With her initial focus on King Richard’s sister Joanna, Joanna’s orphaned ward Alicia, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and King Richard’s eventual wife Berengaria, Penman seems to promise that her novel would give me a glimpse of the Crusades through the eyes of four women who unexpectedly found themselves going on one.Īt first, Penman holds true to that promise, but her interest in her female characters and the challenges they face in this aggressively male world fades as the Crusade progresses. I hadn’t read much about this time period in England’s history (other than Robin Hood, of course), so when I came across this book at a used book sale, I thought I’d give it a try. Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham don’t appear in this book, because Penman’s fictional account isn’t that speculative, but I enjoy a good historical narrative, even ones in which the outlaws are all aristocrats. This installment focuses on King Richard I who set off to the Holy Land, leaving England under the uncertain guardianship of his brother John.

(Oct.In Lionheart, Sharon Kay Penman continues her saga of the Devil’s Brood - the warring children of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Readers will eagerly await the next installment, which will focus on Richard’s capture and ransom on his way home. Though hinting about events that don’t take place in the book may feel frustrating, and though Penman never allows readers to meet the elusive Saladin, she ably captures the political intricacies of the time. The story follows Richard as he journeys from England to Sicily to free his sister, to Cyprus and Outremer, and finally to his departure from the Holy Land to reclaim his own lands from his treacherous brother John. As Richard leads the Crusades in Outremer (the land beyond the sea), Penman depicts many story lines: the friction between the English and French allies the complex political tension between warring factions within Jerusalem the mutual admiration between Richard and Saladin (a Sunni Muslim who became leader of the Saracen forces and sultan of Egypt) and Richard’s neglect of his young bride, Berengaria.

In this gritty, unsentimental, and richly detailed epic, Penman (The Sunne in Splendour) tackles the legendary King Richard the Lionheart (son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine), and nearly succeeds in making him human.

Lionheart sharon penman