Fate

Set in France & Italy during the spiralling age of the early Renaissance, the CAPULET series is the passionate predecessor to the greatest love story of all time, a genesis tale of how Romeo & Juliet's families came to be at each other's throats.

In 1434 two innocent children, Armand & Ilaria, are promised at birth. Despite the rising influence of writers who now advocate couples should marry for love, no one expects this pair to grow to love each other. All expect them to marry and lead their faction - the warrior House of Capulet. And so, drawn together by fate and familial design while France remains on a knife edge with their English enemies, they must learn to survive the glamorous but ruthless world of ambition, passion and power, they're destined to navigate together.

CAPULET is their sprawling tale, often humorous, elegant and heartfelt, sometimes gritty, brutal and relentless, while Ilaria's predilection to experience premonitions and to cross the path of foresighted mystics, creates expectations that lead them on to a cascade of heart-stopping moments.

Book 1 - FATE begins in Lyon with the events that lead to the couple's betrothal. The saga completes in Book 6 - FOLLY on a day when the sweeping events of their deadly feud with Romeo's faction cause the Capulet reins of power to be handed to Armand's brother (Juliet's father). At that moment, Armand and Ilaria's daughter Rosaline is eight years old. Eight years later, two months before her cousin Juliet turns fourteen, Rosaline will meet Romeo first and their tragic sequel will be set in motion. But CAPULET is also the story of how a third mighty faction, the House of Paris, led by a fiery young Duchess, joins in their rivalry. She swears their loyalty to one side but adds fresh powder to the rivalry which threatens to ignite in both directions at once. Appetites for ambition abound in CAPULET yet so does a thirst for revenge. The burning question among all three factions is, who will survive them?

Their epic tale is told by Armand and Ilaria's longest serving employee, a sharp-tongued, roguish musician. Marcel Poquelin finds himself in their company by chance, as both begin their final training for adulthood. At first the wily entertainer has little time or respect for either one, considering Armand no more than an elite muscular oaf and Ilaria a pampered coquette. Nor is he responsible to either one directly, intent on his own plan to return from whence he came to Paris, far from their indolent company, and make a mark for himself. But you know what the ancients say?

Men and women make ambitious plans just so fate can play havoc with them.