The Chessboard Queen

Available From:

Add to your Goodreads To-Read Shelf

In Guinevere, Sharan Newman told us the story of that lovely and legendary woman’s childhood up until her wedding night.

Guinevere is now the beautiful young wife and queen of King Arthur, a position much-coveted by all women of Camelot. But nothing in life is ever certain, and soon Guinevere discovers–most alarmingly–her deep and passionate love for another man: Lancelot, the most beloved Knight of the Round Table in all of Camelot. Here Sharan Newman brings the legend of Lancelot and Guinevere to life with the same blend of magic and history that has made her Catherine LeVendeur medieval mystery series such a success. As ambitious and striking as The Mists of Avalon and The Hollow Hills, The Chessboard Queen is a beautiful rendering of the world’s most timeless romance, a tale of earthly passion and spiritual love like no other before or since.

Reviews

“An intriguing ambiance, blending the magical and the historical in this fresh perspective on the Arthurian romance.” —Publishers Weekly

“The fine storytelling and engagingly fresh characterizations that made Guinevere such a treat are even better in The Chessboard Queen.” —Anne McCaffrey

About the Author

Sharan Newman is a medieval historian and author. She took her Master’s degree in Medieval Literature at Michigan State University and then did her doctoral work at the University of California at Santa Barbara in Medieval Studies, specializing in twelfth-century France. She is a member of the Medieval Academy and the Medieval Association of the Pacific.

Rather than teach, Newman chose to use her education to write novels set in the Middle Ages, including three Arthurian fantasies and more than half a dozen mysteries set in twelfth-century France, featuring Catherine LeVendeur, a one-time student of Heloise at the Paraclete; her husband, Edgar, an Anglo-Scot; and Solomon, a Jewish merchant of Paris. The books focus on the life of the bourgeoisie and minor nobility and also the uneasy relations between Christians and Jews at that time. They also incorporate events of the twelfth-century such as the Second Crusade and the rise of the Cathars.

The Catherine Levendeur mysteries have been nominated for many awards. Sharan won the Macavity Award for best first mystery for Death Comes As Epiphany, the Herodotus Award for best historical mystery for Cursed in the Blood, and The Witch in the Well won the Bruce Alexander award for best historical mystery.

Her mystery The Shanghai Tunnel is set in Portland in 1868.

Newman has also written non-fiction books, including The Real History Behind the Da Vince Code and The Real History Behind the Templars.

Newman lives on a mountainside in Oregon.

Learn More About Author

Books By Sharan Newman