She Was Almost Written Out of History, But Today, She Takes Back Her Story
Lady of Lincoln by Rachel Elwiss Joyce, the novel of the medieval heroine, Nicola de la Haye
Lady of Lincoln is officially here, and the woman history almost forgot is ready to be remembered.
Today is publication day for Lady of Lincoln, and I won't pretend I'm not emotional. This book, and this woman, has lived in my heart for years.
Nicola de la Haye was real. She inherited Lincoln Castle, commanded a garrison, defied kings, and at nearly seventy years old, held her fortress against the forces of Prince Louis of France in a siege and then a battle that may have changed the course of English history. Without her, England might be speaking French today.
And yet, until now, you've almost certainly never heard her name.
I hope that ends today.
About Lady of Lincoln
A true story. A forgotten heroine. In a time when women were told to stay silent, could she become the saviour her people need?
12th-century England. Nicola de la Haye wants to do her duty. But though she's taught a female cannot lead alone, the young noblewoman bristles at the marriage her father has arranged to secure her inheritance. And when an unexpected death leaves her unguided, the impetuous girl shuns the king's blessing and weds a handsome-but-landless knight.
Harshly fined by Henry II for her unsanctioned union, Nicola struggles to salvage her estates while dealing with devastating betrayals from her husband… and his choice to join rebels in a brewing civil war. Yet after averting a tragedy and gaining the castle garrison's respect, she still must face the might of powerful men determined to crush her under their will.
Can she survive love, threats, and violent ambition to prove she's worthy of authority?
A Multi-Award Winning Novel
Lady of Lincoln has already received extraordinary recognition before it even reached your hands:
🏆 Book of the Year & Gold Medal Award Winner — The Coffee Pot Book Club
🏆 Chaucer Award Finalist for Historical Fiction
🏆 'Notable Book' status — BlueInk Review (their highest accolade)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5-Star Award — Reader's Favorite, citing it as "one of the greats in this genre"
Mutiple Gold Medals
"Joyce's vivid prose and masterful storytelling immerse the reader deeply into the emotional landscapes of her protagonists, making their struggles and triumphs resonate long after the final page has been turned."
— Reader's Favorite
How to Get Your Copy
LADY OF LINCOLN by Rachel Elwiss Joyce
Lady of Lincoln is available now in paperback and ebook, with the Kindle Unlimited edition also live today so you can start reading immediately.
The audiobook is also coming soon — watch this space!
Get your copy now: books2read.com/u/4980nW
The universal link above will take you straight to your preferred retailer — Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, and more.
You can also ask your local bookstore to order you a copy of the paperback.
Will You Help Nicola Be Heard?
Here is what I know: Nicola de la Haye spent 800 years in the shadows because history is written by those with power, and hers was quietly erased. The best thing you can do, not just for this book, but for the cause of restoring women's voices to the historical record, is to help others find her story.
The most powerful way you can do that is simple: leave a review (or even just a rating).
You don't need to write an essay. Even a sentence or two makes an enormous difference. Algorithms on Amazon and Goodreads reward books with reviews, they push them in front of new readers, recommend them to the right people, and signal to the world that a story matters. Your three sentences could be what ensures someone who has never heard of Nicola de la Haye stumbles across her story today.
Where to Leave Your Review 😀
📝 Amazon: the most important place for discoverability. Your review directly influences who sees this book.
US Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Lincoln-Medieval-Heroine-History-ebook/dp/B0G1ZCJ4ZX/
UK Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lady-Lincoln-Medieval-Heroine-History-ebook/dp/B0G1ZCJ4ZX/
📚 Goodreads: the community that historical fiction readers trust. A review here means word-of-mouth that travels far https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243875051/
⭐ BookBub: if you received an advance copy or follow me there, your review on these platforms reaches influencers and avid readers in the genre. Link here.
You don't have to have read the whole book before reviewing. Impressions matter. Your honest perspective matters. And if you loved Nicola, if her story moved you, then please tell someone!
Tell your book club. Post on social media. Recommend her to a friend who loves Philippa Gregory or Sharon Kay Penman. That kind of advocacy is what brings forgotten women back to life.
Why is this important? 🙏
I've spent years researching Nicola de la Haye, and what strikes me most is not her extraordinary courage. though she had it in abundance, but the fact that she succeeded by being entirely herself. She didn't adopt a masculine model of power. She led through compassion, through duty, through the relationships she built and tended. She was a woman of her time who proved that feminine strengths are not weaknesses but in fact, in the right hands, radical acts of resistance.
Every woman who has ever been told she leads the wrong way, loves the wrong way, or exists in the wrong place will recognise something of themselves in Nicola. That's not a coincidence. That's history telling us it has always been this way, and that it has always been fought.
Lady of Lincoln is the first book in the Nicola de la Haye trilogy. Nicola's story doesn't end with the Great Rebellion of 1173–74. She has decades ahead of her: marriages, sieges, kings, and one of the most remarkable final acts of defiance in English medieval history. I cannot wait for you to walk alongside her.
Today, a woman history tried to forget gets to be remembered. Thank you for being part of that.
📖 Read Lady of Lincoln: books2read.com/u/4980nW
Leave your review on Amazon UK or US (or any other country) and Goodreads, because Nicola's story deserves to be heard.