The Heart of the Lion

Written by Eleanor Hibbert under the pseudonym of Jean Plaidy.

Henry II was dead and his son Richard had come to the throne.
He had vowed to win back Jerusalem for the Christian world and was ready to place his kingdom in jeopardy to fulfill that vow even though his treacherous brother John was casting covetous eyes on the crown.
Richard's life was one fantastic adventure after another, but this is not merely an account of full-blooded adventure; it is also the revelation of the strange nature of England's most romantic King.
Here is the colour and splendour of an age when chivalry and cruelty went side by side. It is inhabited by the shrewd King of France who was tormented by the emotions aroused in him by his natural enemy; Berengaria, Richard's Queen, who could never hold the place in his life for which she longed; Joanna, his sister who adored and jet defied him; Prince John, his violent and treacherous brother; aged Queen Eleanor living on as vital as ever. And dominating them all was the fearless romantic monarch who, the world said, had the heart of a lion.