Shadow on the Crown, The Price of Blood and The Steel Beneath the Silk make up my trilogy about a pre-Conquest queen consort of England, Emma of Normandy.

Emma’s name is not as familiar to us today as that of Eleanor of Aquitaine or Katharine of Aragon, nevertheless she was actively involved in the reigns of seven kings of England at a time when just surviving so many rulers was a noteworthy accomplishment.  Indeed, Emma lived to an advanced age, well into her sixties if not her seventies, outliving two husbands, three of her five children, and all but one of her numerous Norman siblings.

My research into Queen Emma’s life and the history that she witnessed has taken me to into the stacks of university libraries in California , and into libraries, museums and historic sites in Britain, France and Denmark. In writing my novels I have imagined the world that Emma would have known, and I hope that my trilogy will make her name live again.