Diana Norman

During a fishing expedition in Boston Harbor, staunch Patriot Makepeace Burke comes to the aid of an English aristocrat who had fallen victim to a Patriot mob and dumped in the water to drown, an action that puts her life in danger from the same angry mob and forces her to flee to England with the Englishman. Original.

A Catch of Consequence

The Vizard Mask

The Pirate Queen

Taking Liberties

A Life of Constance Markievicz, 1868-1927

Terrible Beauty

Blood Royal

Roman

Die Piratenkönigin

In twelfth-century England, Matilda de Risle Dungesey, receives a gift from her new husband--a wartime hideaway in the Fens--from which she must fight for her land and her own life

The Morning Gift

Die Totenleserin

Daughter of Lîr

Philippa, the daughter of Makepeace Burke, is about to enter into a marriage of convenience when she discovers that her long-time friend, the Marquis de Condorcet, is in dire danger because of the Reign of Terror and comes up with a daring scheme to save him from the guillotine, in a novel set during the French Revolution, by the author of Taking Liberties. Original.

The Sparks Fly Upward

Makepeace Burke, colonial tavern-keeper, accepts an offer of marriage from the aristocrat she rescues from a rebellious mob, and sets sail for London. As the second Lady Dapifer, Makepeace soon realizes that English society will not easily accept an uneducated colonial.

Celebrating the Virgin Mary as both an object of religious affection and a focus of civic pride, artists of fourteenth-century Siena established for their city a vibrant tradition that continued into the early decades of the next century. Such celebratory portraits of the Virgin were also common in Siena's extensive subject territories, the contado. This richly illustrated book explores late medieval Sienese art--how it was created, commissioned, and understood by the citizens of Siena. Examining political, economic, and cultural relations between Siena and the contado, Diana Norman offers a new understanding of Marian art and its political function as an expression of civic ideology. Drawing on extensive unpublished archives, Norman reconstructs the circumstances surrounding the commission of Marian art in the three most prestigious locations of fourteenth-century Siena: the cathedral, the Palazzo Pubblico, and the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala. She analyzes similarly important commissions in the contado towns of Massa Marittima, Montalcino, and Montepulciano. Casting new light on such topics as the original site for the reliquary tomb of Saint Cerbone, patron saint of Massa Marittima, and the identity of the patrons of the Marian frescoes in the rural hermitage of San Leonardo al Lago, the author deepens our insight into the origins and meanings of Sienese art production of the late medieval period.

Art and Politics in a Late Medieval City State

Siena and the Virgin

Few of those Philippa loves in London return her affection. Not the love of her life, who has a new bride. Not even her widowed mother, Makepeace Burke. So Philippa decides on a marriage of convenience to a prudish, if kind, man. Across the Channel in France, the Reign of Terror is causing the beheading of thousands from the French nobility. Among those in danger is Philippa's friend, the Marquis de Condorcet. Not only has Philippa the means of rescuing him from the guillotine, she's got the courage. And as fate would have it, Philippa will find love where she least expects it-while staring death in the face.

A gripping tale of a Norman heiress’s fight for her independence in warring medieval England. A Norman marriage is a transaction, with a wife sold to the highest bidder. And only the first of Matilda de Risle’s husbands gives her anything back. His is the customary Saxon ‘morning gift’ - the present to a wife if her lord finds her pleasing on their wedding night. Matilda’s morning gift is Dungesey in the Fens, a place of safety, somewhere to hide should trouble come. And come it does. As the war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda in the 1140s tears England apart, Matilda de Risle has to fight for her land, her son’s safety and her own life. An epic historical adventure, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Chadwick and Kate Mosse. 'Diana Norman always strikes gold’ The Times

An enthralling medieval historical adventure

The powerful story of a woman and country struggling for survival, set against the splendidly drawn background of Ireland in the Middle Ages Educated in the sophisticated confines of the Abbey of Fontevrault, young Finn has only the barest memories of her Irish past. She is destined to return to her native land as Abbess of Kildare - one of the most influential positions in the Church’s gift. However within months Finn is an outcast, brutally raped by a powerful warlord and publicly humiliated by the Church she had served so faithfully. She seeks refuge on the islands of Lough Mask, a place of healing for women. Here, she begins to piece together her shattered life, fired with determination to stay independent of all ties. But Finn finds that the plight of her beloved country still has the power to command her loyalty... Daughter of Lir is a superb historical saga, perfect for fans of Reay Tannahill’s A Dark and Distant Shore. Praise for Daughter of Lir ‘Rich and entertaining’ The Times

Daughter of Lir

A Life of Constance Markievicz

A remarkable, sparkling historical novel by the author of A Catch of Consequence.

A light-hearted medieval fantasy adventure about English common law and its beginnings in the reign of Henry II. Three English teenagers, Pete, Sal, and Len, break into a mysterious old woman’s cottage, who vows that justice will be brought on them for their crime. Shortly after, they have an unusual accident and find themselves in 12th-century England during the reign of Henry II. Len is now Aluric, a Hertfordshire peasant. Sal is the orphaned Hawise of Redbourne, imprisoned in a convent by her father-in-law who broke her marriage contract. And Pete finds himself in the mail of Sir Roger of Mardleybury, who has lost his land and is travelling with a band of knights. Each of the time travellers must adjust to their new medieval life. And as time runs out for all three, they must plead their cases at the newly established King's Court - for freedom, for land and for marriage - and they witness a new justice system in the making. Diana Norman’s compelling first novel is a unique medieval adventure, rich in historical detail and perfect for fans of Elizabeth Chadwick or Kate Mosse.

A gripping medieval historical adventure

Fitzempress' Law

Forced by Sir Robert Walpole into a distasteful marriage and then ruined by her husband, Lady Cecily Fitzhenry vows revenge on the Prime Minister and the creaking Hanoverian court. Lady Cecily turns her hand to highway robbery and spying for the Old Pretender while transforming her sole remaining asset, a ruinous tavern on the Great North Road, into a great coaching inn. But in trying to save her people from the notorious Black Acts and encroaching slavery laws, Cecily finds a new cause to fight for and she begins to doubt if the restoration of the Stuarts is really the answer. And eventually, Cecily saves her country and herself in ways she had never imagined... This gripping historical saga of intrigue and bravery is perfect for fans of Elizabeth Chadwick and Kate Mosse. ’Diana Norman always strikes gold’ The Times

Diana Norman

About

Books

Join the club