The Queen's Daughter

Joan's mother is Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, the most beautiful woman in the world. Her father is Henry II, the king of England and a renowned military leader. She loves them both, so what is she to do when she's forced to choose between them? As her parents' arguments grow ever more vicious, Joan begins to feel like a political pawn. When her parents marry her off to the king of Sicily, Joan finds herself stuck with a man ten years her senior. She doesn't love her husband, and she can't quite forget her childhood crush, the handsome Lord Raymond. As Joan grows up, she begins to understand that her parents' worldview is warped by their political ambitions, and hers, in turn, has been warped by theirs. Is it too late to figure out whom to trust? And, more importantly, whom to love? The Queen's Daughter is a 2011 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year. Princess Joan is often overshadowed by her larger-than-life family members. Her mother, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and her father, King Henry II, often seem to be set against each other. And her brothers are all too happy to fight with their father and with each other. Even though Joan tries to remain loyal to both her parents, it’s inevitable that they use her to further their schemes. When Joan is betrothed to the King of Sicily, she travels away from her family and the court that she knows for a whole new world where she has to learn new rules of survival. From castles in France and England to the Sicilian countryside to the fields of the Holy Land, The Queen’s Daughter by Susan Coventry takes the reader on an adventure during the Middle Ages. Through Joan’s eyes we get a fresh perspective on the ongoing power struggle between Queen Eleanor and King Henry. It’s an uncommon view also of future kings of England Richard and John, and the times they grew up in. Coventry captures the extravagances of court and the games of strategy played by all the kings of the time in their bid for control of land and people. A fictionalized biography of Joan of England, the youngest child of King Henry II of England and his queen consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine, chronicling her complicated relationships with her warring parents and many siblings, particularly with her favorite brother Richard the Lionheart, her years as Queen consort of Sicily, and her second marriage to Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse.