Flower O' the Lily: A Romance of Old Cambray

Baroness Orczy's Flower o' the Lily opens amid the carnage and uncertainty of the late sixteenth century, where faith, politics, and personal loyalty collide on the battlefield. After the defeat at Gembloux, the wounded French Protestant soldier Gilles de Crohin, Sire de Froidmont, refuses to think first of himself; his desperate concern is for his loyal companion, Maître Jehan le Bègue, as he crawls through a battlefield crowded with scavengers, the dying, and the threat of body-snatchers. What follows is a near-miraculous rescue, marked by a mysterious blue-eyed woman in white, a stern companion, and the strange signs of unseen mercy that leave Gilles both grateful and haunted. As he recovers, Gilles becomes consumed by the memory of his benefactor and by the search for Jehan, whom he eventually finds stripped, frozen, and near death. Their survival depends on endurance, improvised kindness, and a small piece of gold discovered in Gilles's doublet. Yet the novel quickly widens beyond the ruined field into a world of courtly intrigue, where the proud Queen of Navarre confronts the indecisive Duke of Alençon over marriage, ambition, and delay. Against this backdrop, Gilles is drawn into a more intimate peril: his encounter with Jacqueline, whose beauty, wit, and sympathy awaken a love that threatens his duty, his disguise, and his mission. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.