When Christ and his Saint Slept

Zusatztext "[A] marvelous medieval pageant of a novel. . .Another jewel in [Penman's] already glittering crown."— Orlando Sentinel "Penman once again tells a tale of kings and queens! singular destinies! and double-crosses. . . .[She] inventively animates a large cast [and] continues to base her narrative on the firm ground of fact."— Kirkus Reviews "A COMPELLING! WELL-WRITTEN EPIC…Penman is an accomplished novelist and certainly has staked a claim to medieval England as her literary fiefdom."— Philadelphia Inquirer Informationen zum Autor Sharon Kay Penman has lived in England and Wales and currently resides in New Jersey. She is the author of six other novels: Falls the Shadow , Here Be Dragons , The Reckoning , The Sunne in Splendour , When Christ and His Saints Slept , and the first Justin de Quincy adventure: The Queen’s Man . Klappentext 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 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. July 1156  Chinon Castle  Touraine, France  AS the king of En gland crossed the inner bailey of Chinon Castle, his brother watched from an upper-story window and wished fervently that God would smite him dead. Geoffrey understood perfectly why Cain had slain Abel, the firstborn, the best-beloved. Harry was the firstborn, too. There were just fifteen months between them, fifteen miserable months, but because of them, Harry had gotten it all– En gland and Anjou and Normandy–and Geoffrey had naught but regrets and resentments and three wretched castles, castles he was now about to forfeit.  He’d rebelled again, and again he’d failed. He was here at Chinon to submit to his brother, but he was not contrite, nor was he cowed. His heart sore, his spirit still rebellious, he began to stalk the chamber, feeling more wronged with every stride. Why should Harry have the whole loaf and he only crumbs? What had Harry ever been denied? Duke of Normandy at seventeen, Count of Anjou upon their father’s sudden death the following year, King of En gland at one and twenty, and, as if that were not more than enough for any mortal man, he was wed to a celebrated beauty, the Duchess of Aquitaine and former Queen of France.  Had any other woman ever worn the crowns of both En gland and France? History had never interested Geoffrey much, but he doubted it. Eleanor always seemed to be defying the natural boundaries of womanhood, a royal rebel who was too clever by half and as willful as any man. But her vast domains and her seductive smile more than made up for any defects of character, and after her divorce from the French king, Geoffrey had attempted to claim this glittering prize, laying an ambush for her as she journeyed back to Aquitaine. It was not uncommon to abduct an heiress, then force her into marriage, and Geoffrey had been confident of success, sure, too, that he’d be able to tame her wild nature and make her into a proper wife, dutiful and submissive.  It was not to be. Eleanor had evaded his ambush, reached safety in her own lands, and soon thereafter, shocked all of Christendom by marrying Geoffrey’s brother. Geoffrey had been bitterly disappointed by his failure to capture a queen. But it well nigh drove him crazy to think of her belonging to his brother, sharing her bed and her wealth with Harry–and of her own free will. Where was the justice or ...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Sharon Kay Penman
• Editore: Ballantine
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 06.02.1996
• EAN: 9780345396686
• ISBN: 978-0-345-39668-6
• Pagine: 784
• Dimensioni: 140 mm x 210 mm x 34 mm
• Categoria: Narrativa > Romanzi