Song for Eloise — Leigh Sauerwein

This colorful tale of love and loss is set in France at the end of the 12th century. It is the time of the troubadours and of the Sixth Crusade. Young Eloise is given in marriage to a loyal vassal and has gone to live in his castle. Her uncle, John, just back from the fifth crusade, seeks penance in an abbey where he illuminates manuscripts and longs to fresco the altars. Thomas, the troubadour, and his companion, Babel, the juggler, make their way from village to village, from tavern to castle, singing and entertaining. While peasants work the fields, knights hunt and fight and joust, monks pray the hours of the day, and the seasons turn, Lady Eloise and Thomas, devoted friends separated as children, reunite across an inseparable divide. Song for Eloise conveys all the pageantry of medieval life, evoking the mystery and wonder of that long ago time, imbuing it with the passion of timeless romance.