The Printed Page

I’m a very visual person and love beautiful, or interesting, cover art. It entices, and invites, me to stop and take a peek instead of walking right on by. Here’s a cover that caught my eye.
Title: Blood Royal
Author: Vanora Bennett
Release date: April ’09

Catherine de Valois, daughter of the French king is born in troubled times. Though she is being brought up in a royal court, it is a stormy and unstable environment. Her only firend is the remarkable poet and writer Christine de Pizan. She is married off to Heny V as part of a treaty honouring his victory over France, and is destined to be a trophy wife. Terrified at the idea of being married to a man who is at once, a foreigner, an enemy and a rough soldier, Catherine nevertheless does her duty. Within tow years she is widowed, and mother of the future King of England and France – even though her brother has already claimed the French crown for himself. Caught between warring factions and under threat the powerful lords of the English court and her own brothers-in-law, she has to find her own way, if only for the sake of her baby son.She takes strength from the teachings of her mentor de Pizan, and the possibility that she will be able to return home to France. She is also supported by Owain Tudor, controller of her household-a dangerous support as rumours of their relationship would jeoperdise her right to keep her child. To save her son, and herself, She must turn away from her love and all that is familiar and safe to find another way forward.

Title: Figures in Silk / Queen of Silks
Author: Vanora Bennett
Release date: 2009 (WL)

US/UK Cover HB

UK Cover PB

UK Cover PB - title change

Two sisters discover passion during the War of the Roses–one in the arms of the king, the other in the world of silk From the author of the acclaimed novel “Portrait of an Unknown Woman” comes an epic tale of love and intrigue. The year is 1471. Edward IV, who won the throne with the help of his brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is restoring law and order after years of war. Under Edward IV, life in England begins to improve. Business is booming once more and the printing and silk industries prosper in London. When silk merchant John Lambert marries off his two beautiful daughters, their fortunes are forever changed. Elder daughter Jane Shore begins a notorious liaison with the king while industrious and clever Isabel finds herself married into the house of Claver, a wealthy silk dynasty. Fate delivers Isabel a challenge when her new husband is killed and she is forced into apprenticeship to her mother-in-law, Alice Claver. It is from Alice Claver that Isabel learns to love silk and the exotic and passionate fabrics from Italy, Persia, Spain, Tunisia, and beyond. Isabel learns to make her way in this new world of silk–to find friends and enemies–and she strikes an alliance with her sister’s lover, King Edward IV, that will bring the secrets of silk-making to London. As Isabel grows in power and her plan for a silk industry run by Englishwomen is set into motion, the political landscape shifts in dangerous ways. One sister will fall as the other rises and choices must be made that will change their lives forever.

Title: Portrait of an Unknown Woman
Author: Vanora Bennett
Release date: 2007 (WL)

HB Cover

PB Cover

PB Cover

“The year is 1527. The great portraitist Hans Holbein, who has fled the reformation in Europe, is making his first trip to England under commission to Sir Thomas More. In the course of six years, Holbein will become a close friend to the More family and paint two nearly identical family portraits. But closer examination of the paintings reveals that the second holds several mysteries… ” Set against the turmoil, intrigue and, tragedy of Henry VIII’s court, “Portrait of an Unknown Woman” vividly evokes sixteenth-century England on the verge of enormous change. As the Protestant Reformation sweeps across Europe to lap at England’s shores, relations between her king and the Catholic Church begin to plummet-driven by Henry VIII’s insatiable need for a male heir and the urgings of his cunning mistress Anne Boleyn-and heresy begins to take hold. As tensions rise, Henry VIII turns to his most trusted servant and defender of Catholic orthodoxy, Sir Thomas More to keep peace in England, but soon the entire More family find their own lives at risk. At the center of “Portrait of an Unknown Woman” is Meg Gigg’s, Sir Thomas More’s twenty-three year old adopted daughter. Intelligent, headstrong, and tender-hearted, Meg has been schooled in the healing arts. And though she is devoted to her family, events conspire that will cause Meg to question everything she thought she knew-including the desires of her own heart. As the danger to More and his family increases, two men will vie for Meg’s affections: John Clement, her former tutor and More’s protege who shares Meg’s passion for medicine, but whose true identity will become unclear, and the great Holbein, who’s artistic vision will forever alter her understanding of the world. With a striking sense of period detail “Portrait of an Unknown Woman” is an unforgettable story of sin and religion, desire and deception. It is the story of a young woman on the brink of sensual awakening and of a country on the edge of mayhem.