[1][2] Willow Penelope Forrester is the only child of a sheep farming family, who discovers a talent for piano playing as she matures.

Miss Carpenter gives her a new piece of music to start to learn - Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Infanta but her fingers were clumsy with chilblains.

The oldest part of Penliss (the kitchen and two rooms above) date back to the Elizabethan Era, the rest of the building at that time burned.

Willow discovers the Velasquez portrait of Isabel, finely dressed wearing a unique pendant necklace, in the room with the piano.

Her second dream as Isabel takes place 4 years later in her time, and she is restrained and captive, on a boat leaving shore, her family's castle in flames.

As the dreams continue, Willow almost feels like she is living Isabel's life with her: enjoying the sea and visiting Uncle Cornelius' tin mines, where she meets Richard.

Willow learns that Cornelius died accidentally, right at a time when tensions were rising between England and Spain again - suddenly Isabel's life was in danger.

[3] Requiem for a Princess was included as a Library of Congress Children's Literature Center Book, in the category of 'Stories for Older Boys and Girls', 1967.

Sandra Taubel states, Requiem for a Princess was a Junior Literary Guild selection, and makes for good reading for adolescents.

Re-reading it as an adult, she felt that the dated elements were easy to overlook, while the main story of Willow's life "becoming intertwined with that of the girl from hundreds of years ago was still compelling.