To Defy a King

January 3, 2011
A majestic High Middle Ages series continues in Chadwick's latest (after For the King's Favor) as Mahelt "Matty" Marshal, the daughter of legendary British knight William Marshal, becomes a bride at 14. Though the marriage, to Hugh Bigod, future earl of Norfolk, is arranged, Matty is open to it and embraces the passion that eventually comes. She bears Bigod four children and enjoys a peaceful life until tyrannical King John takes her paternal family hostage, first her brother Will, heir to the earldom of Pembroke, then her brother Richard, and finally her father, who has openly opposed the king's greed and land-grabbing. Matty's determination to save her father and brothers while also standing by her husband and keeping her new family safe creates both conflict and, ultimately, joyous rewards in a well-told saga filled with just the right amount of exacting period detail. Both longtime fans and readers new to Chadwick's series will be thrilled.

February 15, 2011
Chadwick (For the Kings Favor, 2010) again captures the inherent complexity of medieval alliances and rivalries in this irresistibly readable historical romance featuring a willful and wily heroine ensnared in a particularly thorny political hornets nest. Married at an indecently young age, Mahelt Matty Marshal, beloved daughter of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, eventually permits herself to fall in love with her husband, Hugh Bigod, heir to the earldom of Pembroke, as she adapts to life in a new household. Unfortunately, during the reign of the infamous king John, trouble inevitably looms on the horizon. When Mattys father falls out of favor with the king, and her brothers are taken hostage, her loyalties are painfully divided between her birth family and her marriage family. As her resolve and her allegiances are tested by cruel circumstances, she must decide who and what she is willing to risk in defiance of the king. Chadwicks characters step directly off the pages of history into this fresh fictional reimagining of a perilous time and place.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)