England, 1364: After being married off at aged 12 to an elderly farmer, brazen redheaded Eleanor rises through society to become a woman of fortune, befriending the social-climbing poet Geoffrey Chaucer. But more marriages follow, plus several pilgrimages, many lovers, and even a murder, as Eleanor pursues the one thing that all women want: control of their own lives. Taking The Canterbury Tales as a point of departure, Tasmanian novelist Karen Brooks lets one of literature's most unforgettable characters tell her story in her own words.