Having proven herself a gifted and engaging novelist with
her portrayals of Queen Elizabeth I in The Lady Elizabeth
and Lady Jane Grey in Innocent Traitor, New York Times
bestselling author Alison Weir now harks back to the twelfth
century with a sensuous and tempestuous tale that brings
vividly to life England’s most passionate—and
destructive—royal couple: Eleanor of Aquitaine and King
Henry II.
Nearing her thirtieth birthday, Eleanor has spent the past
dozen frustrating years as consort to the pious King Louis
VII of France. For all its political advantages, the
marriage has brought Eleanor only increasing unhappiness—and
daughters instead of the hoped-for male heir. But when the
young and dynamic Henry of Anjou arrives at the French
court, Eleanor sees a way out of her discontent. For even as
their eyes meet for the first time, the seductive Eleanor
and the virile Henry know that theirs is a passion that
could ignite the world.
Returning to her duchy of Aquitaine after the annulment of
her marriage to Louis, Eleanor immediately sends for Henry,
the future King of England, to come and marry her. The union
of this royal couple will create a vast empire that
stretches from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees, and
marks the beginning of the celebrated Plantagenet dynasty.
But Henry and Eleanor’s marriage, charged with physical
heat, begins a fiery downward spiral marred by power
struggles, betrayals, bitter rivalries, and a devil’s brood
of young Plantagenets—including Richard the Lionheart and
the future King John. Early on, Eleanor must endure Henry’s
formidable mother, the Empress Matilda, as well as his
infidelities, while in later years, Henry’s friendship with
Thomas Becket will lead to a deadly rivalry. Eventually, as
the couple’s rebellious sons grow impatient for power, the
scene is set for a vicious and tragic conflict that will
engulf both Eleanor and Henry.
Vivid in detail, epic in scope, Captive Queen is an
astounding and brilliantly wrought historical novel that
encompasses the building of an empire and the monumental
story of a royal marriage.
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