One Seed Sown (Thwarted Queen, #2)

ONE SEED SOWN is the second in a series of four books about Cecylee Neville (1415-1495), mother of Richard III and Edward IV, Queen by Right and Abbess. This tale of Cecylee’s love-affair with an archer on the Rouen garrison will appeal to readers of Historical Romance.

It is the summer of 1441. Cecylee is twenty-six years old and has been married to Richard, Duke of York for four years. Richard has just assumed the role of Governor of Normandy, and he, Cecylee, and their entire household have crossed the channel to take up residence in Rouen, the capital of English France.

During that summer, Richard sets off for Pontoise to teach the French a lesson. Cecylee is left to hold court in the castle of Rouen with the wives of Richard’s generals. Her life laps placidly onward during those sleepy days of high summer, when suddenly, a mysterious young man appears. Cecylee soon loses her heart to this charming stranger.

Cecylee’s private name for him is M. Beaujambs, because of his long, and very shapely legs, but history knows him as Blaybourne. Who is he? Is he an aristocrat of the House of Savoy? Or the son of a humble blacksmith? And if the latter, where did he get his exquisite manners? And his university education? And what is he doing in Rouen? By turns baffled and enchanted, Cecylee finds herself confronted by an intriguing challenge.

Set in the waning days of the Hundred Years War we see Cecylee struggle against overwhelming love, surrounded by well-wishers and those who would destroy her, while her husband strives to keep English France in English hands.