Book picks similar to
The Maiden and the Unicorn by Isolde Martyn


historical-fiction
romance
historical-romance
medieval

The Other Countess


Eve Edwards - 2010
    . .WILLIAM LACEY has inherited his father's title and his financial ruin. Now the Earl must seek a wealthy heiress and restore his family's fortune. But Will's head has been turned by the gorgeous Ellie, yet their union can never be. Will is destined to marry a worthy Lady so the only question is - which one . . . ?

Knight's Caress


Lynette Vinet - 1993
    And he knew just the way. He would take his own captive -- Amberlie de Fontaine, the brown-eyed Norman beauty who was now lady of his former keep. And once he had stolen her away, he would not scruple over stealing a fiery kiss or two from this dark and enchanting hostage...He was her only desire...Amberlie knew she should despise Tedric of Woodrose. After all, he had kidnapped her, and worse, it was almost certainly Tedric who had killed her husband in one of his many attempts to regain his land. But the tall, blond Saxon warrior was not the savage she had expected. And try as she might, it was not hate but passion she felt in his presence; passion that stirred her as never before. He had taken her by force, but she would give herself freely to the sweet ecstasy of his tempestuous embrace...

The Handfasted Wife


Carol McGrath - 2013
    She is set aside for a political marriage when Harold becomes king in 1066. Determined to protect her children's destinies and control her economic future, she is taken to William's camp when her estate is sacked on the eve of the Battle of Hastings. She later identifies Harold's body on the battlefield and her youngest son becomes a Norman hostage. Elditha avoids an arranged marriage with a Breton knight by which her son might or might not be given into his care. She makes her own choice and sets out through strife-torn England to seek help from her sons in Dublin. However, events again overtake her. Harold's mother, Gytha, holds up in her city of Exeter with other aristocratic women, including Elditha's eldest daughter. The girl is at risk, drawing Elditha back to Exeter and resistance. Initially supported by Exeter's burghers the women withstand William's siege. However, after three horrific weeks they negotiate exile and the removal of their treasure. Elditha takes sanctuary in a convent where eventually she is reunited with her hostage son. This is an adventure story of love, loss, survival and reconciliation.

The Brat


Lynsay Sands - 2007
    It was said she was stunningly beautiful, with bright blue eyes, golden hair and a sweet smile. It was also said that the king had doted on the girl and spoiled her rotten. Despite his need, when Sir Balan saw her howling and sobbing, Murie was the last person he wanted to wed.But all that glitters is not gold, and sometimes diamonds look very, very rough. There was more to Murie than met the eye, and Balan soon learned that he'd be lucky indeed to deserve such a bride. Yet he was not the only one to discern the truth, and the other hopeful hubby was not quite as honorable. A plot was afoot. Soon would come a reckoning, a time to show who was chivalrous, who was a cad and who had won the love of a heart unspoiled.

Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen: The Story of Elizabeth of York


Samantha Wilcoxson - 2015
    Should she trust her father's brother and most loyal supporter or honor the betrothal that her mother has made for her to her family's enemy, Henry Tudor?The choice was made for her on the field at Bosworth, and Elizabeth the Plantagenet princess became the first Tudor queen.Did Elizabeth find happiness with Henry? Did she ever discover the truth about her missing brothers, who became better known as the Princes in the Tower?Lose yourself in Elizabeth's world in Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen.Selected as an Editor's Choice by the Historical Novel Society and long-listed for the 2016 HNS Indie Award.

Charming the Prince


Teresa Medeiros - 1999
    Never in my life have I backed down from any challenge or betrayed so much as a hint of fear—until the war ended and I found myself a reluctant papa to a dozen unruly children.Realizing that I couldn't lop their little heads off or throw them in the dungeon, I sent my steward out to find them a mother and me a bride—an attractive, meek, maternal creature too plain to tempt me to get her with child. You can imagine my horror when he returned with Lady Willow of Bedlington, a spirited beauty who made me think of nothing else!With her cloud of dark curls and the sparkle of passion in her eyes, Willow was everything I'd sworn to resist. I never dreamed she would join forces with those mischievous imps of mine to teach this cynical warrior just how sweet surrender can be.Bannor the Bold,Lord of Elsinore

A Vision of Light


Judith Merkle Riley - 1988
    However, like most women in fourteenth-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task. As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness. Married off at the age of fourteen to a merchant reputed to be the Devil himself, Margaret was left for dead during the Black Plague. Incredibly, she survived, was apprenticed to an herbalist, and became a midwife. But most astonishing of all, Margaret has experienced a Mystic Union—a Vision of Light that endows her with the miraculous gift of healing. Because of this ability, Margaret has become suddenly different—to her tradition-bound parents, to the bishop’s court that tries her for heresy, and ultimately to the man who falls in love with her.

Hood


Jenny Elder Moke - 2020
    Let it rise to meet the call. Isabelle of Kirklees has only ever known a quiet life inside the sheltered walls of the convent, where she lives with her mother, Marien. But after she is arrested by royal soldiers for defending innocent villagers, Isabelle becomes the target of the Wolf, King John's ruthless right hand. Desperate to keep her daughter safe, Marien helps Isabelle escape and sends her on a mission to find the one person who can help: Isabelle's father, Robin Hood.As Isabelle races to stay out of the Wolf's clutches and find the father she's never known, she is thrust into a world of thieves and mercenaries, handsome young outlaws, new enemies with old grudges, and a king who wants her entire family dead. As she joins forces with Robin and his Merry Men in a final battle against the Wolf, will Isabelle find the strength to defy the crown and save the lives of everyone she holds dear?

