This twelfth century family was a family at war with itself. The father, King Henry II, had mistresses, a situation that put him at odds with his headstrong, opinionated, and proud wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who had nothing good to say about him once she discovered his perfidy and unfaithfulness and realized that it had taken place right under her very nose. As part of her revenge, she created a rift between the King and their sons. She had trained her eaglets to pluck out the eyes of the eagle. She aggravated Henry so much that finally held her in captivity.
His oldest son and namesake, Henry, whom he had crowned King, so that there would be an orderly transition upon his death, would not wait for his father to die so that he could take the reigns of power. He wanted the reigns and trappings of a king immediately and literally waged war upon his father. This would one day cost them both dearly, as Henry would not live to reap the fruit of his coronation.
Richard, Eleanor's favorite and beloved son, loathed his father and there was no love lost between them. Yet, he is the son who was probably most king-like in his bearing. To add insult to injury, his father took Richard's betrothed, Alice, the young daughter of the King of France, as his mistress when she was no more than a child. This was really no skin off Richard's back, even though it was insulting, as Richard really hankered after Alice's brother, Philip, the future king of France with whom Richard had a "special" relationship.
Geoffrey would join his brother Henry and take up arms against his father. John, the youngest, would play upon his father's sensibilities and make Henry think that John was someone other than what he truly was, a cruel, craven, and dissolute youth. So much so did John fool him, that Henry eventually declared that John was to be his successor to the throne, incurring Richard's lifelong enmity.
It would be Eleanor who would have the last laugh, however, as she would survive her captivity and, even though she was about twelve years Henry's senior, she would also survive Henry. Eleanor would go on to see her favorite son, Richard the Lionhearted, crowned King of England.
This is an engrossing and enjoyable work of historical fiction.