Rosamund

At the age of 14, Rosamund Bolton has already been married and widowed twice. The eponymous heroine of Bertrice Small's Rosamund is the heiress of Friarsgate, an estate on the border between England and Scotland. Her grasping uncle strives to secure her fortune for his own use, but Rosamund is rescued by the patronage of the king, Henry Tudor, who brings her to court and finds her a third husband. Rosamund endures the court intrigue, but she longs for the fields of Friarsgate. Once back in the country, she settles down to raising her three daughters. She has not seen the last of Windsor, though-or young Henry VIII, who vows to bed her. Small's story is slow moving and her prose stiff ("" `I am the heiress to Friarsgate,' "" she answered him simply yet proudly""), but Rosamund is an engaging heroine-happily, since this is the first installment in a new series.