The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, a novel, C.W. Gortner

"The truth is, none of us are innocent. We all have sins to confess."

So reveals Catherine de Medici in this brilliantly imagined novel about one of history's most powerful and controversial women. To some she was the ruthless queen who led France into an era of savage violence. To others she was the passionate savior of the French monarchy. Acclaimed author C.W. Gortner brings Catherine to life in her own voice, allowing us to enter into the intimate world of women whose determination to protect her family's' throne and realm plunged her into a lethal struggle for power.

The last legitimate descendant of the illustrious Medici line, Catherine suffers the expulsion of her family from her native Florence and narrowly escapes death at the hands of an enraged mob. While still a teenager, she is betrothed to Henri son of Francois I of France, and sent from Italy to an unfamiliar realm where she is overshadowed and humiliated by her husband's life long mistress. Ever resilient, Catherine strives to create a role for herself through her patronage of the famous clairvoyant Nostradamus and her own innate gift as a seer. But in her fortieth year, Catherine is widowed, left alone with six young children as regent of a Kingdom torn apart by religious discord and the ambitions of a treacherous nobility.

Relying on her tenacity, wit, and uncanny gift for compromise, Catherine seizes power, intent on securing the throne for her sons. She allies herself with the enigmatic Protestant leader Cologny, with whom she shares an infinite secret, and implacably carves a path toward peace, unaware that her own dark fate looms before her a fate that, if she is to save France, will demand the sacrifice of her, ideals, her reputation, and the passion of her embattled heart.

If the reader enjoys the Janette Oke books, let me suggest, Montana Rose, Montana Marriagees Book 1 Mary Connealy

Cassie Griffin has always dressed in silks. Her free spending husband expects nothing less. But now he has died, leaving her unprotected, heavily in debt, and pregnant. As any single woman doesn't remain so for long in Divide, Montana, Cassie wonders if marrying one of the local cowboys might be her only choice. After seeing her choices, she then wonders if joining her husband might be even better.

Red Dawson has always had a soft spot in his heart for Cassie, even though most of the townspeople see her only as a silk clad china doll. When she's left a widow, only one thing keeps him from immediately sweeping her off her feet, she's a non believer.

As the other cowboys lay claim to Cassie, the most powerful rancher in the area steps forward to demand what he thinks rightly belongs to him, and the property that goes with her. Red struggles with figuring out what to do but decides he can't allow Cassie to suffer a fate worse than death and marries her himself.

Will Red win over this seemingly fragile and spoiled china doll's heart, and survive her unique brand of ranch help in the meantime? Will Cassie find true love with her cowboy, and his God, when she exchanges smooth silk for course calico?

Calico Canyon, Lassoed in Texas, Book Two, Mary Connealy

Running from her abusive foster father, a man intent on revenge, the prim and perfectly proper Grace Calhoun takes on the job of school marm in Mosqueros, Texas. Soon enough, Grace has her hands full with the five rowdy and rambunctious Reeves boys, tough Texas tormentors who seem intent on making her life miserable. When, in an attempt to escape the clutches of her pursuer, Grace is forced to marry widower, Daniel Reeves, father of the miniature monsters, she thinks things couldn't get any worse. Or could the?

This large print book carries the Seal of Approval of N.A.V.H.

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