Destiny, a Medieval Romance (Electronic book text)

ABOUT THE BOOK: Powerful King Clotaire of the 6th century A.D. marries a most unwilling Princess Dierdre who, when she is eleven years old, witnesses his killing of her uncle, with whom she has lived since the death of her own parents. Based on real events in the life of Ste. Radegund and King Clotaire, in Destiny, Radegund's character changes into the fiery Dierdre whose dreams of her parents' murder converge with her dream of the man who, she believes, is destined to become her true love and her husband. It is only after the other woman in Clotaire's life, his mistress, Felice, a low-born field serf and whore, reveals the truth behind the events, that Dierdre is able to see her true destiny. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Barbara McCauley Cardona was born in Connecticut in 1939. She discovered painting at age 16 when a friend invited her to join in a neighbor's basement to learn how to use oils. She breathed in the paint's magic and used it to convey her love of the natural world. Writing came earlier: she was very shy, so she started writing to an imaginary friend to express her feelings that, otherwise, she felt she couldn't convey. Poetry came a bit later, but she never called it poetry, as what they taught as poetry in schools, she mostly hated, so her poems were secret "things" that she hid away in drawers. Her earliest means of expression was dance, but she reveals she was too lazy to practice to be what she wanted to be and focused on writing and art instead. Art and spirit have always been conjoined for her. Barbara graduated with BA degree in English from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT in 1961. Her post graduate work in art, creative writing, linguistics and education was at UCLA and the UCLA Extension from 1963 through 1966, and in linguistics, creative writing and literature at California State University in 1971 and 1972.