Remembering Sharon Kay Penman
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The sunne in splendour : a novel of Richard III
Summary:A fictional account of the life and times of Richard III captures the pageantry, passion, intrigue, and, above all, tragedy of the War of the Roses, in the story of the last Plantagenet ruler of England. -
Here be dragonsSummary:England’s power-hungry King John arranges a marriage between his youngest daughter, Joanna, and his rival, Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, a young leader who intends to unite all of Wales, in a saga set against the vivid backdrop of thirteenth-century Wales. -
Lionheart
Summary:A tale inspired by the life and reign of Richard I traces how a second surviving son of Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine inherits the throne from his brother before embarking on the Third Crusade and a war against the Saracens, a conflict that is complicated by the schemes of his usurping brother, John. -
The land beyond the sea
Summary:The Christian ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem following the First Crusade, Baudouin IV, struggles to hold his throne despite political intrigue, personal health risks, and the growing threat of Saladin and his army. -
A king’s ransom
Summary:"From the New York Times-bestselling author of Lionheart comes the dramatic sequel, telling of the last dangerous years of Richard, Couer de Lion’s life. This long-anticipated sequel to the national bestseller Lionheart is a vivid and heart-wrenching story of the last event-filled years in the life of Richard, Coeur de Lion. Taken captive by the Holy Roman Emperor while en route home–in violation of the papal decree protecting all crusaders–he was to spend fifteen months imprisoned, much of it in the notorious fortress at Trefils, from which few men ever left alive, while Eleanor of Aquitaine moved heaven and earth to raise the exorbitant ransom. For the five years remaining to him, betrayals, intrigues, wars, and illness were ever present. So were his infidelities, perhaps a pattern set by his father’s faithlessness to Eleanor. But the courage, compassion, and intelligence of this warrior king became the stuff of legend, and A King’s Ransom brings the man and his world fully and powerfully alive."– -
Devil’s brood
Summary:A third installment in a trilogy based on the lives of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine traces the collapse of his family in the aftermath of Thomas Becket’s murder and Henry’s self-imposed exile to Ireland, a period during which Eleanor and Henry’s three eldest sons enter into a rebellion against him. -
Dragon’s lair : a medieval mystery
Summary:When her beloved son Richard is imprisoned and held for ransom in an Austrian dungeon and the hated Prince John plots with King Phillippe of France to prevent Richard’s return, Queen Eleanor sends Justin de Quincy into Wales to recover a ransom payment that has gone missing. -
Falls the shadow
Summary:In thirteenth-century England, King Henry III’s sister Nell breaks tradition and marries the charismatic Simon de Montfort, an outspoken nobleman who risks death in battle to preserve honor, in a passionate historical saga set against the colorful backdrop of medieval England and Wales. -
When Christ and his saints slept
Summary:A novel depicting a dark period in English history follows the story of Maude, daughter of Henry I and England’s uncrowned queen, and her cousin Stephen, as their battles for the crown of England lead to twenty years of anarchy.