It all began in March 2014. Women’s History Month in the United States. I casually polled people around me, asking them to name 10 women, living or dead, from across history. Fewer than 5% could do it. When I reduced the request to 5 women, fewer than 10% could. Initially upset at the lack of history literacy around me I decided to do something about it. Beginning with reading the account about Boudicca by Tacitus, I wrote and published Boudicca in less than 4 weeks. The Legendary Women of World History was born. Thirteen narrative biographies with three more collection-style volumes in progress in 2023 bring the accomplishments of history-making women easy to learn and understand.
Most books available in audio edition and translated to numerous languages, including two books in Welsh! Textbook and stage adaption editions also available. Find the Legendary Women of World History series page on Amazon, Audible (minus newer releases Margaret of Wessex and Mary Queen of the Scots), Kobo, and Smashwords.
The Legendary Women of World History series books are:
Boudicca: Britain’s Queen of the Iceni
Why is The Morrígan’s raven crying? Only Britons with hearts for true liberty know! In 43 CE Roman conquest of Britannia seems all but certain — until a chance meeting between King Prasutagus of the Iceni and a runaway slave of royal descent from the Aedui tribe in Gaul changes the fate of the British islands forever. Rise up for liberty with the true story of Boudicca: Britain’s Queen of the Iceni and discover one of the most inspiring stories in history! Tacitus meets modern archaeology in this exciting non-fiction tale of Celtic Britain!
Choose Boudicca in your choice of languages including (but not limited to) Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Welsh-English, and Welsh!
Available in English at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you. Also available in audio edition in English (Apple, Audible), Spanish (Apple, Audible), French (Apple, Audible), and German (Apple, Audible).
Catherine de Valois: French Princess, Tudor Matriarch
War made her queen of England. Her love for a Welshman made her immortal.
Best known as Henry V’s Agincourt bride from Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” Catherine de Valois was an extraordinary woman of faith, courage, and conviction in an age of politically powerful women.
A younger daughter to King Charles VI of France terrorized by his mental illness, Princess Catherine survived the ravages of his schizophrenia, a civil war at home, and King Henry’s war with France to become one of England’s most fascinating and courageous queens. Her children by her second marriage and their descendants changed the landscape of England and Scotland forever, forging together the United Kingdom.
Meet the real Catherine behind the Tudor and Stuart dynasties in this beautiful biography for the entire family.
Includes a War of the Roses family tree, detailed timeline, and detailed suggested reading list/bibliography.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you. Also available in audio edition in English (Apple, Audible), Spanish (Apple, Audible), French (Apple, Audible), and German (Apple, Audible).
Mary Queen of the Scots: the Forgotten Reign
Queen Mary Stuart was one of the most beloved and controversial women in Scottish history. The granddaughter of King James IV and his wife Margaret Tudor, Queen Mary’s status as heiress-apparent to Queen Elizabeth’s throne in England paired with the violence of the Scottish Reformation set the stage for one of the most dramatic and poorly understood lives of the 16th century. Mary Queen of the Scots tells Mary’s true story, focusing primarily on her reign as queen of Scotland, celebrating her life more than her death and showing us all why she was truly a woman ahead of her time. Features a detailed timeline, a list of Latin prayers with their English translations, and the lyrics to all four featured period songs performed in the book, including “Depairte, Depairte” (1545) written in Old Scot.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you. Also available in audio edition at your favorite retailer, including Audible, Apple, Chirp, and LibroFM. Spanish edition available in audio edition at Apple and Audible.
Queen Elizabeth Tudor: the Forgotten Reign
Queen Elizabeth Tudor is still known today as “Gloriana” after her small fleet of agile ships defeated the Spanish Armada’s 131 galleons in the English Channel on 6 August 1588.
“I am by your Council from you commanded to go to the Tower, a place more wanted for a false traitor than a true subject, which though I know I desire it not, yet in the face of all this realm it appears proved,” wrote Princess Elizabeth Tudor in her eleventh-hour letter to sister Queen Mary as guards waited to transport her to the prison at the Tower of London.
Queen Elizabeth is perhaps the most legendary and celebrated ruler in English history. Yet do you really know her as well as you think you do?
In this beautiful narrative biography you explore Elizabeth’s path from “Lady Elizabeth” to “Gloriana” through the lens of her relationship with Robert Dudley, a relationship far more contentious than most people believe. Politics and religion collide, provoking Elizabeth to console herself with her music, and a hard decision lays before her as plots against her life threatens her throne. Take the journey to Gloriana and discover a side to Elizabeth you never knew existed.
Features six medieval and Elizabethan songs, a detailed timeline, and an extensive suggested reading list. Continues “Mary Queen of the Scots.”
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you. Also available in audio edition in English (Apple, Audible), German (Apple, Audible).
Empress Wu Zetian
The most hated woman in Chinese history!
Travel back in time over one thousand years and meet the first and only female emperor of China. Born Wu Zhao and given the reign title “Zetian” just weeks before her death in 705 CE, Empress Wu was the unwanted daughter of Chancellor Wu Shihuo — too bright, too educated, and too politically focused to make a good wife according to contemporary interpretations of the Analects of Confucius.
Married off at age 14 as a low-ranking concubine to Emperor Taizong, Wu’s intelligence, beauty, and charm won her a place as his secretary and protégé, political experience that would empower her to transform the lives of countless billions.
Explore the life of Empress Wu and discover why the world is a vastly different place because she dared what no woman in China before or since ever dreamed of.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you. Also available in audio edition in English (Apple, Audible), French (Apple, Audible), Spanish (Apple, Audible), and German (Apple, Audible).
Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd: the Warrior Princess of Deheubarth
Queen Elizabeth Tudor’s Heroic Welsh Foremother!
