The Ruling Passion

The Ruling Passion is a superbly crafted historical novel retelling of the story of Edward Prince of Wales, and his passionate and defiant relationship with the Gascon warrior Piers Gaveston, that brought England to the brink of civil war. Set in the early 1300s, this historical novel recounts one of the most sensational episodes in English history - the relationship of Edward II, when he was Prince of Wales, with his lover Piers Gaveston. Its underlying theme is that of the troubled relationship between sexuality and duty in the royal family and the conflict between the disposition of the young heir to the throne and the expectations of his domineering father. Poignant and compassionately narrated, it is a story of infatuation and a relationship pursued to destruction.Prince Edward was the only surviving son of Edward I, one of England's greatest warrior kings, whose subjugation of the Welsh, campaigns against the Scots and massive programme of castle building near-bankrupted the realm. Not only was Prince Edward completely unsuited to carry through his father's military ambitions, but, his defiant resistance to every pressure to abandon his relationship with Piers Gaveston was to have disastrous consequences.