The King’s Jewel
Bestselling and award-winning author Elizabeth Chadwick is a mistress of the pen, known for her meticulously researched novels focusing on royalty and nobles in the Middle Ages. Her latest featuring Nesta, an 11th-century princess of Wales, is another example of her superb writing, a book I couldn’t put down.
Nesta’s comfortable life changes in a moment in 1093 when her father, Prince Rhys of Deheubarth, is killed in a raid against the hated Normans and she is held hostage in the Earl of Shrewsbury’s household. There, she comes to the attention of ruthless and lascivious English Prince Henry and is forced to become one of his many mistresses. Henry becomes King and Nesta bears him a son. She is relieved when Henry tires of her and thrilled when he says she can return to her childhood home of Carew. However, this comes with a condition: she must marry Gerald FitzWalter, an ambitious Norman knight.
Their marriage is one of compromise, but then Welsh prince Owain ap Cadwgan appears. Headstrong and handsome Owain wants Nesta and hatches a plan for them to rule together. Nesta wants Owain too – he represents Welshness and passion, but will she agree to overthrow Gerald, who has shown her nothing but respect? And what of Gerald himself: has he anticipated the plot, and will he act first?
The novel traces complex English and Welsh politics and what men and women will do to survive. Chadwick’s characters and story leap off the page, bringing alive a fascinating period of history.
