INÊS
Queens of Portugal Trilogy, Book #1
by Catherine Mathis
An heir to the throne, a gorgeous blonde lady-in-waiting, the king's trusted advisor. When a father and son don't understand each other, the son pays an outrageous price.
Love, jealousy, loyalty, and revenge roil the court of 14th century Portugal.
In this engrossing launch to the Queens of Portugal trilogy, Catherine Mathis gives a fresh take on the tale of Pedro and Inês, Portugal's real-life Romeo and Juliet. Pedro's father would not have been king if not for his trusted advisor, Gonçalves. Once king, he wants no part in neighboring Castile's royal convulsions though his son, Pedro, befriends powerful Castilians.
The all-consuming drive of the king is to ensure his line rules Portugal for centuries to come. He needs legitimate, strong heirs. The Infante Pedro loves a woman not deemed worthy to wear the crown as queen. Between father and son is Gonçalves, the king's powerful, unquestioned counselor who is mentor to the son. Both Gonçalves and Pedro seek the attention of Inês.
There is a horrific cost to winning the love of Inês. She will not release her grip on Pedro until he keeps the two sworn oaths he made to her. Can Pedro do the impossible to satisfy Inês?
Inês is based on real people and events, exploring a cultural touchstone of Portuguese history.
Praise for Inês:
“Mathis masterfully weaves emotional depth into the narrative, creating a deeply engaging experience that leaves a lasting impression and invites readers on an unforgettable journey through the grandeur and intrigue of Portugal’s past.”
~ Mary Anne Yarde, The Coffee Pot Book Club 5* Review
“This exciting start to the Queens of Portugal trilogy describes the legendary love story of Pedro and Inês, and I was amazed at the excellent storytelling and how the author brings the courts to life. There is a lot of drama and intrigue, and the characters' emotions are beautifully captured in this engrossing tale.”
~ Readers Favorite 5* Review
Inês is set in Portugal in the time between December 1324 and September 1364. Images from these years are rare. Pedro left us a gift – their glorious sarcophagi. He commissioned the graves and wanted them set so that at the end of time they would rise up and see each other first. Here are snips of photos from Alcobaça Abbey’s website. Though it is hard to see, Pedro is smiling.
Inês is a young woman of fifteen when she comes to Portugal with her beloved friend who will marry the heir to the throne. She is young and fun. She is a blonde and has a long neck, not traditional signs of beauty. In those days women plucked their foreheads to make them larger. She is educated, well-read for the time, and willing to banter. She is full of life, not shy.
Her great-grandfather was a King of Castile. Alas, she is the daughter of a powerful Castilian / Galician nobleman and his mistress; she is illegitimate. The nature of her birth closes certain doors to her in medieval life. For instance, no one would ever consider her worthy of being a queen. Despite her birth she can aspire to a marriage with a younger son of a noble family or a member of a lower-rank of the nobility. Having suffered the slings of her birth, she is determined not to become a mistress. She wants to be married into an appropriate family and have children. Her determination and choices ultimately come at the highest cost.
She is attracted to Pedro, heir to the throne of Portugal, who is good looking and interested in fun, hunting, and music. Flirtatious banter becomes her stock in trade. When they quickly fall in love, she refuses to become a mistress, even for him.
Unfortunately, the king’s trusted advisor, Gonçalves, also takes an interest in Inês. She is caught between two men, one she is unworthy to wed and one who repels her.
The Prologue introduces the main characters since Inês does not arrive on the scene until a quarter of the way into the novel. The protagonist is Pedro, Infante and future king. Gonçalves, the antagonist, is one of three senior advisors of Pedro’s father, King Afonso IV of Portugal. King Afonso and Inês are foils. Each helps us understand the actions of Pedro and Gonçalves.
In the first quarter of the book, we learn why King Afonso trusts Gonçalves without question. Pedro’s father felt he nearly lost his crown before he had the chance to wear it. He is a man with a black and white view of the world. He is a proponent of fair justice, good governance, and loyalty. When it comes to his family, and especially his heir to the throne, he is intolerant of anyone who threatens them. Justice is swift. He may be king but in many ways he is insecure. Afonso is a man of military bearing, strict regimen, faithful to his wife, and serious. He cannot relate to Pedro, his only son to survive to adulthood.
The future of the family rests on Pedro. As a small child he has only a distant attachment to his father though he is close to his mother. As he grows, he is a throw back to his grandfather, a king with mistresses who wrote poetry, loved music, and was easy to be with, a good king, one who lived life fully. Pedro must mature into a man worthy to rule which his father fears will not happen. Afonso does not understand his son. When Pedro makes a promise, he keeps it. He too values and administers justice. He has close friends who support him through thick and thin. He respects his mother and will not complete some of his pledges until after her death.
Gonçalves is a successful man by any measure though not physically attractive. I give him the same date of birth and a role as nursery mate to King Afonso. He was not highly born but gained access at the turn of fortune’s wheel. Like so many men over time, he thinks when he wants a woman, she is there for him to take. Inês would serve him well as wife and, given her birth, being married to the king’s advisor is a reasonable role. When she tries to escape or avoid him, jealousy overtakes him. He especially recalls her rejection when she drags Pedro from his rightful role to marry a princess of worthy standing to be Portugal’s future queen. It is that thing: “If I cannot have her, then no other man can.” You still hear it today when men murder women trying to get away from them. Unreal!
It is innate in human nature to recall the sense of loss over the reality of a gain, a hereditary defense mechanism. People often remember an insult and a failure faster than the good things in life. Bad memories are more likely to hurt than good memories are to bring the euphoria of joy. Often murder mysteries center on something that happened in the past, often years and years ago. So too with Gonçalves, every time the subject of Inês comes up, he feels that twinge of pain.
Gonçalves seeks what he believes is his right to ‘own.’ Over time Inês clings to hope and acts for her desired outcomes. Pedro seeks to keep two challenging promises, one of which is impossible.
Read the book to see if Pedro figures out how to honor two vows he holds sacred.
Catherine Mathis was born in Berlin, the daughter of an American spy. As she grew up in Washington, D.C., her spy father turned into a drug enforcement agent. His career change wrecked any chance at high school popularity.
She graduated from Sewanee | The University of the South with a degree in history focused on the medieval period. After a career in finance, she returned to her first love of medieval history to ‘Share Iberian Tales.’
Outside of writing, spare time joys are family, friends, reading, collecting folk / outsider art, and travel.
Library Journal included Inês on its list of coming historical fiction for July 2025 - June 2026 in June 2025 during the annual meeting of the American Library Association. The book is in the Turbulent Relationship category, a great category name.
Connect with Catherine:
No comments:
Post a Comment