And fiction it is, based upon historical characters and NOT historical fiction. The main character, Elyne, is (according to the author's notes at the end) a composite of two characters, one of them being Ellen, the daughter of Llewellyn the Great and Joanna. I admit to being a bit put off at the first part of the book at the characterizations of some of the Welsh court, particularly Joanna. Having read SKP's Here be Dragons, and having adored Joanna and Llewlleyn and their great love, I admit to grumbling abit at having Joanna being portrayed as such a sanctimonious biddy. Then I realized this was strictly a piece of fiction and I kicked back and thoroughly enjoyed the story. Lots of truly evil villains, two timing fasle tongued kings, some wonderful heros and a spooky ghost or two. What more can you ask for in a book? Apparently some of the reviewers were put off by the size of the book. It went very quickly for me, but then I'm the type that doesn't like to read any book under 500 pages if I can help it.