Sarah Kennedy

Author Sarah Kennedy is clearly as gifted as her main character, almost supernaturally at home in the 16th century as she combines the striking vocabulary of the time with her own poetic talents to create a rich and original tapestry of language. Such writing Sarah Kennedy brings a lost world blazingly to life. Lee SmithSarah Kennedy reanimates lost perspectives of Tudor England in her . . . story of Catherine, a former nun displaced by Henry's dissolution of the religious houses. Suzanne KeenThe energy in the language conveys the urgency of a fraught moment in history with prose as bright and dazzling as Catherine's illuminated manuscripts. Kennedy's command of her characters and subject matter is impressive. Per ContraSarah Kennedy opens magical windows into the world of Tudor's England and brings it to life in vibrant colors and unforgettable reverberations. She reinvents the genre of historical fiction of that period giving voice to women of all ages, social classes, and economic standing. Domnica Radulescu

An empty throne, fallen crown, and broken scepter are all that remains of the great Empire of Light. From Nudhug to Armahad, the marked bones of the Caladrius kings have been stripped of their promise and crumbled into dust. But one remains. The despotic heir, Liacin Caladrius, has given himself wholly to Sgarrwrath and the rising void for promises of power beyond that of any man before. Yet prophecy points to another heir; when the Markless Son bears the Golden Brand, all know the Promised King has come. Liacin and Sgarrwrath seek to claim the Promised-an infant conceived when Living Flame fell from the sky. Now Sgarrwrath's ancient plot forces him to face his highest desire and his greatest fear veiled within that mysterious child. The question is, has he risen far enough for all his emptiness to take all that promised life for his own? Or will another rise?

An empty throne, fallen crown, and broken scepter are all that remains of the great Empire of Light. From Nudhug to Armahad, the marked bones of the Caladrius kings have been stripped of their promise and crumbled into dust. But one remains. The despotic heir, Liacin Caladrius, has given himself wholly to Sgarrwrath and the rising void for promises of power beyond that of any man before. Yet prophecy points to another heir; when the Markless Son bears the Golden Brand, all know the Promised King has come. Liacin and Sgarrwrath seek to claim the Promised-an infant conceived when Living Flame fell from the sky. Now Sgarrwrath's ancient plot forces him to face his highest desire and his greatest fear veiled within that mysterious child. The question is, has he risen far enough for all his emptiness to take all that promised life for his own? Or will another rise?

How is a poem made? From what constellation of inner and outer worlds does it issue forth? Sarah Kennedy's study of Eliot's poetics seeks out those images most striking in their resonance and recurrence: the 'sea-change', the 'light invisible' and the 'dark ghost'. She makes the case for these sustained metaphors as constitutive of the poet's imagination and art. Eliot was haunted by recurrence. His work is full of moments of luminous recognitions, moments in which a writer discovers both subject and appropriate image. This book examines such moments of recognition and invocation by reference to three clusters of imagery, drawing on the contemporary languages of literary criticism, psychology, physics and anthropology. Eliot's transposition of these registers, at turns wary and beguiled, interweaves modern understandings of originary processes in the human and natural world with a poet's preoccupation with language. The metaphors arising from these intersections generate the imaginative logic of Eliot's poetry.

The Cross and the Crown SeriesQueen of Blood, Book Four continues the story of Catherine Havens, a former nun in Tudor England. It is now 1553, and Mary Tudor has just been crowned queen of England.

The Cross and the Crown Series Book 1 It is 1535, and in the tumultuous years of King Henry VIII's break from Rome, the religious houses of England are being seized by force. Twenty-year-old Catherine Havens is a foundling and the adopted daughter of the prioress of the Priory of Mount Grace in a small Yorkshire village. Catherine, like her adoptive mother, has a gift for healing, and she is widely sought and admired for her knowledge. However, the king's divorce dashes Catherine's hopes for a place at court, and she reluctantly takes the veil. When the priory's costly altarpiece goes missing, Catherine and her friend Ann Smith find themselves under increased suspicion. King Henry VIII's soldiers have not had their fill of destruction, and when they return to Mount Grace to destroy the priory, Catherine must choose between the sacred calling of her past and the man who may represent her country's future.

The Cross and the Crown Series Book 2 It's midwinter in 1539, and Catherine Havens Overton has just given birth to her second child, a daughter. The convent in which she was raised is now part of the Overton lands, and Catherine's husband William owns the properties that once belonged to her mother's family. With a son, Robert, and her new daughter, Veronica, Catherine's life as the mistress of a great household should be complete.Henry VIII's England has not been kind to many of the evicted members of religious houses, and Catherine has gathered about her a group of former nuns in hopes of providing them a chance to serve in the village of Havenston, her City of Ladies. Catherine's own past haunts her. Her husband suspects that Catherine's son is not his child, and his ambitions lie with service at court. Then the women of Overton House begin to disappear, and though one of them is found brutally murdered nearby, William forces Catherine to go to Hatfield House, where the young Elizabeth Tudor lives, to improve the family's standing--and to ensure, for her own safety, that she is as far away from connections to her old convent as possible. Reluctantly, Catherine obeys, only to find herself serving not only the Protestant Elizabeth but also the shamed Catholic Mary Tudor. As the murders in Yorkshire mount up and her loyalty to the Tudor sisters grows more complicated, Catherine must uncover the secret of the killer and keep her dream of a City of Ladies alive.

