Constance Princesse D Antioche

Winter 1130. The north-west of Syria. Constance is a small child when she discovers the body of her father, Bohémond de Hauteville, killed and beheaded by the Saracens. She has become the unique heir of the Principality of Antioch. Her mother Alice, the regent, schemes endlessly to oust this child she hates and seize the power. Bullied by some, ignored by others, the little girl can only count on the affection of Leïla, the mysterious guardian of the hammam. Constance's life is shattered when at the age of nine she is secretly married to a Knight from Poitou almost four times her age. In the midst of palace intrigues and the terrible wars that tear apart the middle-east at the time of the crusades - Turkish invasions, Byzantine claims over land, inner fights amongst the Franks -Constance fights her own battles to accomplish her destiny as a woman and as a princess. Written in the first person, I, Constance is the story of an exceptional destiny, unravelling in the colourful and sensual world of the Frankish knights of the Levant. Marina Dédéyan is of Russian and Armenian origins, and she was born in 1969. Moi Constance Princesse d'Antioche is her first novel.