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The Nun's Betrothal

“This endearing love story is ideal for historical romance fans looking for a break from Regency-era lords and ladies.”
—Publisher’s Weekly

“An engaging love story, historically captivating and romantically gripping.”
—Kirkus Reviews

We first meet Sister Gilda after a swim, without her nun’s habit, soaking wet, with her hair uncovered and tumbling over her shoulders — and Lord Justin cannot take his eyes off her. Clearly, this opening scene and the title of Ida Curtis’s novel let readers know this is a story about love and lust versus commitment and propriety, blurring the lines between them. 

The second of Curtis’s historical fiction, The Nun’s Betrothal (She Writes Press) is also set in ninth-century France under the reign of Louis the Pious, when brave men served their king and women did as they were told. However, the women of these stories will not be bound by convention. Headstrong and independent, they charm, offend and exasperate the men in their lives. 

We met Lord Justin and Sister Gilda in Curtis’s previous novel, Song of Isabel, and in The Nun’s Betrothal, they become an unlikely pair. Justin, trusted counselor to the king, is a committed bachelor with a convenient mistress; Gilda is a novice who has yet to take her final vows. However, they’ve been chosen by the king to straighten out a “mistake.”  

Count Cedric has married 14-year-old Lady Mariel, having sent his half-brother Philip to act as surrogate; but in the interim, the count found a match more to his liking, one that would enlarge his estate. He needs to get his marriage to Mariel annulled even when the king supports the Christian tenet of the lifelong commitment of man and wife.

So it is that Lord Justin is sent by the archbishop, along with two members of the religious community, our saucy Sister Gilda with Sister Freda as chaperone, to investigate the count’s situation. Everyone must tread lightly to avoid the ire of the count who can throw Philip in a dungeon or shout, “Off with his head!” at any moment. Poor Lady Mariel is languishing back at the convent, and Philip has fallen in love with the woman Count Cedric has his eye on.

As the connections get more complicated and danger is hiding in plain sight, Lord Justin and Sister Gilda deftly navigate the complicated expectations of medieval French society. Lord Justin may find Sister Gilda’s nun’s habit unnervingly alluring, but Gilda sees it as a badge of personal freedom. As a nun, there was no husband or father to obey, no children to take care of, and no manor house to supervise, and she had no intention of giving up that freedom.

But Curtis introduces Sister Gilda’s first kiss in the prologue, so we know where this is going. The Nun’s Betrothal is a jaunty ride, a bit of a tease and a mystery, with a helping of French history.  Fans of Curtis’s Song of Isabel will find this sequel just as charming.

The Nun’s Betrothal is now available for purchase.

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About Ida Curtis:

Ida Curtis‘s love of reading began as a teenager during a two-year stay in the hospital recovering from polio. Despite lifelong disability, Ida went on to marry, have children and complete a B.A. in History at Indiana University. When her husband, Jerry, was hired as an English professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Ida began working in the Geography Department, where she advised students and supervised staff. After retiring, and inspired by her historical studies, she began to write novels.

She and her husband moved to Seattle, where her grown children now reside. Ida published her memoir My Polio Memoir: 1953-2016 in 2016 and won an award from Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association in 2014. Ida’s historical romance Song of Isabel was published in 2018, and the sequel, The Nun’s Betrothal, has just released. Sadly, Ida passed away on January 21, 2020. Her obituary states, “She will be remembered for her unflappable optimism and adaptability that fueled her remarkable ability to overcome adversity.” Learn more about Ida and her writing on her website.

Genre: Fiction, Historical, Romance
Publisher: She Writes Press
ISBN: 9781631526860
Sherri Daley

Sherri Daley has been writing freelance for national and regional publications for many years, including MORE magazine, Car and Driver, and the New York Times. She is the author of a book about commodities traders and a ghostwriter for business motivational texts. As a freelancer, she has established herself as someone who will write about anything – from cancer treatments to the lives of Broadway stagehands to that new car smell, blueberry jam, and Joshua Bell’s violin. Her curiosity drives her to read about anything, too, and she’s eager to share what she likes with others. She says life’s too short to read a bad book. When she’s not reading, she’s tending her gardens in Connecticut where she lives with her cat and a cage of zebra finches, although she’d rather be living in Iceland. Visit her blog at sherridaley.com for more!

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