Born in 1097 in Aberffraw Castle, Princess Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd ap Cynan was always destined for great things. As daughter to one of Gwynedd’s greatest warriors she grew up strong and passionate — more than a match for her older brothers.
At sixteen Gwenllian’s life changed forever when she fell in love with Prince Gruffydd ap Rhys, the beleaguered heir to Rhys ap Tewdur of Deheubarth. Together husband and wife fought for and ruled southern Wales, challenging the Norman Conquest of Wales and proving once and for all the nobility and courage of the Welsh people, a courage that endures across the centuries and lives in the heart of every Welsh man, woman, and child.
Includes an extensive timeline covering over 400 years of English and Welsh medieval history.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you.
Empress Matilda of England
The roaring lioness of England!
Born in 1102 to King Henry of England and Queen Matilda of Scotland, Matilda’s uniquely royal Norman, Saxon, and Scottish heritage was meant to unify an England still divided by her grandfather’s conquest in 1066. When the 1120 White Ship Disaster made her the only surviving child of her parents, Matilda suddenly became heiress to the English throne in a time when the old Saxon Witan, not the king’s Will, still decided the succession.
Discover the true story of the first woman to claim the throne of England in her own right and be inspired!
Includes Matilda’s family tree charts, a detailed timeline, and a suggested reading list so you can keep learning.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you. Audio edition available in English (Apple, Audible) and German (Apple, Audible).
Hypatia of Alexandria
As the western world fell into darkness, she dared defend the light.
Born in 355 CE in the aftermath of Constantine’s reign, Hypatia of Alexandria lived in a collapsing Roman Empire, a world where obedience to religious authorities trumped science, where reason and logic threatened the new world order. It was a world on the edge of the Dark Ages, a world deciding the question of science verses religion, freedom verses orthodoxy, tolerance verses hate.
For over 40 years Hypatia stood between the dark ages and the light of classical philosophy, arts, and sciences. Though none of her books survived the aggressive book burnings of religious zealots, her legacy remains that of one of the greatest scientists of all time.
This is her fascinating true story.
Includes bibliography, a detailed timeline, and latitude-longitude coordinates for major Roman Empire cities so you can explore the wonders of the heavens with Hypatia.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you. Also available in audio edition in English (Apple , Audible and Spanish (Apple, Audible).
Cleopatra VII: Egypt’s Last Pharaoh
The exciting true story of Egypt’s most famous queen!
Cleopatra Thea Philopator refused to do what she was told. In an age where patriarchy denied full citizenship to even the most elite of Roman women, Cleopatra ruled her Egypt determined to keep it independent and free from Roman control — at any price necessary. Demonized as a simple seductress by Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (the future Caesar Augustus) and his political allies, Cleopatra VII proved herself the equal to three of the most powerful men of the Roman world: Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Antonius, and Octavian Caesar.
Includes a detailed timeline, suggested reading list/bibliography, and a special Easter egg for Doctor Who fans.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you.
Margaret of Wessex
The 11th century was a dangerous time to be of the line unbroken of King Æthelred II Unread and his first queen, Æfgifu of York. Born in Hungary after King Canute III’s failed attempt to murder her father, Edward the Exile, Margaret found her life turned upside down by King Edward the Confessor’s discovery of her father’s survival — and the resulting recall of her family to England.
Now a political hostage only kept alive for as long as it served powerful men’s interests, Margaret and her family found King Máel Coluim mac Donnchadh Ceann Mhor (Malcolm III Canmore)’s invitation to his court in Dunfermline the long-awaited answer to her prayers. Scotland would never be the same again.
Includes two family tree charts, an expansive timeline covering over three thousand years of Pictish and medieval history, plus Roman Catholic prayers, and a bibliography so you can keep learning.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you.
Audio edition at Audible, Apple, Chirp, LibroFm, Barnes/Noble, Everand, Spotify, and an audio retailer near you.
Hildegard von Bingen
With the power of her pen she changed Christendom forever.
Hildegard von Bingen was never meant to be remembered by history. The tenth child of one of the Graf von Sponheim’s knights, she was given to Disibodenberg monastery partly out of gratitude to God, but also partly because her visions made her too odd to make a suitable wife.
When she succeeded Jutta von Sponheim as Magistra and prioress of Disibodenberg monastery she found herself unable to keep her visions secret any longer. What happened next led her to revolutionize not only monastic life for women, but the whole world too.
Meet medieval Europe’s most prolific author, the legendary Hildegard von Bingen.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you. Also available in audio edition at Apple and Audible.
Katharina von Bora: First Lady of the Reformation
The legendary life of Katharina von Bora Luther!
Born in 1499, Katharina started her education at first the convent at Brehna, then continued it in Kloster Nimbschen where she took vows as a nun at the age of sixteen and expected to live the whole of her life.
God, however, had other plans. On Easter Eve 1523 she escaped with eleven other nuns to Wittenberg, a move meant to be temporary until a more permanent home could be found for her. What happened next changed the world in this family story filled with music in the original German.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you. Also available in audio edition at Apple and Audible.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Aliénor was the most sought after bride in all of Christendom – and not simply because she was beautiful. The eldest daughter of Duke William X of Aquitaine, she inherited his vast duchy at the age of just 15 and was crowned queen of the Franks that same year.
But love was not to be for the beautiful duchess, despite two marriages and giving birth to a total of ten children. Troubadours sang her praises and composed the first romantic love songs. Tales of King Arthur and his round table were first told in her honor. She transformed two emerging empires and made Aquitaine the most faithful continental ally to England. She was a legend in her time and ours.
This is her remarkable true story.
Available at Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes/Noble, Everand, and at a retailer near you.
Laurel A. Rockefeller 