Eleanor of Aquitaine (Alienor d'Aquitaine 1124-1204), was both the Queen of France to Louis the Seventh and Queen of England to Henry the Second. From childhood to her teenage marriage where she assumes the role as the Queen of France, the historical fiction ALIENOR answers how a girl becomes such a woman, keeping the lively formation of her early character in focus. Through the young eyes of Alienor and her friends, the book explores with rich humor and deep honesty the irrationality of adult medieval attitudes toward faith, knowing, gender, and love. Coming across challenges that most every young person faces, the Aquitaine youth resolve situations in exciting, unusual and sometimes epic ways. Alienor and her friends face an intruding medieval era of brutal lovelessness, injustice, and corrupt power. By adventures with friends, transforming experiences, and support of her just father and vital grandmother, she discovers the bounds of character. The codes she makes for herself guide her to become a self-possessed leader who will establish the Western traditions of chivalry, romance, courtly justice, and personal faith. The novel Alienor is as much an entertaining celebration of youthful childhood as it is an understanding of the provocative journey that has shaped the Western soul. In development for twelve years, the novel reconstructs Eleanor of Aquitaine’s new history based on the latest scholastic research. Educators, students, and actors may find the book valuable to understanding a vivid era and the minor keys of a complex personality she will express in major keys during her maturity. This is a book that draws you into Alienor’s complex layers of life, and an emerging civilization in flux. When you open the pages, the characters are in motion. As you catch up to their life experiences with Alienor, you enter the story that leaves you feeling a slightly better person for having read it.
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