What We're Reading: Cathy

Captive Queen by Alison Weir

Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of the most famous people of medieval Europe. This novel is full of authentic detail from Alison Weir's previous biography of Eleanor. It was also influenced, she admits, by the film Lion in Winter. We follow Eleanor from her marriage to King Louis of France, their divorce, her marriage to Henry, Duke of Anjou and Normandy, and his/their attainment of the English crown. Eleanor and Henry are both very passionate and opinionated people which eventually leads to a disintegration of their marriage and Eleanor supports their sons over her husband in a war. Henry then locks her up for 16 years. We follow her through frustrations and triumphs and see how this strong woman became the person remembered even now, over 800 years later as Eleanor, Queen of England, Duchess of Aquitaine, Normandy, Brittany, and Anjou, Countess of Poitou and mother of King Richard the Lionheart and King John.