Book
The Assassin’s Prayer
First published 2010
In 1176 Henry II orders Adelia Aguilar to accompany his young daughter Joan on the long journey from England to Palermo, where the princess is to marry William II of Sicily. The royal procession carries nobles, servants, musicians, treasure and the symbolic weight of an Angevin marriage alliance across medieval Europe. Adelia's task is to safeguard Joan's health, but the journey soon becomes dangerous for reasons that have little to do with ordinary travel.
Members of the company begin to die, suspicion falls on Adelia, and accusations of witchcraft make her medical knowledge a liability rather than a protection. An enemy from her past is travelling with the party under a concealed identity and intends to turn the progress towards Sicily into a prolonged act of revenge. The novel combines a travelling murder mystery with the real dynastic marriage between Joan of England and William II, using the road from Henry II's domains to the Norman kingdom of Sicily as both political mission and hunting ground.
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