The Schoonover Collection Queen's Cross
By: by Lawrence Schoonover.
Edition: 2008
Series: The Schoonover Collection
Publisher: Fountain City Publishing
Published: 2008
Place of publication: [Knoxville, Tenn.]
Language: eng
Format: TPB
Number of pages: 389
ISBN-13: 9780976086741
Copyright date: 1955, 2008
Subjects: Isabella -- I, -- Queen of Spain, -- 1451-1504 -- Fiction.; Ferdinand -- V, -- King of Spain, -- 1452-1516 -- Fiction.
Genres: Fiction.
First sentence: THE provincial town of Arevalo was in no way distinguished; it was not a suitable residence for a queen. The walls of the alcazar, the principal fortress of the place, were in disrepair. The iron bars at the window slits, which should have been smart with paint, were weak with rust. The castle gardens suffered from lack of care, for the queen had lost her taste for flowers and in any event her meager pension, irregularly paid, could not support an adequate staff.
Yet the countryside was pleasant and healthful. The wheat fields, stretching in all directions, shone and undulated like a golden sea to wash the foot of the long low line of hills that rose on either horizon. The purple-flowered saffron, an herb indispensable to Castilian cookery, impregnated the clear air with a sweet aromatic perfume that would have impressed a traveler, had there been any, as exotic.
Description: “...the narrative puts the meat of living flesh on the dry bones of skeletonized history...Schoonover’s best effort to date.” -Chicago Sunday Tribune

“Picaresque, romantic recreation of history...” -Kirkus Book Reviews

“A real contribution to the history of Spain and the Spanish people...recommended for pubic school and university libraries” -Library Journal

“...unfurled in swatches of bright color and sound sentiments, you will like ‘The Queen’s Cross.’ ” -Saturday Review

“The tale of the beautiful and able young Isabella of Castile...illuminating, swift-moving, and filled with color” - The New York Times

Accident, or Divine Plan?
A girl’s unlikely inheritance of Spain’s crown and her arranged marriage to a handsome, rash ally opens the door to her greatest dream: a united, powerful, and enduring kingdom.
This is Lawrence Schoonover’s gripping and elegant story of intrigue, hard combat, and the love of a woman for her country, her religion, and her dynamic and flawed partner and husband.
Notes: Excerpt:
If Isabella had been nothing but a farmer’s wife and her husband a mere peasant, all the neighbors for miles around would have been gossiping about her troubles, since nothing is ever quite so fascinating as other people’s private affairs. Since she was queen and Ferdinand king the gossip reached national proportions.
“How will she receive him?” Cabrera asked anxiously. “And do stop crying, Beatriz. I haven’t got any bastard sons up my sleeve!”
“How can I be sure!” Beatriz snapped. Her eyes were swollen and red.
“This isn’t a bit good for the state, you know. As if we were not already disastrously divided! If sovereigns cannot live in unity how can you expect the nation to? Now there will be a Ferdinand-faction and an Isabella-faction, added to all the other factions.”
“Oh no, there won’t! You do not know Isabella. How will she receive him? She will receive him like a queen. That is the only way to curb the brute!”