A Tapestry of Treason

The world knows Ophelia as Hamlet's troubled lover, but behind Shakespeare's tragedy stands a real woman. This is her story.... The second novel in the new historical fiction series from the best-selling author of The Queens of Conquest, Joanna Courtney's new trilogy unearths the real women behind Shakespeare's most infamous queens. If you love Elizabeth Chadwick and Anne O'Brien you will adore Joanna Courtney.

'I was a penniless, landless petitioner, my Neville blood a curse, my future dependent on the charity of those who despised me....' Anne Neville is the heiress and daughter of the greatest powerbroker in the land, Warwick the Kingmaker. Trapped in a deadly tangle of political intrigue, she is a pawn in an uncertain game, used by the houses of Neville, York and Lancaster alike. In England's glittering, treacherous court, not all wish to see the Nevilles raised high.

To save his soul, William Marshal takes the perilous road to Jerusalem, but the greatest danger he faces there is losing his heart. England, 1219. Lying on his deathbed, William Marshal, England's greatest knight, sends a trusted servant to bring to him the silk Templar burial shrouds that returned with him from the Holy Land 30 years ago. It is time to fulfil his vow to the Templars and become a monk of their order for eternity.

If you will be a great man's mistress, you must pay the price.... The Savoy, 1372. Widow Lady Katherine Swynford presents herself for a role in the household of merciless royal prince John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, hoping to end her destitution. But the Duke's scandalous proposition leaves her life of pious integrity reeling.... Seduced by the glare of royal adoration, Katherine becomes John's mistress. She will leave behind everything she has stood for to play second fiddle to his young wife and ruthless ambition.

She holds the fate of England in her heart.... The Queens of the Conquest trilogy. It's 1066. Three Queens. One Crown. As a young woman in England's royal court, Edyth, granddaughter of Lady Godiva, dreams of marrying for love. But political matches are rife while King Edward is still without an heir and the future of England is uncertain.

London, 1656: Captain Seeker is back in the city, on the trail of an assassin preparing to strike at the heart of Oliver Cromwell's Republic. The Commonwealth is balanced on a knife edge. Royalists and disillusioned former Parliamentarians have united against Oliver Cromwell, now a king in all but name. Three conspirators, representing these factions, plan to assassinate the Lord Protector, paving the way back to the throne for Charles Stuart once and for all. 

Eleanor of Aquitaine's story is legendary. She is an icon who has fascinated readers for over 800 years. But the real Eleanor remains elusive - until now. Based on the most up-to-date research, best-selling novelist Elizabeth Chadwick brings Eleanor's magnificent story to life, as never before. Young, vibrant, privileged, Eleanor's future is golden as the heiress to wealthy Aquitaine. But when her beloved father dies suddenly in the summer of 1137, her childhood ends abruptly. 

An innocent pawn. A kingdom without a King. A new dynasty will reign.... It's 1415. The jewel in the French crown, Katherine de Valois, is waiting under lock and key for King Henry V. While he's been slaughtering her kinsmen in Agincourt, Katherine has been praying for marriage to save her from her misery. But the brutal King wants her crown, not her innocent love. For Katherine, England is a lion's den of greed, avarice and mistrust. And when Katherine is widowed at 21, she is a prize ripe for the taking.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Sword Saint by C.F. Iggulden. Conn Iggulden is back with the spellbinding third instalment in the Empire of Salt trilogy.

In early 1461, a teenage boy won a battle on a freezing morning in the Welsh marches and claimed the crown of England. He was Edward IV, first king of the usurping house of York. The country, crippled by economic crisis, insurgency, and a corrupt and bankrupt government, was in need of a new hero. Charismatic, able and ruthlessly ambitious, Edward and his two younger brothers, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became the figureheads of a spectacular ruling dynasty which laid the foundations for a renewal of English royal power.