The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry that Forged the Medieval World (Bloomsbury, 2022)

Saturday, September 24, 2022
8:30 AM
Lewes Public Library, Fireplace Reading Area

About the book
In sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport, two iron-willed strategists, Brunhild and Fredegund, reigned over vast realms, changing the face of Europe and laying the foundations of what would one day be Charlemagne’s empire. Yet after the queens’ deaths, their stories were rewritten, their names consigned to slander and legend. Shelley Puhak resurrects two very real women in all their complexity, striking at the roots of some of our culture’s stubbornest myths about female power.

About the author
Shelley Puhak’s work has appeared in The Atlantic, Lapham’s Quarterly, Teen Vogue, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Best American Travel Writing, and The Best American Essays.  Her most recent book of poetry, Guinevere in Baltimore, won the Anthony Hecht Prize.  

Puhak was in conversation with Laurie S. Fulton at the event.

Laurie S. Fulton served as U.S. Ambassador to Denmark from July 2009 to February 2013.  She is on the board of the National Archives Foundation and is co-chair of the Ambassadors Circle of the National Democratic Institute, a nonpartisan organization working to strengthen democratic institutions worldwide. 

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
With the help of our presenting sponsors—Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I PenFed Realty—as well as our community partners and volunteers, the 2022 History Book Festival was full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction.

Special thanks to Lewes Public Library, for venue and assistance with event promotion; to Browseabout Books in Rehoboth, our official bookseller; and to the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Mark your calendars for the 2023 History Book Festival. Join our authors, interviewers, and other attendees at live events throughout the weekend of September 29, 30, and October 1.