Author Note

King John was not the first nor the last tyrannical, unpopular and frankly incompetent monarch in England’s history. However, what made his reign significant was that his poor governance led to the kingdom’s terrible reversal of fortune. His campaigns against France, especially the disastrous Battle of Bouvines, resulted in a huge loss of his dynastic territory in mainland France, and was never regained. His difficult and often bitter estrangement with his barons culminated in their rebellious revolt and demand he sign the Great Charter of Liberties, better known as the Magna Carta, which he eventually did in the summer of 1215... And which he later reneged on.

It’s in the spring of that tumultuous year this book takes place. A time of division and civil unrest. A time of lawlessness and terrible hardship, when the burden of heavy taxation had taken its toll. And it is in the fictitious area of Tallany in Northumberland that the story is mainly set, reflecting the divide felt throughout the kingdom. It is this that the heroine, Lady Eleanor Tallany, finds herself on an opposing side to, as the hero, Sir Hugh de Villiers, whom she is forced to marry, is unreservedly a king’s man. Can they find a way to come together against the odds, or are their differences too great a challenge?

I hope you enjoy their story!