The Italian Woman

Name: The Italian Woman
Rating: 4.01 (1983 reviews)

by Jean Plaidy Book 2 in the Medici Trilogy series.

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Catherine de’ Medici enters marriage with Henry of Orléans as part of the diplomatic ambitions of Francis I, knowing that Henry’s affections lie elsewhere. Jeanne of Navarre, who once hoped to marry the same prince, is also forced by dynastic politics onto a different path. Their lives continue to intersect as marriage, inheritance and religion reshape the French royal family.

Years later Jeanne is married to Antoine de Bourbon and increasingly identified with the Protestant cause, while the widowed Catherine becomes the powerful mother of kings. Their political rivalry grows out of opposing religious commitments and competing visions for France. The novel follows the two women through the tensions that precede the Wars of Religion, when family alliances and confessional loyalties begin to pull the monarchy apart.