The Romantic

Rachel Leonessa Everdene is an unmarried, unbetrothed businesswoman of six and twenty, a writer and poet, and, along with her best friend Durante, a Romantic. She also lives in the town of Orvieto, Italy, in the year 1289 -- in a time when women are betrothed at ten, married at twelve, and mothers at fourteen. <br> She is almost resigned to her fate, when an unlikely turn of events turns her into a fugitive. <br> She is nearly kidnapped, but is saved by Jonathan Locksley, a nobleman on his way back to England. Together, Rachel and he journey through the northern communes of Italy, with the kidnappers on their heels, and adventure at every turn. <br> In this 2005 National Novel Writing Month winner, Inez Ponce de Leon takes us on a journey of laughter and tears, as one man walks the road of childhood, and as one lady mends her heart, falls in love, and finds herself.