"Having shared many years with Queen Alienor, exposed night and day to her brilliant mind, her lively wit, and her pithy observations on the nature of mankind as she recalled the events of her life, I am left only with memories. "But what memories "Not a day passes that I do not recall one of the many tales of her adventures...her many youthful recollections of those events, histories, and tragedies that occurred in her beloved Aquitaine." So begins the story by a contemporary storyteller that gives new insights into the early life of the legendary Duchess of Aquitaine, a young woman who by personality and circumstance was far ahead of her time: high-spirited, willful, and intelligent, and the richest marriage prize in Europe. It is a story of a young girl coming of age, set against a historically accurate background, filled with captivating accounts of family scandals and gossip, adventures and lessons, music and romance. In a world inhabited by handsome young squires, lively troubadours, powerful lords and churchmen, it vividly brings the twelfth century to life around young Ali as she learns how to rule: first a household and then the vast duchy of Aquitaine. Caught up in the struggles between men of political and ecclesiastic power, at the very center of a culture where marriages are arranged and women have little or no say about anything, Ali finds that love is possible, but so is heartbreak as her wish to rule Aquitaine struggles with desire. Having learned that duty is the highest measure of honor, she must find a way to come to terms with the force of men who hold all the power."