The Lion and the Leopard: Book 1

Love, Duty and Loyalty Collide in a Dramatic Fashion to Determine King Edward II's Future in the Medieval Historical Romance, The Lion and the Leopard, by Mary Ellen Johnson

--Medieval England in the reign of Edward II, from 1307-1327--

Maria Rendell wants to be a dutiful wife to husband Phillip, but can't deny her attraction to their liege lord, Richard of Sussex. Loving Philip should be easy. She has married the knight of whom minstrels sing; the knight who saved Richard's life. But when Phillip abandons Maria to indulge his wanderlust, she turns to Richard, sparking a scandelous, passionate affair amidst the crumbling kingdom of Edward II.

Meanwhile, Edward II's barons are rebelling, executing his favorites, while across the channel in France, Isabella, Edward II's wife--the She-Wolf of France-plans to invade England.

Then King Edward is captured as Richard and Maria prepare to flee to safety, and Phillip returns to discover Maria's betrayal.

The day of reckoning is now at hand--not only for Maria, Richard, and Phillip, but for that most unfortunate of Plantagenet kings, Edward II.

From the Publisher: Readers with a passion for history will appreciate the author's penchant for detail and accuracy. In keeping with being authentic to the era, this story contains scenes of brutality which are true to the time and man's inhumanity. There are a limited number of sexual scenes and NO use of modern vulgarity. Fans of Elizabeth Chadwick, Bernard Cornwell and Philippa Gregory as well as Tamara Leigh and Suzan Tisdale will not want to miss this series.

"Author Mary Ellen Johnson strides through history with the reader in the front seat." Karen Lausa

". . . it challenged my intellect as well as my heart." Margaret Watkins, eBook Discovery Reviewer

THE KNIGHTS OF ENGLAND, in series order
The Lion and the Leopard
A Knight There Was
Within A Forest Dark
A Child Upon The Throne
Lords Among the Ruins

Mary Ellen Johnson’s writing career was sparked by her passion for Medieval England. Her first medieval historical, The Lion and the Leopard, was followed by The Landlord’s Black-Eyed Daughter, a historical novel based on the Alfred Noyes poem, ＂The Highwayman.＂ (Published under the pseudonym, Mary Ellen Dennis.) Landlord was chosen as one of the top 100 historical romances of 2013.

After taking a twenty year detour in a quixotic quest to change the world--rather like Arthurian knights’ quests to find the holy grail, which ended in similar failure--Mary Ellen has happily returned to historical fiction writing and her favorite time period, the tumultuous fourteenth century. Her five book series, Knights of England, follows the fortunes of the characters (and their progeny) introduced in The Lion and the Leopard through the Black Death, the reign of that most gloriously medieval of monarchs, Edward III, the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, and ends with the deposition and murder of Richard II in 1399.

There is nothing Mary Ellen loves more than bringing Medieval England alive for the reader. She particularly enjoys researching battles, campaigns, the daily lives of both lord and peasant, and trying to figure out our ancestors’ thought processes, particularly how they viewed their world. Oh, and did she mention the castles and cathedrals? Mary Ellen likes to say her favorite place in all the world is standing before the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral. (Hyperbole, of course, since Mary Ellen is not that well-traveled and her favorite places are probably wherever her kids and grandkids reside.)

However--and the very recounting gives her chills--a distant cousin recently shared the results of her years-long genealogical research on the family tree. When flipping back and back through the centuries, Mary Ellen began finding names that were hauntingly familiar--John of Gaunt, Edward the Black Prince, Edward II, Edward III, even Richard the Lionheart! All the historical characters she’s spent a lifetime reading and writing about! How can that be? Genetic memory? Reincarnation? She has no idea but you can bet she’ll be exploring the possibilities in future novels!

In the meantime, Mary Ellen hopes you’ll enjoy reading The Lion and the Leopard, A Knight There Was, Within a Forest Dark and Lords Among the Ruins as much as she’s enjoyed writing them.