Told in their own voices, in the present tense
Book One: Queen James I of Scotland
The 15th-Century Story of Joan Beaufort from England
Born into the powerful houses of Lancaster and Plantagenet, Joan Beaufort was raised for diplomacy, not danger. As the half-niece of King Henry IV, her childhood was shaped by courtly ambition, shifting alliances, and the quiet expectation that she would marry well—perhaps into European royalty. But fate had other plans.
At fifteen, Joan was betrothed to King James I of Scotland, a captive monarch held in England for nearly two decades. The match was political, designed to elevate the Beaufort name and secure James’s release. Joan resisted. Scotland was foreign, fractured, and far beneath the prestige she had been raised to expect. But when she met James at Queen Katherine’s coronation, everything changed. He was charismatic, poetic, and fiercely determined to rebuild his kingdom. Together, they began to dream.
Their marriage marked the beginning of a new Scottish reign—one built on reform, justice, and grandeur. In Edinburgh, they ruled as partners. Joan was not merely consort; she was a strategist, a voice in Parliament, and a mother to the future of the realm. They punished traitors, built opulent religious houses, and forged alliances across Europe, including a marriage between their daughter and the heir to the French throne. But their vision came at a cost. Lavish spending and strict control bred resentment. Enemies gathered. Rebellions flared.
When their campaign to reclaim Roxburgh Castle collapsed, the consequences were swift and brutal. Joan found herself torn from the life they had built—her partner gone, her son just six, and the kingdom teetering. She secured his coronation, led the council in pursuit of justice, and fought to preserve the monarchy they had shaped together. Her regency was challenged, her safety threatened, and her legacy tested. She smuggled her son out in a chest, married for protection, and continued to arrange her daughters’ futures—all while trying to hold Scotland together with nothing but resolve and memory.
A story of survival, strategy, and quiet power, Queen Joan Beaufort brings to life one of Scotland’s most resilient queens.
Book Two: Queen Robert II of Scotland
The 14th-Century Story of Euphemia Ross; The First Stewart Queen
Set a century before Joan Beaufort’s reign, this story follows Euphemia Ross, a Highland noblewoman who became the second wife of King Robert Stewart II—and the first Stewart Queen. She wasn’t born to be Queen. She wasn’t even meant to be remembered. But Highland-born Euphemia Ross knew how to survive.
Married first to a man who vanished into war, then to Robert Stewart—who would become the first Stewart King of Scotland—Euphemia steps into a court already divided. The crown is his, but the power is scattered among his legitimized sons, his ambitious allies, and the women who know how to wield influence in silence.
Euphemia doesn’t rule with ceremony. She negotiates in corridors, listens in chambers, and builds alliances through marriage, loyalty, and sheer endurance. She watches her stepsons rise and navigates her own children through the shifting politics of a kingdom in flux. All the while, her closest friend, Duffy, Countess of Fife, remains her tether to laughter and memory, even after exile and silence.
Through plague, betrayal, and the slow unravelling of the realm, Euphemia holds her ground.
This is not a story of conquest. It’s a story of calculation. Of a woman who understood that power isn’t always loud, and survival isn’t always pretty. It’s about the choices she made, the children she protected, and the legacy she refused to let slip through her fingers.
Queen Robert II of Scotland is a portrait of a woman who became the first Stewart Queen—and who endured the 14th century with wit, grit, and a spine of iron. History may have tried to forget her. This book does not.
Actual cover coming soon.
Book Three: Queen Robert III of Scotland
The 14th-Century Story of Annabella Drummond
Annabella Drummond's life transforms when her Aunt Margaret marries King David II, granting her a privileged view of court and an arranged marriage to John, the Earl of Carrick and heir to the throne. Their secure position is immediately threatened when King David attempts to divorce Annabella's aunt, drawing Annabella into a high-stakes political quest. She travels with her aunt to London and Avignon in France to seek the Pope's intervention, successfully defending the marriage and learning the true meaning of a queen's power.
An unexpected death soon shifts the crown, forcing Annabella into a fierce rivalry with the new queen, Euphemia Ross, over the future of the Scottish succession. As Scotland teeters on the edge of civil war, Annabella gives birth to the crucial heir, David.
When John eventually becomes King Robert III, a debilitating injury leaves him vulnerable to his ambitious family. Realizing the throne's future depends on her, Annabella takes charge. She orchestrates a brilliant political maneuver to secure her son's claim, battling internal threats to her family's power. But control proves fleeting. Her defiant son's actions spark a new scandal, just as Annabella takes the risky step of secretly harboring a powerful, deposed king from England. Even as she struggles to manage these crises and secure her hard-won dynasty, Queen Annabella's life is tragically cut short.
Will her sacrifices and strategic moves be enough to protect the crown and her children's destiny? Discover the true story of the queen who put everything on the line to save Scotland.
Actual cover coming soon.