First volume in a planned trilogy of historical novels spanning the life and times of Emma of Normandy, whose political marriage to Aethelred II of England in AD 1002 was meant to seal an alliance between England and Normandy against the depredations of the Danish sea raiders.
At the time of her marriage to the much older and already once widowed king, the fifteen-year-old Emma became the stepmother of his eleven children from his first marriage, including seven sons, the eldest of whom was the same age as herself. Although she was expected to bear sons to solidify the alliance between her husband and her brother, Duke Richard of Normandy, no on seriously expected her to wield any power herself or that any child of hers would succeed to the throne of England.
But Emma's destiny will be far greater than anyone imagined: twice queen of England by her marriages to Aethelred the Unready (1002-1016) and Cnut the Great of Denmark (1017-1035), two of her sons (one by each husband) and two of her stepsons (one from each husband) would be acknowledged kings of England.
Thus Emma's fateful marriage sets into motion a train of events that would culminate in the Norman Conquest of AD 1066 and the crowning of Duke William of Normandy, Emmas great-nephew --- known to history as William the Conqueror --- as King of England.
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