Legend has long told the story of Blondel the Lute Player who found the lost soldier-king Richard Coeur-de-Lion-kidnapped on the way back from the great crusade to the Holy Land. Blondel found his king by travelling for months across Europe singing the first part of a love-song which Richard and he had composed together. One day, from behind castle walls, the voice of Richard responded to the strain. But why would a minstrel embark on such a risky pilgrimage to find his king? Norah Lofts weaves a fascinating back-story to the tale of the Lionheart who strode out of the courts of...

With the coming of the 20th century, the house was in decline-soon to be broken into apartments and shops, including a cafe serving the increasingly poorer passing trade. For Public Health Inspector Jonathan Roper it was a disgrace that should be demolished without further ado. But whether they loved it or hated it, the the Old Vine had affected every person who came into contact with it. Their stories were woven into the house's timber, bricks and mortar; the ghosts of love, hate, jealousy, deceit and murder haunted it-and when the very fabric of the house itself was threatened, the battle...

"Princesses are born to be exiled. What is the alternative? Spinsterhood?" Thus the future of Caroline Matilda, youngest sister of George III, was settled - marriage to the nearly insane Prince of Denmark. Prompted by a sense of foreboding, she begged that one of her sisters should be sent in her place. But Caroline was the healthiest, the strongest of the English princesses, and as well as being exiled, princesses were meant to be brood mares... Exiled in a strange country, isolated by her inability to speak the language, Caroline forms a close bond with the King's doctor, Johann Struensee....