Author: Tracey Warr

Tracey Warr was not an author that had been on my reading radar at all until one of her titles crossed my path and piqued my interest.

Her Amazon bio states: "Her fiction is based on historical research and she imagines in the gaps between known historical facts. ". This is something that all writers of historical fiction do.

It was her choice of female characters that caught my eye - and the time period in which her fiction is set. So, briefly - and not having yet read any of the following - is a snapshot of four that may make it to me TBR list:

Almodis: The Peaceweaver

A story of love, adventure and scandal, based on the real life of the eleventh-century countess Almodis de la Marche. Through her marriages to three important historical figures, Almodis founds a maternal dynasty that rules southern France and northern Spain during the height of the Occitan culture. It is a time of troubadours, of cathedral and castle building, and the shaping of Europe after Charlemagne. A time in which Occitan noblewomen hold equal power with their husbands under the vestiges of Roman and Visigothic law. But Almodis path to power and happiness is fraught with drama. Her first husband scandalises her contemporaries by rejecting her, she is excommunicated by the Pope and her third husband kidnaps her from her second miserable marriage. Covert journeys across the Pyrenees, escapes from incarceration and murder punctuate this extraordinary story, vividly bringing to life Almodis early medieval world.

The Viking Hostage

Set in late 10th century France and Wales, The Viking Hostage tells the intertwining stories of three women living through turbulent times of Viking raids, Christian conversions, and struggles for power across Europe at the turn of the millennium. Sigrid is a Norwegian sold into slavery in the French Limousin, stubbornly clinging to her pagan identity. Aina is a rich heiress, betrothed as a child to a man who does not offer her the adventure she craves. Adalmode is the daughter of the Viscount of Limoges, whose father has forbidden her passion for a young man imprisoned in his dungeon for a great crime. Their stories question and tangle with the nature of human nobility and of freedom in the highly stratified, unequal, and often brutal society of early medieval Europe.

Conquest: Daughter of the Last King

1093. The three sons of William the Conqueror - Robert Duke of Normandy, William II King of England and Count Henry - fight with each other for control of the Anglo-Norman kingdom created by their father's conquest. Meanwhile, Nest ferch Rhys, the daughter of the last independent Welsh king, is captured during the Norman assault of her lands. Raised with her captors, the powerful Montgommery family, Nest is educated to be the wife of Arnulf of Montgommery, in spite of her pre-existing betrothal to a Welsh prince. Who will Nest marry and can the Welsh rebels oust the Normans? 'Daughter of the Last King' is the first in the Conquest Trilogy.

Conquest 2: The Drowned Court

1107. Henry I finally reigns over England, Normandy and Wales, but his rule is far from secure. He faces a series of treacherous assassination attempts, and rebellion in Normandy is scuppering his plans to secure a marriage for his son and heir. With the King torn between his kingdoms and Nest settled with her Norman husband, can she evade Henry's notice or will she fall under his control once more? As her brother Gruffudd garners support in an effort to reclaim his kingdom, Nest finds she cannot escape the pull of her Welsh heritage. While the dissent grows and a secret passion is revealed, the future of Nest and her Norman sons is placed in dire peril. In this riveting sequel to 'Daughter of the Last King', Nest must decide to whom her heart and loyalty belongs.

So, not only I am interested to see the third in the Conquest Trilogy (The Anarchy and covers the years 1122-1146, the final years of the reign of Henry I and then the subsequent struggle for the throne between Henry’s daughter Matilda and his nephew, Stephen of Blois), but this new tome that she is working on - again courtesy of her Amazon bio:

She received an Author’s Foundation Award from the Society of Authors for a biography she is working on about three French noblewomen, three sisters, who held power in 11th century Toulouse, Carcassonne, Barcelona and the Pyrenees.