Does ample justice to these mysterious islands. To read my long review, go to the product page and click to customer reviews.

Eleanor of Aquitaine dictates her memoirs. 'Power of a Woman' leads readers through an astonishing odyssey, Eleanor's life.

Eleanor comes through as her own creature, able to substantially command her Fate in an adverse world. When she is present she commands the page -- but too often she is absent.

I had the pleasure of meeting the author. A wonderful man; Claude Marks taught me much that I know about Eleanor and her middle ages -- and her middle age!

A book packed with this much detail is usually intended for scholars, but William Urry's "Thomas Becket" works for general readers, too.

A devout Christian, but there is much of the old Nature-based religions in Hildegard, too.

Noble daughters were raised to be placed in suitable marriages. Such ladies were also well equipped to lead. Many learned skills, from politics to poetry, to management of family domains and estates.