An Ancient Evil A Promised King A World Besieged Mhorag's name is whispered in every land. For some there is no greater dread; for others no greater hope. But in this new age of rage and wonder, what is hope? In growing darkness, Sgarrwrath's quest for domination of the world is interrupted by these whispers and prayers, and stars aligning to reveal the Living Flame. All hangs in the balance as the forbidden desire that started it all culminates in a battle of wills that will darken the stars, shatter the Sun and raise the dead.

An Ancient Evil A Promised King A World Besieged Mhorag's name is whispered in every land. For some there is no greater dread; for others no greater hope. But in this new age of rage and wonder, what is hope? In growing darkness, Sgarrwrath's quest for domination of the world is interrupted by these whispers and prayers, and stars aligning to reveal the Living Flame. All hangs in the balance as the forbidden desire that started it all culminates in a battle of wills that will darken the stars, shatter the Sun and raise the dead.

The King's Sisters continues the story of Catherine Havens. It's now 1542, and another queen, Catherine Howard, has been beheaded for adultery. Although young Prince Edward is growing, and the line of Tudor succession seems secure, the king falls into a deep melancholy and questions the faith and loyalty of those around him. Catherine has found herself in a unique position as a married former nun. Now she is a wealthy widow. She has two children, a boy who has successfully joined the young prince's household and a daughter who lives with her at Richmond Palace, home to Henry's cast-off fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, now designated "The King's Beloved Sister." Catherine also enjoys the attentions of widower Benjamin Davies, and in the festive court atmosphere, she has furtively indulged her passion for him. But England has changed again. Anne of Cleves hopes for reinstatement as queen--until questions arise about the finances of the houses she keeps. Catherine, as one of the king's "reformed sisters," is singled out, just as she realizes that she is carrying a third child. The King's Sisters explores the Tudor court under an aging Henry VIII. He now has a son and heir, but his two daughters remain players in the political intrigues. The Cross and the Crown series follows the very private Catherine as she is thrust into the scheming. She is skilled enough to serve a former queen, but this may be the very quality that endangers her future. Sarah Kennedy opens magical windows into the world of Tudor's England and brings it to life in vibrant colors and unforgettable reverberations. She reinvents the genre of historical fiction of that period giving voice to women of all ages, social classes, and economic standing. She writes with astounding detail of material culture and deft psychological insight about the experiences of women from the royal sisters to maids and confidants amidst whom the feisty protagonist Catherine Haven sparkles in the full richness of her empowered self, in the delicious shades of her moods, intelligence, warm motherhood and sensuality. This third novel in the series soars to new heights and we follow the heroine breathlessly on her suspenseful, sometimes reckless, always riveting journey. Domnica Radulescu, author of Train to Trieste and Black Sea Twilight.

How is a poem made? From what constellation of inner and outer worlds does it issue forth? Sarah Kennedy's study of Eliot's poetics seeks out those images most striking in their resonance and recurrence: the 'sea-change', the 'light invisible' and the 'dark ghost'. She makes the case for these sustained metaphors as constitutive of the poet's imagination and art. Eliot was haunted by recurrence. His work is full of moments of luminous recognitions, moments in which a writer discovers both subject and appropriate image. This book examines such moments of recognition and invocation by reference to three clusters of imagery, drawing on the contemporary languages of literary criticism, psychology, physics and anthropology. Eliot's transposition of these registers, at turns wary and beguiled, interweaves modern understandings of originary processes in the human and natural world with a poet's preoccupation with language. The metaphors arising from these intersections generate the imaginative logic of Eliot's poetry.

A vintage view of style, looking back at the 25 most iconic women of the past century and how to emulate their looks with up-to-the-minute fashion advice.

In her powerful new collection, Sarah Kennedy draws on the historical record, as well her personal life, to explore relationships and bodies, both physical and textual. Kennedy underscores human frailty in poems that dramatize the lives of British women who kept recipe manuscripts containing both medicinal and culinary ""receipts"" during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These women often recorded their frustrations and triumphs as both doctors and household managers for their families, and their trials with illness, childbearing, and aging resonate with contemporary poems about the vulnerabilities of the body in our ""enlightened"" age of science. Throughout, war looms at the margins, as the characters struggle to stay alive and stay together in troubled times. From the seventeenth-century Irish servant Mary Carryll to a contemporary care-giver for a cancer patient, these women leave traces of themselves in diaries, letters, and stories that mark their dedication to the healthy, working body and mind as a source of human dignity. They also share an impulse to find order and beauty in the physical and emotional ""home remedies"" of herbs, food, and love, even when larger forces work to break the generational cycle through which mothers teach their daughters. Exploring modern-day problems ranging from strained familial relationships to an individual's struggle to find her place in the world, Kennedy's powerful collection reveals our new century's intricate connections to the past.