Sharon Penman

Joanna, a Princess caught between two warring worlds . . . and torn between two loves. Bastard-born but cherished daughter of King John, Joana becomes a political pawn when her adored father arranges her marriage to Llewelyn Prince of Gwynedd, Wales, his bitter foe. The young bride is a stranger in a hostile land, married to a man she does not know - until she comes to love her brilliant husband, leader of men, and passionate opponent to the English laws that chain his homeland. And as bloody wars break out once more between England and Wales, Joanna is caught in the crossfire of fatal enmity, her loyalties cruelly divided between her father and the man she loves. The battle-torn land could not be more ravaged than her troubled, turbulent heart, and in a moment of confused guilty passion that she will never forget, Joanna risks her peace of mind, her freedom . . . even her life. This sweeping saga of true events in the thirteenth century, beginning Sharon Penman's magnificent trilogy of England and Wales, continued in Falls the Shadowand The Reckoning, is tangled, tempestuous story of power and passion, loyalty and lies . . . 'A rich, detailed chronicle' Irish Times'A book steeped in knowledge of its period' Financial Times'An engrossing tale' Publishers Weekly

Here be Dragons

This special thirtieth anniversary edition of the bestselling The Sunne in Splendour, features an author's note from Sharon Penman. Richard, last-born son of the Duke of York, was seven months short of his nineteenth birthday when he bloodied himself at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury, earning his legendary reputation as a battle commander in the Wars of the Roses, and ending the Lancastrian line of succession. But Richard was far more than a warrior schooled in combat. He was also a devoted brother, an ardent suitor, a patron of the arts, an indulgent father, a generous friend. Above all, he was a man of fierce loyalties, great courage and firm principles, who was ill at ease among the intrigues of Edward's court. The very codes Richard lived by ultimately betrayed him. But he was betrayed by history too. Leaving no heir, his reputation was at the mercy of his successor, and Henry Tudor had too much at stake to risk mercy. Thus was born the myth of King Richard III, the man who would stop at nothing to gain the throne. Filled with the sights and sounds of battle, the customs and love of daily life, the rigours and dangers of Court politics and the touching concerns of very real men and women, The Sunne in Splendour is a richly coloured tapestry of medieval England.

The Sunne in Splendour

Richard I was crowned King in 1189 and set off almost immediately for the Third Crusade. This was a bloody campaign to regain the Holy Land, marked by warfare among the Christians and extraordinary campaigns against the Saracens. Men and women found themselves facing new sorts of challenges and facing an uncertain future. John, the youngest son, was left behind – and with Richard gone, he was free to conspire with the French king to steal his brother's throne. Overshadowing the battlefields that stretched to Jerusalem and beyond were the personalities of two great adversaries: Richard and Saladin. They quickly took the measure of each other in both war and diplomacy. The result was mutual admiration: a profound acknowledgement of a worthy opponent. In Lionheart, a gripping narrative of passion, intrigue, battle and deceit, Sharon Penman reveals a true and complex Richard – a man remarkable for his power and intelligence, his keen grasp of warfare and his concern for the safety of his men, who followed him against all odds.

Lionheart

Filled with drama and battle, tragedy and romance, Sharon Penman’s The Land Beyond the Sea tells the epic tale of a clash of cultures that will resonate with readers today. 1172. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as Outremer – the land beyond the sea. A young realm, Outremer was baptized in blood when the men of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem from the Saracens in 1099. The crusaders who stayed have adapted to an utterly new world: a landscape of blazing heat, exotic customs and enemies who are also neighbours. Seeking retribution for the massacre in 1099, Saladin, leader of the vast Saracen army, launches a campaign to reclaim the sacred land from its current ruler, Baldwin IV. But while the young king proves to be intelligent, courageous and dedicated to the welfare and protection of his people, he lives his life under the terrible affliction of leprosy which has plagued him from an early age. While the scheming of rival factions and fierce political deception plague the halls of the royal court, the ever-present threat from Saladin weighs heavily on the young king’s shoulders. Furthermore, there are few that Baldwin can trust, including the archbishop William of Tyre and Lord Balian d’Ibelin, a charismatic leader who has been one of the few to maintain the peace. But war is coming . . .

The Land Beyond the Sea

DECEMBER, AD 1193. England lies uneasy, a land without a king. Richard the Lionheart languishes in an Austrian dungeon and his brother John hungers for the crown. In the Lionheart's stead, Eleanor of Aquitaine rules. She is determined to prevent the outbreak of civil war, but the land is riven by treachery and there are few men she can trust. Justin de Quincy is one of the few. Sharp-witted, bastard-born, he is the Queen's most trusted agent, a foil to John's machinations. But now John himself has asked for de Quincy's aid. A powerful conspiracy threatens the course of history and de Quincy will have to prove his mettle – or find an early grave – as he searches for its dark heart.

Prince of Darkness

January AD 1193. England lies uneasy, a land without a king. Two months have passed since King Richard set sail for Acre. Two months and no word. Rumours abound that the king is dead. The Lionheart's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, prays for his safe return, holding the throne for one son while her other conspires to seize it. Who can she trust? As a murdered man lies dying on the road to Winchester, he thrusts a blood-stained letter into the hands of a young squire. Justin de Quincy, the bastard-born son of the Bishop of Chester, now holds the key to the fate of the land. In this time of uncertainty he must prove his worth and show himself to be the Queen's Man.

