Besieged And Betrothed

In this sexy medieval romance set in twelfth-century England, a tenacious lady’s surrender leads to a fearsome warrior’s seduction. England, 1147. On orders from his Empress, Lothar the Frank has come to Hertfordshire to lay siege to Castle Haword. Overpowering the depleted stronghold should be a simple task for the ruthless soldier—if it weren’t for the arresting beauty of the woman who stubbornly defends it. More tomboy than trembling maiden, Lady Juliana Danville would rather die than lose the castle. When she’s caught on opposite sides of a war, a marriage bargain is brokered to bring peace. But is blissful married life possible when Juliana has a dangerous secret hidden within the castle walls?

This book, inter alia, tries to encourage young people to first know themselves and each other and save sex for marriage because sexual intimacy during the first date blurs vision and leads to warped reasoning. The author believes the traditional betrothal process of the Igbo tribe helps prevent incest and helps the woman save her virginity, self-esteem, and dignity.

"Pictures of the Old French Court: Jeanne de Bourbon, Isabeau de Bavière, Anne de Bretagne" by Mrs. Bearne offers a captivating glimpse into the lives of notable women from the old French court. Bearne's work provides historical insight and vivid portrayals of these influential figures, making it an intriguing read for those interested in French history, royal courts, and the roles of women in bygone eras.

In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I died and King James I inherited the English throne. During James's reign, England continued to hark back to Elizabeth, comparing him with his predecessor – not always in a way that was either flattering or pleasing to James. Critics have traditionally assumed that Shakespeare avoided involving himself in this discourse. In this study of Shakespeare's Jacobean plays, however, Yuichi Tsukada demonstrates that, far from not involving himself in the phenomenon of nostalgia for Elizabeth, Shakespeare interacted closely with retrospective writings on Elizabeth and illuminated the complex politics behind the nostalgia. Based upon close readings of Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Cymbeline and Henry VIII, together with a range of plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries, including Thomas Heywood, Thomas Dekker, George Chapman, John Marston, Thomas Middleton and Ben Jonson, the book traces the ongoing cultural negotiation of the memory of Elizabeth. Yuichi Tsukada offers fresh insights into enigmatic aspects of Shakespeare's Jacobean drama. For instance, what was the original significance of the two contentious prophecies – 'none of woman born' and the march of Birnam Wood – in Macbeth? Or that of the seemingly out-of-place triumphal procession of Volumnia near the tragic end of Coriolanus? Although her memory recurred in all forms of discourse throughout the first decade of James's reign, the impact of this cultural undercurrent on Shakespeare's Jacobean drama has been ignored or underestimated. Shakespeare and the Politics of Nostalgia reveals the unnoticed richness of Shakespeare's Jacobean drama by focusing on the growing cultural and political nostalgia for England's dead queen.