It’s 1191 and King Richard the Lionheart is on crusade to pitch battle against Saladin and liberate the city of Jerusalem and her lands.
His mother, the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine, and his promised bride, Princess Berengaria of Navarre, make a perilous journey over the Alps in midwinter. They are to rendezvous with Richard in the Sicilian port of Messina.
There are hazards along the way — vicious assassins, marauding pirates, violent storms and a shipwreck.
Berengaria is as feisty as her foes and, surviving it all, she and Richard marry in Cyprus and continue to the Holy Land.
England needs an heir.
But first, Richard and his Queen must return home.
The Lost Queen by Carol McGrath is published on 18 July, 2024.
Read Carol’s feature about women and the Crusades.
There’s much more historical fiction in our round-up of over 180 books coming out this year.