The Queen's Man

From the bestselling author of Lionheart and The Sunne in Splendour This book completes the splendid sequence of novels on the struggle between the independent Welsh Princes and the growing English strength which began with Here be Dragons, continued with Falls the Shadow and is now completed with The Reckoning. The major figures in The Reckoning are the splendid dominant King of England, Edward I, and The Great Llewellyn II, Prince of Wales. His long love affair and eventual marriage with Ellen, daughter of Simon De Montfort, provides the strong emotional interest in the book, while the political machinations of Edward against the Welsh and the Scots, together with Llewellyn's struggle to control the recalcitrant Welsh Princes provides the political and military drama.

The Reckoning: The Welsh Princes Trilogy 3

From New York Times bestselling author Sharon Penman, The Reckoning completes the captivating sequence of novels on the struggle between the independent Welsh Princes and the growing English strength which began with Here be Dragons and continued with Falls the Shadow. ‘Never forget, Llewelyn, that the world's greatest fool is a Welshman who trusts an English king.’ His father's words haunt Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, who has been ruling uneasily over his fractious countrymen. Above all else, Llewelyn fears that his life and his own dream?of an independent, united Wales?might be lost to Edward I's desire to expand his English empire. Alive from the pages of history, this is the hauntingly beautiful and compelling tale of a game poised to play itself out to its bloody finale as English and Welsh cross swords in a reckoning that must mean disaster for one side or the other. For anyone who has ever wanted to experience the rich tapestry of British history and lore, this bold and romantic adventure is a must be read.

The Reckoning

The magnificent sequel to Sharon Penman's acclaimed novel When Christ and His Saints Slept, Time and Chance recounts the tempestuous marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II in an epic tale of love, power, ambition and betrayal. Their reign is in its glory years; Henry is redefining the role of medieval kingship and Eleanor has given birth to their children, founding a dynasty that will endure for 300 years. But even in these seemingly happy times, shadows are lurking. Battles are being fought on two borders. The appointment of Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury is proving disastrous. And when Henry impulsively takes beautiful young Rosumund Clifford into his bed, little does he realize that in making an enemy of his proud, passionate queen he is committing his gravest error yet . . .

Time and Chance

An absorbing historical novel of power and betrayal, loyalty and political intrigue in thirteenth-century England, Wales and France, centring on King John of England, younger brother to the brilliant Richard Lionheart, Joanna, his illegitimate but recognised daughter and Llewellyn Ab Iowerth, Prince of Gwynedd, a bitter opponent of English ways, laws and encroachment into Wales who becomes Joanna's husband.

Here Be Dragons: The Welsh Princes Trilogy 1

July, AD 1193: A king's ransom is missing... Richard the Lionheart, captured on his way home from the crusades, rots in an Austrian dungeon. Now England must raise a king's ransom. While his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, ransacks the land for gold to buy his freedom, Richard's younger brother, John, plots with King Philippe of France, England's bitterest foe, to ensure his brother dies in chains. When one of the ransom payments vanishes in the fastnesses of Wales, Eleanor sends her agent, Justin de Quincy, to recover it. Thrust into a maelstrom of intrigue if not outright rebellion, De Quincy's devotion will be supremely tested. For the queen's treasure is elusive, and danger is everywhere...

Dragon's Lair

From the New York Times bestselling author comes the stunning sequel to Lionheart Travelling home from the bloody battlefields of the Holy Land, the Crusader King Richard the Lionheart is shipwrecked in the Mediterranean after an encounter with pirates. He should be protected by a papal decree, but he is betrayed and captured by the Duke of Austria - a man who has good reason to loathe him - and is immediately claimed by the Holy Roman Emperor, who also bears him a bitter grudge. Richard is to spend fifteen months imprisoned, much of it in the notorious fortress at Trefils, which few men ever left. Meanwhile, his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, is moving heaven and earth to raise a staggering ransom, travelling across Europe herself to buy the release of her favourite son. But her determination may not be enough. At the eleventh hour, the Duke announces that he has had a better offer from the French king, Philippe, and Richard's own treacherous brother, John. They will pay an even larger sum to continue Richard's captivity - or to turn him over to their tender mercies.Told with masterful insight and rich historical detail, A King's Ransom is a striking portrayal of the darker, troubled years of Richard - a man whose courage, compassion and intelligence became the stuff of legend.

A King's Ransom

April, AD 1193: A usurper threatens England's empty throne. Richard the Lionheart languishes in an Austrian dungeon, prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor. Eleanor of Aquitaine, his mother, searches for a way to free her eldest son, aware her youngest plots to take the crown. When John seizes Windsor castle, Eleanor summons her trusted agent, Justin de Quincy, to do the impossible – mediate a truce with her rebel son. De Quincy cannot but heed his Queen's demand, but he is already ensnared in another matter: the cruel murder of a young girl, daughter of an itinerant Welsh peddler. He is determined to bring her killer to justice and nothing, not even the threat of war, can keep him from pursuing her murderer.

Cruel as the Grave

A.D. 1135. As church bells tolled for the death of England's King Henry I, his barons faced the unwelcome prospect of being ruled by a woman: Henry's beautiful daughter Maude, Countess of Anjou. But before Maude could claim her throne, her cousin Stephen seized it. In their long and bitter struggle, all of England bled and burned. Sharon Kay Penman's magnificent fifth novel When Christ And His Saints Slept summons to life a spectacular medieval tragedy whose unfolding breaks the heart even as it prepares the way for splendors to come – the glorious age of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Plantagenets that would soon illumine the world.

When Christ And His Saints Slept

Sharon Penman's Fall the Shadow brilliantly portrays the struggle for power in England in the Middle Ages. 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. Falls the Shadow is the second novel in the Welsh Princes Trilogy, following on from Here Be Dragons and the trilogy concludes with The Reckoning.

Sharon Penman

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