Madame Serpent - Medici Trilogy, Bk 1 Author:Jean Plaidy (Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert ) Sullen-eyed and broken hearted, fourteen year old Catherine de Medici rode into France. Behind her and before her rose the nobility of Italy. She came an innocent girl, ruthlessly separated from her handsome and adored love, to become -- amid the glittering fetes, masques, jousts and banquets of the most immoral court in sixteenth century Europe... more » -- the reluctant bride and then the passionate but unwanted wife of Henry of Orleans, second son of the King of France. Angry, humiliated and tortured by jealousy, as she secretly spied on Henry's lovemaking, Catherine began to plan her revenge. This is Catherine's story -- the story of a girl, growing through bitterness and humiliation into a fantastic and unholy woman; it is the story of Catherine de Medici in love.« less