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. She is almost resigned to her fate, when an unlikely turn of events turns her into a fugitive. 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. 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.