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by Terri Lewis (Author)
For fans of Maggie O'Farrell, a coming-of-age story and a royal love triangle marked by danger and longing, based on real events in medieval France and England.
Romantic and stubborn, eleven-year-old Isi plans to marry for love and be mistress of her own castle. But life in 1198 is full of threat and a series of tragic events teaches her growing up is hard. When Isi falls for Hugh, a French nobleman, he consents to marry her, but only for her dowry. She longs for more. Hoping a jealous man will fall in love, she flirts with a king. The flirtation backfires: King John abducts and marries her. Now trapped in cold, warring England with a malicious husband, Isi must hide her yearning for Hugh and find her own power. If she fails, she won't live to return to her beloved. Inspired by real historical figures--Isabelle d'Angoulême, Hugh de Lusignan, and King John of Magna Carta fame--Behold the Bird in Flight is set in a period that valued women only for their dowries and childbearing. Isabelle's story has been mainly erased by men, but the medieval chronicles suggest a woman who developed her own power and wielded it. And as the woman behind the throne, who's to say she didn't influence history?Author Biography
Terri Lewis fell in love with medieval history in college. Not the dates or wars, but the mysterious daily lives of the people. Building on this love, she read and traveled widely, marveling at Europe's preserved towns and castles. Finally, two sentences in a book bought at Windsor Castle led her to write Behold the Bird in Flight. Terri's writing has been honed through workshops with Jill McCorkle, Laura van den Berg, and Rebecca Makkai, and she has published in literary magazines. In 2025, she won the Miami University Press Novella Award. She lives with her husband and two lively dogs in Denver, Colorado.
