The Queen's Pawn

266 Pages·2010·1.19 MB·English

by  Christy English

001
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements

PART I - CHILDHOOD
Chapter 1 - ALAIS: PRINCESS OF FRANCE
Chapter 2 - ELEANOR: FORGOTTEN QUEEN
Chapter 3 - ALAIS: A STOLEN SEASON
Chapter 4 - ELEANOR: THE LARGER WORLD
Chapter 5 - ALAIS: PRINCE AND TROUBADOUR
Chapter 6 - ELEANOR: A BALANCE OF POWER
Chapter 7 - ALAIS: A ROSE WITHOUT THORNS

PART II - WINDSOR
Chapter 8 - ELEANOR: QUEEN OF SPIES
Chapter 9 - ALAIS: A STABLE HAND
Chapter 10 - ELEANOR: THE LION’S DEN
Chapter 11 - ALAIS: THE KING’S JEWEL
Chapter 12 - ELEANOR: TO DANCE WITH THE KING
Chapter 13 - ALAIS: A CROWN OF FLOWERS
Chapter 14 - ELEANOR: A LETTER
Chapter 15 - ALAIS: ANOTHER GARDEN
Chapter 16 - ELEANOR: TRUTH TELLING
Chapter 17 - ALAIS: LOSS

PART III - A WOMAN GROWN
Chapter 18 - ALAIS: TO BED A KING
Chapter 19 - ELEANOR: THE KING’S HEALTH
Chapter 20 - ALAIS: THE KING’S MISTRESS
Chapter 21 - ELEANOR: THE QUEEN
Chapter 22 - ALAIS: TO BECOME QUEEN
Chapter 23 - ELEANOR: ANOTHER LETTER
Chapter 24 - ALAIS: QUEEN IN ALL BUT NAME
Chapter 25 - ELEANOR: LOYAL SUBJECTS OF THE KING
Chapter 26 - ALAIS: ANOTHER PRINCE
Chapter 27 - ELEANOR: A MOMENT OF TRUCE
Chapter 28 - ALAIS: A CHOICE
Chapter 29 - ELEANOR: AN ESCAPE
Chapter 30 - ALAIS: THE PIPER PAID
Chapter 31 - ELEANOR: ENDGAME

Epilogue
Afterword
READERS GUIDE
More Praise for The Queen’s Pawn
“The Queen’s Pawn is a powerful portrait of two dynamic royal women and the men who controlled
their lives—or is it the other way around? Treachery, betrayal, lust—and an unusual and compelling
love story, beautifully told.”
—Karen Harper, author of The Queen’s Governess

“The Queen’s Pawn by Christy English resurrects from misty legend Eleanor
of Aquitaine, Henry II, Princess Alais, and Richard the Lionhearted. I knew
the outlines of their stories, but now I have come to know them as fully,
emotionally human, both flawed and magnificent. The French Princess Alais
comes as a child to England to be raised by Eleanor for marriage to
Richard, the queen’s favorite son. But the child becomes a beautiful woman
and catches Henry’s eye, starting an ever-escalating palace war of intrigue,
betrayal, and passion. Almost 850 years have passed, but Christy brings the
complex time of unrest and deceit to full, lyrical life for us. A captivating love
story of Richard and Alais beyond the story I thought I knew of a young
woman trapped between Eleanor and Henry in their lifelong struggle for
mastery over the English crown and each other. A jewel of a novel.”
—Jeane Westin, author of The Virgin’s Daughters

“Told with simple grace and from the heart, The Queen’s Pawn is a moving
evocation of two women, deep friends but destined to a tragic rivalry for
royal power and two men’s love.”
—Margaret Frazer, author of A Play of Treachery “What a promising debut!
With deft strokes, Christy English transforms Alais from the innocent child
her father sends to England into the cunning woman her surrogate mother,
Eleanor, teaches her to be—while the crafty and sophisticated Eleanor is
ensnared and nearly brought down by helpless love for her adopted
daughter. The complex love-hate quadrangle between Eleanor, her husband,
Henry, her son Richard, and the ever more wily Alais is a fascinating and
original take on this juicy historical footnote.”
—Ellyn Bache, award-winning novelist of Safe Passage and Daughters of the
Sea

“An astonishing debut! Christy English spins an unforgettable tale of
dangerous splendor, evoking the stone and tapestry of the Plantagenet era,
and the fierce rivalry of two equally fascinating and determined women,
whose ambitions threaten to overturn their world.”
—C. W Gortner, author of The Last Queen

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Published by New American Library, a division of
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First published by New American Library,
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First Printing, April 2010

Copyright © Christy English, 2010
Readers Guide copyright © Penguin Group (USA) Inc, 2010
All rights reserved
REGISTERED TRADEMARK-MARCA
REGISTRADA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

English, Christy.
The queen’s pawn/Christy English.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-101-18644-2
1. Alix, de France, 1160-ca. 1220-Fiction. 2. Eleanor, of Aquitaine, Queen, consort of Henxy II,
King of England, 11227-1204-Fiction. 3. Great Britain-History-Henry II, 1154-1189-Fiction.
4. France-History-Philip II Augustus, 1180-1223-Fiction. I. Title.
PS3605.N49Q84 2010
813’.54-dc22 2009040457

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