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Harriet O'Brien writes for a number of London newspapers and magazines, including the Independent and Conde Nast Traveller. Her first book, Forgotten Land: A Rediscovery of Burma, won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work Award in 1991. She spent part of her childhood in Burma.

As good as it is, this is a narrow, niche book which will not appeal to a wide audience. Familiarity with and interest in English history in the 10th and 11th centuries will help one's understanding.

The extensive list and descriptions of major characters (57!) at the beginning is very helpful. Genealogical charts show how Emma fits into her Norman, Danish, and Anglo Saxon families. The chart is important because names were often repeated. Emma was also known as Aelfgifu. That name also applies to Aethelred's grandmother and two others contemporaneous to Emma. A very helpful chronology compares Emma's life (980s - 1052) with events in England, Western Europe, and the Rest of the World. There are brief notes for each chapter and an index.

Emma first married Aethelred and produced Edward the Confessor and Godgifu, whom we know as Lady Godiva. She later married Cnut (Canut/Canute) and produced Harthacnut, king for two years, and Gunnhild, who married Henry III of Germany. Two of her stepsons also became kings of England. Emma outlived both her husbands and was twice driven into exile. She eventually retired from public life, a dowager queen, with her lands and wealth restored.

The casual reader will find the names unwieldy: Aethelred, Godgifu, Eadgifu, Aethelflaed, Aelfthryth, Estrith, Ulf.

These names predate Chaucer, and most Americans cannot pronounce or read his Middle English, much less the transitional Old English of this period. A pronunciation guide would have been helpful.

Nevertheless, this is a gem of a biography of one who is a very obscure figure to American eyes. Although my degrees are in English literature, I confess that I had only a passing acquaintance with Emma. The biography is subtitled, "A history of power, love and greed in 11th-century England." It delivers a compelling account of the machinations and cruelty which made the period so dangerous to life and limb. After the death of King Cnut, for example, Emma sent word to her sons to return to England. Alfred, arriving last, was met near London by Godwine (loyal to Emma), who proclaimed to have been sent by Emma to protect Alfred and his soldiers. Godwine split the soldiers into separate sleeping quarters. That night "brigands" (almost certainly Godwine's men) captured all the soldiers and tied them together. Each tenth man was cut loose to watch and survive while the others were brutally hacked to death. Alfred was held down and his eyes gouged out. He died as a result. And, yet, Godwine somewhow remained loyal to Emma.

O'Brien posits that Emma, born a Norman, "effectively became the wife, mother and aunt of England." She arrived at the end of those 650 years popularly known as the Dark Ages. The times were "dark" because there is so little surviving documentation. We know much about Emma because she commissioned a monk to write her life and justify her sons' rights to the Crown of England. A subsequent fair copy, likely given directly to Emma, survives today in the British Museum. The tale is supported by a host of contemporaneous documents and histories written after the time.

The story of Emma's life is well told, mixing known facts and circumstantial evidence. Cogent speculation is clearly identified. O'Brien draws a vivid picture of life and customs, a familiar description to anyone who has studied Chaucer in high school. If you have more than a passing interest in English literature and history, this book is for you.