Historical Fiction: The House of Plantagenet
Discover the best historical fiction on the Plantagenet dynasty, featuring masterpieces by Sharon Kay Penman, Elizabeth Chadwick, and Anya Seton. From the epic tales of *Here Be Dragons* and *The Sunne in Splendour* to the gripping drama of *Katherine* and *The Greatest Knight*, this curated list brings medieval England to life. Explore royal intrigue, treachery, and passion in this essential reading guide for fans of the House of Plantagenet.
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When Christ and His Saints Slept
by Sharon Kay Penman
The acclaimed author of The Sunne in Splendor and Falls the Shadow now begins a new trilogy, set in medieval England, during a time of royal turmoil and intrigue, and following the lives and passions of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. 2 maps; genealogy. Gilded top stain cover; ribbon marker.
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Time and Chance
by Sharon Kay Penman
In When Christ and His Saints Slept, acclaimed historical novelist Sharon Kay Penman portrayed all the deceit, danger, and drama of Henry II’s ascension to the throne. Now, in Time and Chance, she continues the ever-more-captivating tale. It was medieval England’s immortal marriage—Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II, bound by passion and ambition, certain to leave a legacy of greatness. But while lust would divide them, it was friendship—and ultimately faith—that brought bloodshed into their midst. It began with Thomas Becket, Henry’s closest confidant, and his elevation to be Archbishop of Canterbury. It ended with a perceived betrayal that made a royal murder seem inevitable. Along the way were enough scheming, seductions, and scandals to topple any kingdom but their own. . . . Only Sharon Kay Penman can re-create this truly tumultuous time—and capture the couple who loved power as much as each other . . . and a man who loved God most of all.
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Devil's Brood
by Sharon Kay Penman
The third installment of a trilogy about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine traces the collapse of the royal family in the aftermath of Henry's self-imposed exile to Ireland, as Eleanor and Henry's three eldest sons enter into a rebellion against him.
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Penmarric
by Susan Howatch
Set against the starkly beautiful landscape of Cornwall, PENMARRIC is the totally enthralling saga of a family divided against itself. At the center of the novel is the great mansion called Penmarric. It is to Penmarric that Mark Castallack, a proud, strange, and sensitive man, brings his bride Janna--the first act in a tempestuous drama that was to span three generations....
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Greatest Knight, The: The Story of William Marshal
by Elizabeth Chadwick
Based on fact, this is the story of William Marshal, the greatest knight of the Middle Ages, unsurpassed in the tourneys, adeptly manoeuvring through the colourful, dangerous world of Angevin politics to become one of the most powerful magnates of the realm and eventually regent of England. From minor beginnings and a narrow escape from death in childhood, William Marshal steadily rises through the ranks to become tutor in arms to the son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. A champion on the tourney field, William must face the danger and petty jealousy targeting a royal favourite. Dogged by scandal, banished from court, his services are nevertheless sought throughout Europe and when William's honour is vindicated, he returns to court and wins greater acclaim and power than before. A crusader and the only knight ever to unhorse the legendary Richard Coeur de Lion, William's courage and steadfastness are rewarded by the hand in marriage of Anglo-Irish heiress Isobel de Clare, 19 years old, the grandaughter of kings and his equal in every way.
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The Scarlet Lion
by Elizabeth Chadwick
William Marshal's prowess and loyalty as a knight in the English royal household has been rewarded by marriage to Isabelle de Clare, heiress to great estates in England, Normandy and Ireland. The couple's contentment and security is shattered when King Richard dies. He is succeeded by his brother John who takes the Marshals's sons hostage and seizes their lands. The conflict between remaining loyal and rebelling over these injustices threatens to tear William and Isabelle's marriage apart and ruin their lives.
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Here Be Dragons
by Sharon Kay Penman
Thirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England's ruthless, power-hungry King John. Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce by marrying the English king's beloved illegitimate daughter, Joanna, who slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband. But as John's attentions turn again and again to subduing Wales---and Llewelyn---Joanna must decide where her love and loyalties truly lie. The turbulent clashes of two disparate worlds and the destinies of the individuals caught between them spring to life in this magnificent novel of power and passion, loyalty and lies. The book that began the trilogy that includes Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning, Here Be Dragons brings thirteenth-century England, France, and Wales to tangled, tempestuous life.
