Banners of Gold: A Novel [Paperback]

Pamela Kaufman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2002

The enchanting Alix of Wanthwaite returns in a suspenseful and richly textured adventure in which nothing less than the future of England is at stake.

Alix is home at her beloved estate on the Scottish border when King Richard’s soldiers march into her castle and demand to take her to the Continent with them. King Richard has been captured while on Crusade, and Alix is among the nobles whose lives will be collateral for the king’s ransom. But when she’s delivered to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s mother, she is dumbfounded to learn that the queen has other plans for her.
King Richard needs an heir, Eleanor tells Alix. Repulsed by his queen, a homely religious fanatic, he has told his mother that the only woman he wants is the one he met on Crusade, when she was disguised as a boy. Richard wants Alix to be his mistress and the mother of the next Plantagenet king. Now a beguiling and irrepressible young woman, Alix faces more tribulations—and romance—on this trip to Europe, where affairs of the state and affairs of the heart are intricately intertwined.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Home in England from the crusades (Shield of Three Lions, Lady Alix now is stranded and vulnerable at her Wanthwaite domain with husband Enoch off at war. Trouble brews when Bonel, one of the king's protected Jews, recruits Alix as a hostage to Germany where Richard the Lion Hearted is imprisoned. Homosexual King Richard finds himself once again attracted to Alix, the charming hoyden, and decides she must bear his needed heir to the throne. Alix's flight from this unwanted honor takes her to a nunnery that is a hotbed of erotic piety, then to a refuge with kindly, eccentric Sister Tiberga, who is both whore and healer. Richard's fanatic Spanish queen, Berengaria, persecutes Alix, but ultimately our heroine engages in a sporting interlude of courtly love with Richard before she discovers the perfidy of the Plantagenets. Details abound concerning the treatment of Jews, whose plight Alix seeks to alleviate. All told, this is another frothy, zany and irreverent medieval escapade that will delight readers who enjoyed Lady Alix's earlier misadventures. (October 24
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

The enchanting Alix of Wanthwaite returns in a suspenseful and richly textured adventure in which nothing less than the future of England is at stake.

Alix is home at her beloved estate on the Scottish border when King Richard?s soldiers march into her castle and demand to take her to the Continent with them. King Richard has been captured while on Crusade, and Alix is among the nobles whose lives will be collateral for the king?s ransom. But when she?s delivered to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard?s mother, she is dumbfounded to learn that the queen has other plans for her.
King Richard needs an heir, Eleanor tells Alix. Repulsed by his queen, a homely religious fanatic, he has told his mother that the only woman he wants is the one he met on Crusade, when she was disguised as a boy. Richard wants Alix to be his mistress and the mother of the next Plantagenet king. Now a beguiling and irrepressible young woman, Alix faces more tribulations?and romance?on this trip to Europe, where affairs of the state and affairs of the heart are intricately intertwined.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (August 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609809474
• ISBN-13: 978-0609809471
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #435,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More insight in Richard Couer de Lion's character, February 16, 2003

By 

A. Y. Smittle (Winchester, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Banners of Gold: A Novel (Paperback)

Alix is at it again. Sequel to "Shield of three Lions," I couldn't wait to read this one. Its a bit different than the last. Less of an adventure and more of a romance. Less talking and more FEELINGS.
Starts off with a one-eyed jew who comes to collect Alix from her precious Wanthwaithe. Enoch has been injured and is away in Scotland. She tries to fight the jew, Bonel but of course has to go with him and once again meet up with King Richard.
Man, this chick gets all the guys is all I'm gonna say!
Everyone is madly in love with her---could it because she, as the main character, is utterly stunning with perfect white teeth?
And her silvery halo of hair----on and on.
This book was harder to pick up compared to the first. Its so into Richard and Alix. Its like, "I wonder what Richard is going to do today? When is he gonna get hit with that arrow?" etc.
We interact with Queen Eleanor, too. Travel all of France's territories and are not in England much. Its a "middle book." Think of it as the "Empire Strikes BAck" or the "Two Towers."
Compared to hopeful trilogies. I was hoping that the rerelease means that the author was going to put out a third book; but the first printing of this story was in 1986. It seems unlikely.
So BE WARNED of two things when reading this book:
THERE IS NO SEQUEL evident
THE ENDING IS A CLIFF HANGER!!!!!
But its good. And if you want to know the further adventures of Alix, sans Enoch, my recommendation is get it!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable combination of history and novel., February 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Banners of Gold (Hardcover)

"Banners of Gold" is a delightful sequal to "A shield of Lions" I think Pamela Kaufman is the best writer of historical fiction. Her novels not only present history in a intresting way, it entertains you just as well as watching a movie, because her story and characters are so alive. Her novel is filled with outrageously funny scenes and colorful discriptions of how life was like way back in the medieval times. This novel is a continuation of the first novel that is about a young woman named Aliex becoming an heiress due to an evil man who kills her family, to get back her land she journeys to King Richard disguised as a boy to ask for her land back and along the way she encounters much adventures as a boy whereas as a young girl she wouldn't have been able to. This second story is basically about the Aliex who goes looking for her husband This novel is also about her relationship with king Richard the I, his mother Eleanor of Aquitane, and a rich jewish lord.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emotionally wonderful!, May 7, 2005

By 

Jennifer Bullard (Phila, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Banners of Gold: A Novel (Paperback)

First off, I have to say, I believe that this is a book very much geared towards females, not only because it revolves around a female as the main character, but because it has everything to do with love. The wonderful thing about this kind of love is that it is described with high school vividness...meaning that all of the loves described are new and fresh; every glance, every kiss stolen is enough to make their hearts burst...the wonder of new loves..ahhh...so wonderful to remember those times.

Anyway...getting on to the main story, Alix is apparently a gorgeous woman, enough so that she gets just about every man that she encounters, but mostly because she attracts the eye of King Richard! She is the only woman who can help him make an heir, for the sole reason that she is the only woman he was ever attracted to. At first, she is unwilling to go along with his courtly love, being forced into something she was just not ready for at the tender age of 15. However, as the story goes along, she loosens up a bit at the prospect of being Richard's lover. And that's all I will say on that subject.

Bonel was my favorite character, and in my humble opinion did not make enough of an appearance. The foreign Jew who comes for Alix at the beginning of the story, he has many, many layers that need unfolding, and I'm really not sure that we have even begun to scratch the surface on him, but you read the book and see what you think.

Queen Eleanor and Prince John also play important roles in the story, as well as Queen Berengaria, however small her role was, it was omnipotent in many senses. Robin Hood also makes a small cameo appearance, though quite contrary to the usual Robin Hood tale.

All in all, this book does integrate many historical facts and can make you feel as though you are in that time period, but at it's heart, it's all about love and despair. It's all about simple human emotions that transcend time and place. The only fault that I give this book, dropping it one star, is the cliffhanger it will leave you on...I need more...I need to know what happens next!