Maid Marian

Marian Fitzwater is married at five, to seal a financial bargain between two families. She never sees the boy again before he dies at seventeen, which leaves her a widow who was never really a wife. With King Richard away on Crusade, she becomes a ward of the crown, and her future rests with Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Eleanor arranges a second marriage, this time into a family with a record of convenient deaths. Marian understands what will happen once her new husband has control of her lands. On the eve of the wedding, Robin Hood's men take her into Sherwood Forest, and the world believes she is dead.

Among the outlaws, Marian finds safety and also someone who matches her in mind and spirit. Together they work out a plan to win back her inheritance and expose the men who intend to profit from her death.

This is a historical retelling of the Robin Hood legend, told from Marian's point of view. She is given the resourcefulness and initiative that the old ballads usually grant to Robin. The stakes are personal and practical: land, survival and a false death that she can turn to her advantage.