Very good book as far as writing and storytelling, but there was a lot I didn't agree with. I LOVED Lionheart, and it is topped only by To Kill a Mockingbird, Hawk of May, and Queen Defiant for my favorite book. But I was let down. Why? First of all, my beloved Hal. I see the Young King in the o...
This is the fourth in Penman’s Justin de Quincy mystery series, but the first of her novels that I’ve read. In some ways, it was a shame because it gave me the feeling of falling into the story mid-way. The novel is definitely readable without having read any of the previous books, but since a lo...
This is the first novel I've read written by Sharon Lay Penman and thus the first novel to include Justin de Quincy, although I know now that there are others in the series prior to this one. The start of the novel was arduous as names and characters were flying everywhere without the author pres...
This is one of the most difficult reviews I’ve ever decided to write. Difficult is … to find the right words when something touches you so deeply. THE SUNNE IN SPLENDOUR is honestly one of the most compelling and gripping novels I’ve ever read and a book to add to my “ the unforgettable”shel...
$4.99Even though this is the second book in the Welsh Princes Trilogy, it is more about King Henry III and Simon de Montfort, who is also married to Henry's youngest sister, Eleanor (called Nell in this book). It isn't long before Simon, along with everyone else, figures out that Henry may have b...
The second novel in Sharon Kay Penman's Eleanor of Aquitaine Trilogy was released in 2003 under the title Time and Chance. Picking up where When Christ and His Saints Slept left off, it continues to follow the fascinating story of the Plantagenet's quest to rule England, Normandy and ultimately f...
Having developed a strange addiction for historical mysteries, I can not tell you how happy I was to find that my favorite author of historical fiction, Sharon Kay Penman, had written a historical mystery series. This is a historical mystery with style; the historical details and medieval settin...
Penman's broad epic scope focuses on the dynastic struggle for the crown of England. This takes place in the early 12th century when Henry I, who had over 20 illegitimate children, loses his one legitimate heir in the White Ship Ordeal (i.e. basically, a chunk of the fleet sank in the British st...
This is one of those "I have no idea what compelled me to buy this book" discoveries on my bookshelves. It very clearly states on the front "A Medieval Mystery." Now, the only thing I hate more than a mystery is the Medieval time period. The wimples, the tonsures, the Lord this, Lady that, the...
“And that is it? You leave me clinging to the cliff ’s edge and just walk away?” Philippe regarded him coldly. “You have not been turned out to beg your bread by the side of the road, Conrad. A sizable French contingent is remaining in Outremer.” His jaw clenched at that, for he’d not expected su...
Her temperature rose rapidly; by that Thursday afternoon, it was consuming her body in lethal heat. The midwives did what they could. They bled her again at the ankle, put hot poultices on her inflamed abdomen, tried to lower her fever with cold compresses, vervain, and sage. But their efforts we...
"No ... no more game-playing, Dickon," he said softly. "I haven't the heart for it... not tonight. I've a brother-in-law who's bidding fair to embrace the Neville Bear and Ragged Staff, a wife in sanctuary, a son I may never get to see . . . and the worst of it, Dickon, is that so much of it is m...
The sun was at its zenith, but the heat did not bother Mariam, who’d grown up in Sicily. She was waiting for the queens to return from the papal palace. In recent weeks the Pope had been too busy to see them whenever they’d requested an audience. While Berengaria still clung to her faith in the H...
For he did, he was too suspicious, too quick to read tK worst into men's motives. Not, she added loyally, that he had no cau^ for mistrust. Many of the Norman barons had gone over to Philip at tne first chance. Joanna had spent much time in the past year seeking to puzzle j( out, how her father's...