Clara Dupont-Monod: The Revolt

The Kingdom of France, 1173. A remarkable queen rallies her sons against a tyrannical king - their father. It is with a soft voice, full of menace, that our mother commands us to overthrow our father… Richard Lionheart tells the story of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1173, she and three of her sons instigate a rebellion to overthrow the English king, her husband Henry Plantagenet. What prompts this revolt? How does a great queen persuade her children to rise up against their father? And how does a son cope with this crushing conflict of loyalties? Replete with poetry and cruelty, this story takes us to the heart of the relationship between a mother and her favourite son - two individuals sustained by literature, unspoken love, honour and terrible violence.