

It is with a soft voice, full of menace, that our mother commands us to overthrow our father . . .

Richard Lionheart tells the story of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1173, she and three of her sons instigate a rebellion to overthrow the English king, her husband Henry Plantagenet. What prompts this revolt? How does a great queen persuade her children to rise up against their father? And how does a son cope with this crushing conflict of loyalties?

Replete with poetry and cruelty, this story takes us to the heart of the relationship between a mother and her favourite son – two individuals sustained by literature, unspoken love, honour and terrible violence.


An unbridled epic . . . Oedipus and Shakespeare at the palace of Poitiers, 'Game of Thrones' in Aquitaine
Le Point
A profound, modern take on the deepest recesses of the human soul
Livres Hebdo
It takes a certain amount of audacity of tackle the life of the immense figure of Eleanor of Aquitaine. But Clara Dupont-Monod dances beautifully with history, never putting a foot wrong