Aliena

Philip knew almost nothing about married life but he could guess that a bright, knowledgeable, lively person such as Aliena would be unhappy living with someone as slow-thinking and narrow-minded as Alfred, whether they were man and wife or anything else.

The Pillars of the Earth FOLLETT, Ken 1989

William had forbidden his tenants to sell wool at Kingsbridge; but most of them were anyway in the habit of selling to merchants such as Aliena, rather than marketing the fleeces themselves, so the main effect of the ban was to create more business for her.

The Pillars of the Earth FOLLETT, Ken 1989

In The Pillars of the Earth, a quasi-religious 12th-century epic, she plays Aliena.

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Atwell stars as the female lead, Aliena, a young aristocrat who is the object of the attentions of the selfish William Hamleigh, played by David Oakes.

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And Aliena scrapes together the cash needed to make her brother a knight, thus enabling him to visit vengeance upon the king's house from within.

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In five months, filming in Budapest, she had to see Aliena through 20 years from "princess to peasant to wool merchant to love interest to wife and mother".

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His daughter Aliena (Hayley Atwell) has already outraged the powerful Hamleigh family by turning down their son Richard (Sam Claflin) as a potential husband.

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Jack is understandably smitten with Hayley Atwell as Aliena, whose political allegiances are a trifle mercurial but who encourages Jack in his bid to become a "master builder" and supervise a mammoth cathedral that rises slowly over the passing years.

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On "The Pillars of the Earth" (Starz at 10), Philip and William are at odds over access to the Shiring quarry, while Aliena tries to help Richard earn money by starting her very own fleece business.

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His mother Regan (Sarah Parish) has high ambitions for her son and an alliance with Aliena would have added to his stature.

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