The Book of Eleanor: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine


Pamela Kaufman - 2002
    Rich and influential in her own right, her tumultuous marriages thrust Eleanor into the political and cultural spotlight, where she would remain for more than half a century. Still in her teens, young Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII of France, a sickly religious fanatic so obsessed with fears of adultery that he kept his beautiful wife under lock and key, even forcing her to go on a long and dangerous crusade with him. But Eleanor was delighted by the freedom of the crusader’s life. Her handsome Aquitanian knights, her deeds on horseback, and her scandalous attire were the talk of Europe; it soon became clear that Louis’s young wife was more than he could handle. A lifelong rebel, Eleanor would defy her husband and the Church, and eventually strong-arm the Pope into annulling her unhappy marriage.Once free of Louis, Eleanor thought to marry Baron Rancon, her childhood love, but found herself forced into another political marriage, this time with a younger and more dangerous husband—Henry II of England, a ruthless soldier known throughout Europe as “the red star of malice.” In Henry Eleanor found a man whose iron will and political cunning matched her own, but the marriage was a bitter and brutal one, which escalated into open warfare when Eleanor backed their sons in an armed rebellion against Henry. Vowing revenge, he imprisoned her for fifteen years, hoping she would die in obscurity. But Eleanor would not go quietly. In prison, she wrote her memoir; this is Eleanor’s book.

The Loyal Heart


Merry Farmer - 2011
    Several problems. Her childhood love, Ethan, has returned home from the Crusades, but he’s more interested in winning his land back than wooing her. She has to rescue a pair of nuns who are being held prisoner in Derby Castle’s tower by the sadistic Sheriff Buxton. And to top it all off, she’s developing scandalous feelings for Buxton’s lackey, the dark and devilish Crispin. Faced with all that what’s a girl to do but don her disguise as the Derbywood Bandit and take matters into her own hands?Sir Crispin is at his wit’s end. Not only does he have his hands full keeping Buxton from killing half the shire, now his arch nemesis, the Derbywood Bandit, has joined forces with his old rival Ethan. And that’s nothing compared to the burning torch he carries for his ex-fiancé, Lady Aubrey. He would do anything to win Aubrey’s love …… until he suspects that there could be a closer connection between Aubrey and the Derbywood Bandit than anyone knows.

The Viking's Chosen


Quinn Loftis - 2018
    But the prophecy is also clear: General Torben will take a foreign bride — one who is a seer and healer just like his mother. The eldest princess of England is said to be just that… a beautiful, charming, and headstrong woman. But he's a Viking army general and she's an English princess — and one who is already promised to the king of Tara.Two worlds collide in this epic historical fiction centered on an undeniable chemistry that smolders against the odds. Richly written and injected with moments of humor, this action-packed romantic tale will leave you breathless.Quinn Loftis is the author of twenty novels, including the USA Today Bestseller Fate and Fury.

The Kingmaking


Helen Hollick - 1994
    There is only one man who can lead Britain from the chaos of darkness into a new age of glory. Protected since birth, he is revealed as the new Pendragon.

This Time Together


Sue Phillips - 1996
    Entertainment lawyer Katherine Marshall always thought time travel was a Hollywood invention...So how did she wake up in 1892, in the cabin of a handsome mountain man?Northern California, 1892. Flynt Avery had never heard of anyone traveling through time. But the woman he called Kate could have come only from another era...At first, Kate thought she had been sent to Flynt Avery to prove him innocent of murder and save him from the gallows. Then, in the soft firelight of Flynt's cozy cabin, Kate found herself thinking about more than justice...This ruggedly handsome man won her affection -- and stirred her deepest desires. But their love was bound by the rules of time, and soon they would have to choose between his live -- and their love...Re-issue. Previously published by Jove.Author: Sue PhillipsPen names: Susan Leslie Liepitz and Gillian Doyle

Kiss of the Rose


Kate Pearce - 2010
    Ever since, the Llewellyns, an ancient Vampire slaying family, have been in the permanent employ of the monarchy.Now Henry VIII is on the throne, and his father’s bargain has almost been forgotten. Until corpses drained of blood start turning up in the most inappropriate of places, including the king’s bedchamber. But are these people the victims of the Vampires-or of the Druids?To save the king from a nameless assassin, Rosalind Llewellyn, Vampire hunter extraordinaire, must form an uneasy alliance with a known Druid slayer. Sir Christopher Ellis hails from a family that has protected the Vampires for centuries, yet Rosalind has no choice but to rely on his help. And with her life threatened and her loyalty tested, Rosalind may even have to acknowledge the unthinkable. This sworn enemy may be her soul mate.

The Last Daughter of York


Nicola Cornick - 2021
    Running out of options to keep her husband and the boy safe, Anne uses the power of an ancient family relic to send them away, knowing that in doing so she will never see Francis again.In the present day, Serena Warren has been haunted by her past ever since her twin sister, Caitlin, disappeared. But when Caitlin’s bones are discovered interred in a church vault that hasn’t been opened since the eighteenth century, the police are baffled. Piecing together local folklore that speaks of a magical relic with her own hazy memories of the day Caitlin vanished, Serena begins to uncover an impossible secret that her grandfather has kept hidden, one that connects her to Anne, Francis and the young Duke of York.Inspired by the enduring mystery of the Princes in the Tower, Nicola Cornick cleverly interprets the events into a dazzling novel set between a present-day mystery and a country on the brink of Tudor rule.