During last year's book launch of "Beyond all Price," Sharon Kay Penman was one of my most supportive cheerleaders. She threw her support behind my book and urged her own fan base to give an unknown writer a chance. I was enormously grateful for her help, so I am delighted to return the favor. Here is an early look at the press release for her own new novel, "Lionheart." It's release date has now been set for October 4, 2011. Remember, you heard it here first. LIONHEART a novel by SHARON
KAY PENMAN New York Times-bestselling author “The
great Crusader-King Richard the Lionheart comes alive in all
his complex splendor in this masterpiece of a medieval tapestry by Sharon
Kay Penman. She brings him and his legendary enemy, Saladin, before
us, both on the battlefield for Jerusalem
and in the quiet of their private chambers. It’s as if you were
there in this strange, beguiling, vanished time that haunts the
Middle East even today. Penman has triumphed in
capturing its elusive essence and the blazing glory of the English king called
Lionheart.”––Margaret
George, author of Elizabeth I: A
Novel From the New York Times-bestselling author Sharon Kay Penman, comes LIONHEART(Marian Wood/G.P.
Putnam’s Sons; Publication Date: October 4, 2011; ISBN:
978-0-399-15785-1; Price: $28.95), the remarkable untold story of
Richard I—the charismatic hero of astonishing military feats who would
set the standard that kings and warriors would aspire to and become a legend
even during his own lifetime. LIONHEART
opens in the summer of 1189. King Henry has died and Richard, his dashing son,
famed as one of the best battle commanders in all of Christendom, has ascended
to the throne. As the first king to have taken up the cross, he is in the midst
of immense preparations for a massive crusade to
Jerusalem , a holy war to reclaim the city
from the Saracen (Muslim) forces that have captured it.
Before long, Richard and his troops—accompanied by the French
forces, in a shaky alliance with King Philippe—set out on the long and
treacherous journey to Jerusalem .
Along the way, Richard will stop in Sicily
to rescue his beautiful and spirited sister, Joanna, who has been held hostage
and her lands seized after the sudden death of her husband, the Sicilian king.
In Cyprus ,
he overthrows a despot and after contentiously dissolving his long betrothal to
Philippe’s sister, marries Berengeria of
Navarre and has her crowned Queen. The Third Crusade is marked by extraordinary
campaigns against the Saracen forces, as well as by treachery within
Richard’s own camp—as his relations with the French king turn sour
and Philippe abandons the war. Back in
England ,
Richard’s younger brother John, schemes to steal the crown. However, it is on
the blood-soaked battlefields of the Holy Land that Richard meets his most
worthy rival––Saladin, the leader of the Saracen forces and powerful
Sultan of Egypt who had taken Arabia and Syria
under his control before laying siege to Jerusalem .
Saladin earned a reputation in the Muslim world as undefeatable, and the clash
of these two mighty military commanders was destined to be an epic face-off. Surprisingly, it will also be a meeting that
demonstrated their mutual respect and unexpected diplomacy, as Richard actually
comes to befriend Saladin’s brother, knighting his brother’s son,
and even proposing a marriage alliance between their families—much to the
horror of his men. It is this unlikely rapport between these two enemies that
makes the story of the Third Crusade so compelling, and adds a dimension of
humanity to our conception of Richard the Lionheart. Although the
crusade itself would fail in its objective—the recapture of
Jerusalem —it would
bestow immortality upon Richard, whose battlefield feats dazzled his
contemporaries, and continue to dazzle us today. But while the Richard of
legend—best known to most of us from the Robin Hood films—is
arrogant and brutal, a brilliant military commander but a disloyal son and an
irresponsible king, Penman’s richly researched portrayal renders a much
more complex and interesting man. A man that was at times ruthless, reckless,
and arrogant, but also generous, pragmatic, and playful; a man that while in
the midst of battle, attempted diplomacy and showed his respect for his Saracen
foe. Spanning the
course of three years, LIONHEART
traces Richard from his ascent to the throne in the royal courts of
England to the bloody battlefields of
Jerusalem , to the
conclusion of the Third Crusade. The first of a two books about Richard I,
Penman will complete Richard’s fascinating story in A
King’s Ransom, which will be published next year, and which
will complete the Angevin family saga. A tightly woven tale of riveting
characters and meticulous historical detail, LIONHEART is
a passionate tale of war and diplomacy, treachery and loyalty, from the beloved
master of the genre. ABOUT
THE AUTHORSharon Kay Penman is the New York Times-bestselling author of seven previous
historical novels set in medieval England,
France , and
Wales,
most recently the Angevin trilogy, about the lives of Henry II and Eleanor of
Aquitaine.She is also the author of four
mysteries set during the reign of Eleanor of Aquitaine, including the Edgar
nominee The Queen’s
Man. A lawyer
and historian by training and a novelist by birth, Penman lives in Mays
Landing, New Jersey .
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