Time and Chance

England and the Angevin lands, 1156–1171. Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine rule a realm stretching from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees while raising a large royal family. Henry’s efforts to strengthen royal justice bring him into conflict with Thomas Becket, his former chancellor and newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.

The dispute over church privilege becomes exile, public confrontation and eventually Becket’s murder. Alongside the political crisis, the novel follows Eleanor’s role in dynastic government, Henry’s relationship with Rosamund Clifford and the growing ambitions of their sons, showing how the apparent strength of the Angevin court contains the foundations of later rebellion.