Good historical fiction

Shadows and Strongholds - Elizabeth Chadwick

This Chadwick novel tells of the early days of Fulke Fitzwarin - his training and marriage.  But it is really a novel about different types of relationships between men and women.  It is what makes the story compelling.  You do not particularly care what happens to the contested lands, but the relationships between the characters and whether or not those relationships will stand the test.