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Falls the Shadow
by Sharon Kay Penman
Simon de Montfort was a man ahead of his time in the thirteenth century, a disinherited Frenchman who talked his way into an English earldom and marriage with a sister of the English king, Henry III. A charismatic, obstinate leader, Simon soon lost patience with the king's incompetence and inability to keep his word, and found himself the champion of the common people. This is his story, and the story of Henry III, as weak and changeable as Simon was brash and unbending. It is a tale of opposing wills that would eventually clash in a storm of violence and betrayal—an irresistible saga that brings the pages of history completely, provocatively, and magnificently alive.
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The Reckoning
by Sharon Kay Penman
"Penman's characters are so shrewdly imagined, so full of resonant human feeling that they seem to be on the page....Most compelling is the portrait of the Welsh as wild and rugged as their landscape." SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Here, alive from the pages of history, is the compelling tale of a Celtic society ruled by Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, on a collison course with a feudal realm of Edward I. WIth this last book in the extraordinary trilogy that began with HERE BE DRAGONS and continued in FALLS THE SHADOW, Sharon Kay Penman has written a beautiful and moving conclusion to her medieval saga. For everyone who has read the earlier books in this incomparable series or ever wanted to experience the rich tapestry of British history and lore, this bold and romantic adventure must be read.
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The Lute Player
by Norah Lofts
Out of the courts of twelfth-century England strode the legendary figure of Richard of England - leading his knights onto the Saracen battlefields - inspired by a vision of the Holy Land.Here is the story of the Soldier-King and the Third Crusade - of his strange, ill-fated union with Berengaria, Princess of Navarre - of his mother, the She-Wolf, Eleanor of Aquitaine who loved her son with a frantic, possessive pride. And, above all, here is the story of the minstrel whose life was linked with that of the King - the story of Blondel - the Lute Player...It follows the success of "The Concubine," "The King's Pleasure," and "Eleanor the Queen" published by Torque in September 2006, each has sold over 10,000 copies. Norah Lofts was a bestselling author. It has reviews also in women's weekly and monthly magazines, to include "Vogue," "Red," "The Lady," "Glamour" and "Woman's Own."
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Roselynde
by Roberta Gellis
The award-winning Roselynde Chronicles returns with introduction of Lady Alinor Devaux, mistress of Roselynde, and Simon, the battle-scarred knight whose passion and wit match her own. Bonus features include historical trivia and an Author's Note. Reissue.
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Alinor
by Roberta Gellis
Widowed Lady Alinor is unhappy as mistress of Rosalynde. When Ian de Vipont offers marriage to her as protection from England's ruthless King John, Alinor cannot deny the passion Ian arouses within her. Includes bonus features. Reissue.
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A Silver Mirror
by Roberta Gellis
The headstrong and beautiful daughter of an English earl, Lady Barbara fights to unite her family, which has been divided by a wicked war, and to win the man who first aroused her passions. Reprint.
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The Vow on the Heron
by Jean Plaidy
Crowned King of England at age fifteen, after his mother, Queen Isabella, and her lover, Roger de Mortimer, have murdered his father, Edward III has to contend with warring Scots factions and a discontented populace
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Katherine
by Anya Seton
A biographical novel concerning the love affair between Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, in fourteenth-century England.
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Treason
by Meredith Whitford
Treachery in Love and War in the Struggle for the English Crown From the time he sees his parents brutally slain and his home destroyed in a bloody Lancastrian power struggle for the crown, young Martin Robsart's life becomes entwined with that of England's royal Plantagenet family. Through the turbulence of civil war, Martin serves his cousins -- Yorkist kings Edward IV and Richard III -- and learns the cost of loyalty and love in battlefields and bedchambers in a time when life is cheap and treachery hides behind a smile. Through Martin's eyes, Meredith Whitford's superbly researched and richly woven novel shows Shakespeare's conniving and perverse Richard III in a realistic new light - as a patriot and a lover. Never before has perceived history taken such a surprising turn as Whitford corrects the Shakespearean myth and crowns a new hero, bringing back to life the passion and heat of a breathless historical moment that shaped the world - a moment we know as the War of the Roses .a time of thorns and treason.
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The Seventh Son
by Reay Tannahill
The Wars of the Roses The greatest prize, and the most deadly - the crown of England Reay Tannahill's enthralling new novel is a family saga in the grand tradition, a tale of brother against brother, cousin against cousin, of love, hate and intrigue, of women inescapably entangled in the fates of their men, and of a mystery that has exercised people's minds for more than five hundred years. At the heart of it all is the dangerous, complex human being known to history as Richard III. For centuries, Richard has been held guilty of murdering the Princes in the Tower. Reay Tannahill offers a less conventional solution in what is perhaps the best and without doubt the most moving novel she has yet written.