Gwen at eighteen learns from her French guardian, Lord Dupree, on the eve of a battle in 1346, that she is in fact an English heiress. Her distant cousin, who usurped her title fourteen years ago, is about to lead Edward the Third’s English army in the attack on Dupree’s stronghold near Calais. For her safety, Dupree attempts to send her to England. Without knowing her true identity, deserters in her cousin’s force intercept her, kidnap and rape her, and leave her for dead in an English forest on her own estate. Meanwhile the English burn Dupree’s citadel and decimate its population leaving only anarchy behind them.

First a friar, then an abbess shelter and heal Gwen. The abbess, ignorant of Gwen’s claim to a title, assigns Gwen to teach French to Sir Thomas, the twenty-two-year-old nephew of the usurping lord and the apparent heir of Gwen’s manor. Both respect persons without rank and share a distrust of the privileged. They fall in love, but Gwen tries to hide that she cares. As a commoner, Gwen feels she would never be allowed to marry Thomas. Claiming her title would disinherit Thomas and make him ineligible to marry her. Furthermore, Thomas’ ruthless uncle would delight in assassinating her if he ever learned she still lived. Thomas, in the meantime, grows certain Gwen is not what she pretends to be and secretly vows to unravel the mystery surrounding her.

When King Edward III recalls on Sir Thomas to pacify Dupree’s former holdings, Thomas summons Gwen to be his guide. Recognized and trusted by the citizens on Dupree’s land, Gwen endeavors to avoid a military solution to the anarchy by building a coalition for peace.

61,761 words
The above novel was entered in the 2019 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers contest for unpublished works and won an Honorable Mention in the category of Romance.