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Queen of Night
Heart-wrenching historical romance: the untold story of Queen Joanna I of Naples
The year is 1338 and Richilde Benoit and her siblings have set sail to Rome on a family trip.
But when their vessel is captured by pirates, Richilde’s family is brutally raped and murdered.
Eleven year old Richilde experiences unimaginable terror but her life is spared.
The young English girl is sold, educated and groomed for the purposes of becoming a playmate and servant to the Duchess of Calabria, Joanna, the heir to the throne of Naples.
Commissioned by Joanna’s nurse, governess and foster mother, Donna Filippa, Richilde is thought to be a perfect match for Joanna’s needs.
Joanna and Richilde’s friendship blossoms; the girls share their secrets and Richilde suffers severe whippings on Joanna’s behalf.
She is both loyal to and protects her younger playmate who will inherit the kingdom.
Joanna is betrothed to Prince Andrew of Hungary, younger brother to the future King but unbeknown to both girls, Joanna’s foster mother, Donna, begins to hatch a manipulative plan.
In a bid to capture the kingdom for herself, Donna conspires against Joanna and aware of her desires, exposes the future queen to passions that would live on forever…
Stripping Joanna’s innocence under the pretence of educating her, Donna initiates a stream of sadistic events which will lead to the young Queen’s downfall.
In their struggle for survival, both Joanna and Richilde endure countless attempts on their lives; exposure to several counts of rape and deceit; brutal murders of their loved ones … but, amidst it all, their strength to survive rallies on … as does their friendship …
The year is 1338 and Richilde Benoit and her siblings have set sail to Rome on a family trip.
But when their vessel is captured by pirates, Richilde’s family is brutally raped and murdered.
Eleven year old Richilde experiences unimaginable terror but her life is spared.
The young English girl is sold, educated and groomed for the purposes of becoming a playmate and servant to the Duchess of Calabria, Joanna, the heir to the throne of Naples.
Commissioned by Joanna’s nurse, governess and foster mother, Donna Filippa, Richilde is thought to be a perfect match for Joanna’s needs.
Joanna and Richilde’s friendship blossoms; the girls share their secrets and Richilde suffers severe whippings on Joanna’s behalf.
She is both loyal to and protects her younger playmate who will inherit the kingdom.
Joanna is betrothed to Prince Andrew of Hungary, younger brother to the future King but unbeknown to both girls, Joanna’s foster mother, Donna, begins to hatch a manipulative plan.
In a bid to capture the kingdom for herself, Donna conspires against Joanna and aware of her desires, exposes the future queen to passions that would live on forever…
Stripping Joanna’s innocence under the pretence of educating her, Donna initiates a stream of sadistic events which will lead to the young Queen’s downfall.
In their struggle for survival, both Joanna and Richilde endure countless attempts on their lives; exposure to several counts of rape and deceit; brutal murders of their loved ones … but, amidst it all, their strength to survive rallies on … as does their friendship …
422 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 12, 1992
About the author
Alan Savage
48 books15 followersChristopher Robin Nicole was born on 7 December 1930 in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana), where he was raised. He is the son of Jean Dorothy (Logan) and Jack Nicole, a police officer, both Scottish. He studied at Queen's College in Guyana and at Harrison College in Barbados. He was a fellow at the Canadian Bankers Association and a clerk for the Royal Bank of Canada in Georgetown and Nassau from 1947 to 1956. In 1957, he moved to Guernsey, Channel Islands, United Kingdom, where he currently lives, but he also has a domicile in Spain.
On 31 March 1951, he married his first wife, Jean Regina Amelia Barnett, with whom he had two sons, Bruce and Jack, and two daughters, Julie and Ursula, they divorced. On 8 May 1982 he married for the second time with fellow writer Diana Bachmann.
As a romantic and passionate of history, Nicole has been published since 1957, when he published a book about West Indian Cricket. He published his first novel in 1959 with his first stories set in his native Caribbean. Later he wrote many historical novels set mostly in tumultuous periods like World War I, World War II and the Cold War, and depict places in Europe, Asia and Africa. He also wrote classic romance novels. He specialized in Series and Sagas, and continues to write into the 21st century with no intention of retiring.
He signs his books as Christopher Nicole and uses several pseudonyms, some of them female. Pseudonyms used include: Peter Grange, Andrew York, Robin Cade, Mark Logan, Christina Nicholson, Alison York, Leslie Arlen, Robin Nicholson, C. R. Nicholson, Daniel Adams, Simon McKay, Caroline Gray and Alan Savage. He wrote disaster thrillers in collaboration with his wife, Diana Bachmann, under the penname Max Marlow. Under his different pseudonyms he has worked with many publishing houses: Jarrolds, Hutchinson, Simon & Schuster, Coward-McCann & Geoghegan, Jove, Michael Joseph, Mills & Boon, and Severn House.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christop... and
http://openlibrary.org/authors/OL1009...
On 31 March 1951, he married his first wife, Jean Regina Amelia Barnett, with whom he had two sons, Bruce and Jack, and two daughters, Julie and Ursula, they divorced. On 8 May 1982 he married for the second time with fellow writer Diana Bachmann.
As a romantic and passionate of history, Nicole has been published since 1957, when he published a book about West Indian Cricket. He published his first novel in 1959 with his first stories set in his native Caribbean. Later he wrote many historical novels set mostly in tumultuous periods like World War I, World War II and the Cold War, and depict places in Europe, Asia and Africa. He also wrote classic romance novels. He specialized in Series and Sagas, and continues to write into the 21st century with no intention of retiring.
He signs his books as Christopher Nicole and uses several pseudonyms, some of them female. Pseudonyms used include: Peter Grange, Andrew York, Robin Cade, Mark Logan, Christina Nicholson, Alison York, Leslie Arlen, Robin Nicholson, C. R. Nicholson, Daniel Adams, Simon McKay, Caroline Gray and Alan Savage. He wrote disaster thrillers in collaboration with his wife, Diana Bachmann, under the penname Max Marlow. Under his different pseudonyms he has worked with many publishing houses: Jarrolds, Hutchinson, Simon & Schuster, Coward-McCann & Geoghegan, Jove, Michael Joseph, Mills & Boon, and Severn House.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christop... and
http://openlibrary.org/authors/OL1009...
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 16, 2013
I think the only reason I'm still reading the book is because it's the only historical fiction novel I can find on Joanna I of Naples, the rest are just historical books. So I'm toughing it out, and I'm on page 117 now.
October 21, 2022
Decent story, especially if you like history. I particularly liked that it was written from the perspective of Joanna's servant rather than Joanna herself, it added a lot of detail and storyline that wouldn't otherwise have been possible. I also liked the levels of action and intrigue, this kept me tuned in and turning the page. Otherwise, I didn't love this. I personally felt like the focus on sex and sexuality of the primary characters was a lot; despite being supposedly told from the perspective of a female servant, it felt like if was written by someone's pervy uncle. The sexual stuff kind of overwhelmed the actual plot line and got repetitive quickly. The historical sections were also a bit dense for anyone who isn't a history buff. So not a complete waste of a read, but I won't be reading anything else by this author.
March 7, 2023
Very so so “biography” on the life of Joanna of Naples as seen through the eyes of her servant. Seemed to go on and on about the so-called adventures of the servant, involving war, rape and torture. Bit of a torture to read!!
December 15, 2010
I yield at page 140 and I skimmed a lot to get that far. Dull as dirty dishwater with a convoluted, impossible to follow storyline.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews