biographical fiction

The Last Queen is a fictionalized autobiography of Juana of Castile, known to history as Juana la Loca, the daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain.  The third child of their Catholic Majesties is betrothed to Philip the Fair, Duke of Burgundy, grandson and heir of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.  (I had occasionally wondered how Spain got into the Netherlands. Now I know.)  Theirs was a grand teenage love at first sight.  But the courts of Spain are decorous and somber…. The courts of Northern Europe are quite a different matter.  Juana must fight for her marriage.

Fate interferes

This historical novel, Muhammad follows the life of Muhammad from his birth in 570 CE to his death in 632. Each chapter gives the view of a particular person in Muhammad’s circle of friends, family, followers, foes. Muhammad is orphaned at an early age, grows up to work as a merchant, does not see himself as divine. He is visited by the angel, Gabriel and told to recite. After a period of resisting this directive, Muhammad does cooperate and recites the Koran (which means “to recite”). This leads to his becoming the leader of a new religion which asks of it’s followers to renounce their