Time and Chance

Sharon Penman is also the author of "The Sunne in Splendour" and "When Christ and Saints Slept".

This second part of the trilogy about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine opens during the glory years of their reign when trouble was brewing. The new Archbishop of Canterbury was a potential foe, but Henry's infidelity with Rosamund Clifford made him the gravest enemy of all - his queen.

TIME AND CHANCE, the second part of the trilogy about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, opens during the glory years of their reign.

While Henry redefined the role of medieval kingship, Eleanor gave birth to their children, founding a dynasty that would endure for 300 years. But even in these happy times, shadows were lurking. Battles on two borders. The disastrous appointment of Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury. And when Henry took lovely young Rosumund Clifford into his bed, little did he realise that in making an enemy of his proud, passionate queen he was making the gravest mistake of all ...