Finest Look at the 10th Century
It's 1100+ in England. Henry II's son Henry is in rebellion, nobles are choosing sides, and a young noblewoman is mistaken for a harlot and carried off to the keep of the titular Red Adam, a young "tourney knight" who has recently inherited the title and lands of his childless uncle.
The heroine and main viewpoint character (and "Lady" of the title) is a young noble woman of improbable (for its variety) background who gives as good as she gets and always has a knife up her sleeve (part of that improbable background) for emergencies. An entirely delightful character, and the man she is forced to marry because of a ravishment that never happened is equally fascinating.
It's a romance, bodices get ripped, mysteries are solved, and there are even a few Vikings (or at least Scandinavian merchants carrying battleaxes).
But what sets this novel head and shoulders above most of its ilk is the painstaking detail of life in the mid-Middle Ages, when the first glimmerings of civilization were beginning to return to the battered island of England. Some of the most fascinating passages are those of our heroine facing the daunting housekeeping task of being the lady in charge of a castle that has suffered from neglect for 18 years. Rotate the salt beef, clean out the rushes, assist in childbirth for serving maids bearing the children of whatever man at arms took them to the rushes. It's all there, and as Grace Ingrahm paints it, all fascinating.
Highly recommended if you can find it. It should have been printed a hardcover.