In this first major biography, Joan’s background and career are examined to reveal a remarkable story. Brought up at court following her father’s shocking execution, Joan defied convention by marrying secretly aged just twelve, and refused to deny her first love despite coercion, imprisonment and a forced bigamous marriage. Wooed by the Black Prince when she was widowed, theirs was a love match, yet the questionable legality of their marriage threatened their son’s succession to the throne. Intelligent and independent, Joan constructed her role as Princess of Wales. Deliberately self-effacing, she created and managed her reputation, using her considerable intercessory skills to protect and support Richard. A loyal wife and devoted mother, Joan was much more than just a famous beauty.
The first major biography of ‘The Fair Maid of Kent’.
- See the success of biographies of other royal medieval
women: Matilda by Tracy Borman, Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir, Queen Emma and the Vikings by Harriet
O’Brien, Cecily Neville by Amy Licence.
Huge interest in the Plantagenets at the moment: Dan
Jones’ bestselling The Plantagenets,
Marc Morris’s A Great and Terrible King:
Edward I and the Forging of Britain and Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen.
- Reviews in the national press and history magazines
- Author interested in signing events