VII History

Thoroughly bored of Heaven, Eleanor of Aquitaine passes the time by looking back over her long and complicated life in this charming and wryly humorous speculative middle grade novel from E.L. Konigsburg, the Newbery Medal-winning author of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife to two kings, mother to two others, has been waiting in Heaven a long time--eight centuries, more or less--to be reunited with her second husband, Henry II of England. Finally, the day has come when Henry will be judged for admission. While Eleanor, never a patient woman in life or afterlife, waits, three people, each of whom was close to Eleanor during a time of her life, join her.

Their reminiscences do far more than help distract Eleanor--they also paint a rich portrait of an extraordinary woman who was front and center in a remarkable period in history and whose accomplishments have had an important influence on society through the ages.