Kushiels Chosen

A novel by Jacqueline Carey, and eligible for the 2003-4 OUSFG Award.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330412779/

"The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassed beauty and grace. It is said that the angels found the land and saw it was good, and the ensuing race that rose from the union of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. Phedre no Delaunay is a young woman specially trained in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber. Once before, she gave up almost everything she held dear to save her homeland, but the gods are not yet done with their charge. For while the young queen who sits upon the throne is well loved by the people, there are some who believe that other heads should wear the crown. And those who previously escaped retribution are not yet done with their schemes for power and revenge. To protect and serve, Phedre must once again leave her beloved homeland. Moving from the sun-drenched hills of La Serenissima to the wilds of old Hellas, from a prison designed to drive even the gods mad to an island of immutable joy, Phedre will meet old friends and new enemies...and discover a plot so dreadful as to make the earth tremble. And that is masterminded by the one person she cannot turn away from.