This accessible narrative details all of the twists and turns of Queen Joanna of Naples' extraordinary life and rule. Nancy Goldstone brings the complex politics of the fourteenth century to life, exploring the nigh-on impossible position in which Joanna found herself, as the only woman of her age to rule in her own right. She looks at how marriage was used as a political tool, but also at how each of Joanna's marriages further complicated the succession of disputes and almost constant warfare between the various rulers of the medieval Mediterranean, manifested not least in attempts to take Joanna's own crown.