who had frozen mid-step, one boot hovering above a fallen branch. They’d been hunting these woods for twenty years, knew every deer trail and hollow, but this…
About the Author
Bruce Westrate is a small-town boy at heart, raised in rural southwestern Michigan—the same landscape that forms the backdrop of Altar of Ashes. Growing up in a family of six children, he spent much of his childhood working on the family farm, cultivating row crops and Christmas trees, while nurturing a lifelong fascination with history. After high school, Bruce attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, earning three degrees in History, including an M.A. in 1976 and a Ph.D. in 1982. His doctoral research focused on the Arab Bureau, the Cairo intelligence unit that guided the Arab Revolt during World War I, of which T.E. Lawrence— “Lawrence of Arabia”—was a key member. His scholarship has taken him to Oxford, Durham, London, and archives across the UK and India, and his first book, published by Penn State Press in 1992, received glowing international reviews.
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Book Club Discussion Guide
Dive deeper into Altar of Ashes with thought-provoking questions and conversation starters designed for your reading group.
Author’s Behind-the-Scenes Notes
Discover the inspiration, research, and creative choices behind the novel—exclusive insights from Bruce Westrate himself.
Character Background PDFs
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Praise for Altar of Ashes
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Five minutes with Marcus Master Teacher Bruce Westrate
“The thing about history is that we keep making more of it, so I’m a voracious reader to keep up
The Arab Bureau
Founded in 1916, the Arab Bureau was a small collection of British intelligence officers headquartered in Cairo and charged with
Bruce Westrate. The Arab Bureau: British Policy in the Middle East, 1916–1920. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press. 1992. Pp. xvi, 240. $35.00.
152 Albion partly how to find the money, at a moment when fiscal questions were becoming a matter of bitter