The TearsA novel of intersecting historical threads. The Tears is, at one level, a novel about the turbulent lives of twins, the sons of Charlemagnes daughter Bertha. The studious and scholarly Nithard succeeds his father Angilbert as lay abbot of the Abbey of Saint Riquier in Normandy and accompanies his cousin the emperor Charles the Bald on his military campaigns. His twin brother Hartnid strikes out boldly for more exotic partsincluding, eventually,