My Works
FICTION
THE CHRISTINE DE PIZAN MYSTERIES
A series of mystery novels featuring Christine de Pizan, France's first woman of letters
and now sleuth extraordinaire:
In the Presence of Evil
In the Shadow of the Enemy
In the Company of Fools
Murder in the Cloister
NONFICTION
A MEDIEVAL HOME COMPANION
Around the year 1393 an elderly citizen of Paris married a girl of fifteen and presented her with a book of instruction so she would be perfect in all the moral and household arts. The author, who seems to have been an expert on everything from comportment to cooking, tells his wife how to perform her religious duties, conduct herself in society, care for her husband, manage her servants, plant her garden, remove stains from her clothes, cure toothaches, select her cheeses, and rid her bed of fleas. His teaching is gentle and loving, and much of it is as useful today as it was six hundred years ago.
A Book of the Month Club Alternate Selection. Translated into German as Ein mittelalterliches Hausbuch.
SWEET HERBS AND SUNDRY FLOWERS:
MEDIEVAL GARDENS AND THE GARDENS OF THE CLOISTERS
The gardens of The Cloisters Museum, a division of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, are planted in reconstructed Romanesque and Gothic cloisters, and they resemble the gardens that provided bodily sustenance and spiritual refreshment for monks of centuries ago. Over two hundred and fifty species of herbs, flowers, and trees known to have been grown in the Middle Ages enhance the setting in which The Cloisters' collection of medieval art is displayed and broaden the visitor's understanding of life in the Middle Ages. Sweet Herbs and Sundry Flowers is an introduction to medieval plants and gardening practices by way of these very special gardens.
BOURGES CATHEDRAL: THE WEST PORTALS
A study of the thirteenth-century sculpture of one of the world's great cathedrals. Part of the Garland series Outstanding Dissertations in the Fine Arts.
COAUTHOR, WITH STEPHEN SCANNIELLO
ROSES OF AMERICA: THE BROOKLYS BOTANIC GARDEN'S GUIDE TO OUR NATIONAL FLOWER
Written with a former rosarian at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, this beautifully illustrated book tells how to select and grow roses in all the climates and soil conditions of the United States.
CLIMBING ROSES
Descriptions and stunning photographs of 65 climbing rose varieties that thrive in the varied soil and climate conditions of North America. Instructions on how to cultivate and train these roses are included.