cover image Duchess of Aquitaine: A Novel of Eleanor

Duchess of Aquitaine: A Novel of Eleanor

Margaret Ball, . . St. Martin's, $34.95 (377pp) ISBN 978-0-312-20533-1

Already queenly at 15, Eleanor is heiress to Aquitaine and Poitou in her own right and therefore outright prey to any vassal or lord able to get to her first upon her father's untimely death. Never less than lightning-minded, the fair duchess decides that the only lord and master she'll have is the next king of France. Louis VII, however, is a disappointing husband, and during the ill-conceived and poorly prosecuted Second Crusade (1147–1149), she learns just how disappointing he is. Henry Plantagenet, meanwhile, a mere child when she marries Louis, sees in her a beautiful lady, straight and sharp as a sword. Having decided to divorce Louis, Eleanor looks to Henry's father, Geoffrey of Anjou, as her next husband, until she meets Henry. Vivid descriptions of life in the Holy Land and of the Byzantine Court match vivid characterizations; Eleanor emerges as a formidable woman bent on marrying for herself and her political aspirations. (June)