Puhak presents a vivid picture of how [the queens] skillfully preserved their lives, their power and their families.

... brigns this period to life. That [Puhak] should choose to approach the Merovingians through the lens of two extraordinary women is entirely appropriate.

One of the book’s aims is to recover a sense of the women’s lived experience, and the author makes strong use of vivid sensory details.

Using primary sources, Puhak attempts to hack through the legends to uncover the truth. In doing so, she uncovers a story that is more thrilling and stranger than any fiction.

Puhak pulls off a singularly difficult feat...The critically acclaimed poet and writer manages to bring to life two women whose stories have genuinely been obscured by time and propaganda and polish them off, revealing the gleaming individuals beneath. She pushes aside the myth and theological agenda surrounding early medieval chronicles to create realistic and compelling stories of Merovingian queens Fredegund and Brunhild.

Puhak’s engaging, chronological account creates detailed profiles of these sisters-in-law.

Murders, kidnappings, perilous escapes, suicide missions, poisoned knives, marriage plots, witchcraft allegations: This book has them all.

Puhak takes the audience deep into the lives of these ruling women and shows how they were both capable and skilled as they climbed to the height of their power. They reigned during an era of which there is limited historical record; Puhak contends that this made it easy for the queens’ adversaries to reduce their memory to crude misogynistic stereotypes that encouraged the populace to fear women with power.

A lyrical and astute assessment of the political maneuvers, battlefield strategies, and resilience of medieval queens and rivals Fredegund and Brunhild.

Drawing heavily on primary sources, Puhak creates a richly detailed tapestry depicting a volatile, turbulent age.