Booklog 16/2025: Elizabeth Chadwick: The Irish Princess - Audiobook

[jacey]

Audiobook narrated by Aoifa McMahon
The beautiful Aoife MacMurchada is 14 years old when her father Diarmit, King of Leinster, is deposed by a new Irish high king and flees with his family to the England of Henry II. A mutual acquaintance suggests an alliance with Richard de Clare of Striguil on the Welsh Borders. Because of his support of Stephen during the Stephen/Mathilda conflict, Richard has recently been divested of Pembroke on the death of King Stephen and the accession of Henry, so he's open to new opportunities, even if it means fighting for them. An alliance between Diarmit and Richard means a wedding, but Aoife isn't about to be a pawn in anyone's game. If she does this, she'll do it on her own terms. Though the marriage is successful, it's short, and Aoife consistently works to protect her future and her children's inheritance through her guarded friendship with Henry II. Her daughter Isabelle de Clare will eventually resurface as the teen bride of William the Marshal in one of Chadwick's books, The Scarlet Lion, and Marshal has a tiny walk-on part in this book. But The Irish Princess is quite firmly Aiofe's story. Not, perhaps, my favourite Chadwick, but readable and entertaining. Aoifa McMahon's narration works well.