In the first chapter, Richard states as his reason for marrying Maria: “This castle’s at the throat of the whole region. The story follows many years of Maria’s life in chronological order from the time she is 14. Maria, however, has a mind of her own and puts it to use. Although Richard comes to appreciate her management skills and hard work, he also wants her to be more compliant to his commands. Richard and Maria have a stormy love-hate relationship. She is convinced by her father to marry Richard, one of his knights. She has been managing her father’s household very competently since she was a young teen. Maria is the only child of Robert Strongarm, a Norman baron. This article includes helpful background about medieval Sicily. It is therefore somewhat difficult to picture where the action takes place, although Holland’s descriptions are helpful. I believe the place names Holland includes are made up, since I could not find them on any map of that region and era. The novel takes place in a fictionalized Sicily (the island off the “toe” of present-day Italy) in the 1000’s, during the time the Normans (of French heritage) were fighting the Saracens (Muslims) for dominance. Great Maria is one of the few with a female lead character-and what a character she is. Cecelia Holland is a well-known writer of historical fiction, whose novels often features male protagonists.
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