A Reed in the Wind

Princess Joanna, daughter of Henry II of England and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, is shipped off to Sicily where, through an arranged marriage, she becomes the queen of King William the Good. She falls in love not only with her husband but also with the sunny island over which they reign. Despite evil plots of her vengeful mother-in-law, threats from scheming courtiers, and personal tragedy, through pluck and good sense Joanna withstands it all. But after William's untimely death, she is cast adrift in the turbulence of twelfth-century Europe. Her brother Richard the Lionheart, now king of England, rescues her and takes her with him on Crusade to the Holy Land. Here she narrowly escapes marriage to an infidel, the brother of the Crusaders' dread enemy, Saladin. Back in France, still mourning William, she unexpectedly finds contentment and security in a second marriage, to Count Raymond of Toulouse. Still ahead: the joy of motherhood, the comforts of friendship--and the agonies of intrigue and betrayal. Where will she find the strength to withstand the buffetings of fate and come at last to a safe haven? "A Reed in the Wind" is the third in Rachel Bard's trilogy about Plantagenet queens. The heroine of the first, "Queen Without a Country," was Berengaria, wed to Richard the Lionheart. The second, "Isabella: Queen Without a Conscience," examines the beauteous, controversial Isabella of Angouleme, queen of King John, Joanna's younger brother.