Emily Klein

The Draughtsman Damsel Emily Klein

"No, we may not, my lord, for your falseness deters me from it!" "Alright," said the Earl, realising he had been bested by his ten-year-old daughter." "Please do not revert to this harsh formality with me, my Lady Annabelle. I offered my friendship to you honestly and wholeheartedly." "And I refused it. Now, if you will..." When Annabelle's father, the closest counsellor and architect to the Duke at Calais, is called back to the English court, his ten-year-old daughter Annabelle is torn from her home and from her best friend, the Duke's youngest son, Thomas, whom she swears she will one day wed. Though forlorn and homesick, Annabelle grows up to be a sensitive, precocious damsel. She loves mathematics and drawing, but her aversion to the 'female arts' causes her to use her girlish trickery to avoid them. This risks her eligibility as a bride, and compromises others. When her family's connection to the Duke diminishes, and the Duke's mental health falters, her parents are at their wits end about procuring a love match for her. Especially as all their efforts amount to naught, because of Annabelle's anxiety. They are then torn with conflicting loyalties between the king, and the desperate, mad duke who now calls them back. Perhaps here lies the solution for their wayward daughter? Pride, politics, madness, and falling unwittingly and unwillingly in love complicate matters to the point of disaster. The Draughtsman Damsel is a compelling story of long-lasting love and age-transcending friendship. It is well-seasoned with politics and science, castles and knights, maidens and romance, and is set in medieval England and France.