"Use well with the king what you have learned of men"
In the Queen's Mistake Haeger puts a new *spin* on Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's doomed fifth wife. A poorer member of the powerful Howard family, Catherine is relegated to the country home of the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk where supervision over the young girls of the household is lax and sexual escapades are common. The Duke of Norfolk has great plans for Catherine and he wants her sexually educated before she's brought to court so he can land another Howard woman on the throne of England. I'm not quite sure I'm buying this rationalization - I would have thought a pure maid would better suit the old King but oh well.....
After dallying with her music teacher and plight trothing herself to the Duchess' secretary Catherine is sent to court to serve Henry's new queen, Anne of Cleves and she soon captures the roving eye of the unhappy groom. She also meets younger courtier Thomas Culpepper and soon begins making whoopee with him anytime they can be alone, and it's a lot more frequent than you'd expect in such an overcrowded castle - but that's what Haeger's would have us believe.
And the rest, as they say is history. If you are a long-time reader of all things Tudor you know what Catherine's fate is and if you don't I don't think you want me spoiling it for you. Over and above the ludicrous notion that the Howards would encourage lose sexual behavior so she could entrap a king, my biggest problem is just generally bad writing. I've seen other reviewers refer to it as "pedantic" and "juvenile" and I couldn't agree more. I grew very tired of hearing about things dribbling down Henry's beard, his sweaty hands, distasteful breath and all around grossness. I got it the first few times and I did not need to be clubbed over the head with it.
Unfortunately, when the writing and storyline are not enough to engage my attention I start to nit-pick and that's what happened here. First there was Thomas Culpepper, gentleman of the bedchamber and The King of England is confiding all aspects of his love life with him. How Thomas and Catherine were able to meet so often with no one noticing (how did a maid of honor get a private room???) was a bit of a stretch as well as the time she brought him his own satisfaction in the garden (wonder if there was a fountain handy to wash her hand off?). You don't even want to know about the dalliance with Cromwell's son.
I didn't find Cranmer's persecution of her just because she was Catholic believable, nor could I swallow the big *true love* between Catherine and Thomas (no chemistry there), and in the end she became so darn Mary Sue-ish it took a lot of will power not to hurl the book at the wall. I probably would have gone for three stars but the ending ticked me off so bad (what a let down) that I'm knocking it down to two. This is the third book I've tried by this author and the third time is not the charm for me. I'm done. Get it from the library if you must, I'm glad I did.
Lastly, someone want to tell me if it's physically possible to ride horse from York to Hampton Court in a full day? I'm guessing not...
Still looking for a good medieval romance, although once again I did not find it here. Harriet called it fabulous so it must be great right? Wrong!
Adj. 1. ungulated - having or resembling hoofs; "horses and other hoofed animals"
Lol! When I spotted this word in a very weird sex scene I assumed it was merely a bad typo - until I looked up the meaning. Clearly my limited imagination was not grasping everything the author was trying to convey. Probably just as well it went over my head. Sir Alex de Beaumont has pledged to go on crusade with Edward Longshanks (soon to be Edward I), but he fears telling his new bride and slips out quietly after consummating the union. He disappears and is believed dead, but returns just as Lady Katherine (Kat) is preparing to wed again. Kat not being your typical meek and dutiful Medieval Miss she declares her husband to be a "treacherous bastard" among other names and denies her husband her bed (why the King and the priests didn't insist she be an obedient wife and submit to her husband.....). Alex is part alpha male and part wimp and pleads with Kat to allow him the chance to regain her trust - but if he can't he'll go to the Pope and get an annulment (how on earth he thinks he'll get that when even Kings had a hard time getting one of those I'll never know....).
Um, just kidding about the last one. This is a silly silly plot filled with more holes than swiss cheese, very bad sex scenes in minute excruciating detail (although some are so OTT they're laugh out loud funny at times),
"After long delicious moments he added his thumb and pressed against her engorged bud. She cried out loud, her juices bathing his fingers."
"her breasts peeped out like twin melons, lushly abundant and full. He wanted nothing more than to pluck the sweet flesh to readiness, to suck and plunder her breasts with his lip and tongue."
Add to that a heavy-handed use of words in an effort to make it all sound authentic - "prithee", "forsooth", "verily" "aright" and others (at least there wasn't a bunch of "woe is me"). Whew. I lost count at how many times Alex "snarled" and "growled", let alone how many times we had to hear about the tips and buds of Kat’s bountiful breasts. Gag me. Oh and since it’s a purply prosed romance novel we must have an abundant overuse of the word honey: "her breasts peeped out like twin melons, lushly abundant and full. He wanted nothing more than to pluck the sweet flesh to readiness, to suck and plunder her breasts with his lip and tongue."
"He shouted out as his essence exploded inside her. Simultaneously her honey-drenched muscles contracted tightly around his shaft again and again.........Kat cried out as her flesh throbbed and her honey flowed, the little contractions inside her milking his seed into her womb."
"The honey-drenched walls of her sheath contracted around his fingers."
In the end, it's just a fluffy wall-paper romance in a make believe historical setting that's really only there for the purpose of filling it with OTT sex scenes which includes lots of oral sex (I could swear that would have been considered a sin and they should have been running for the nearest priest to confess but what do I know?). If that’s what you like in a book, this might be the one for you. Otherwise, I'd skip this. Wish I had."The honey-drenched walls of her sheath contracted around his fingers."
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The White Rose begins in 1461 shortly after Edward IV's victory at the Battle of Towton. Widowed Elizabeth Woodville meets the new king when pleads for the return of her lands so she can support herself and her two young sons. Edward is immediately smitten with Elizabeth's great beauty and weds her in secret - much to the eventual chagrin of his advisors who hoped to marry him to a foreign princess. Elizabeth is eventually crowned queen and begins having one baby after another while her family rises high in Edward's service, causing friction and resentment among the rest of the nobility. For those familiar with the period you know the basics and for those who aren't it's much too complicated and spoilerish to give all the details.
As refreshing as it was to read about the Woodvilles without them snarling in their evilness or casting spells, they were just too OTT in their saintly goodness - and that is the great flaw in this book. The Woodvilles and That Upstart Henry Tudor = very very good, wonderful caring people. Clarence and Buckingham = silly buffoons (and a drunk one in Clarence's case). Richard III = very very bad, a dreadful evil tyrant that everyone in the Kingdom hated. So if you're one of those enamored by the saintly Richard painted by some of today's latest and *cough* greatest historical fiction authors, I'd say this is probably not the book for you.
I did enjoy this book and would recommend it for first time readers looking to get a basic grounding on the period, since it's lighter on the battles and the intrigues you can just concentrate on who is who. I'm not a scholar of the period but outside of the type-casting I didn't catch anything out of place either. Still tops with me for novels on this period is Penman's fabulous The Sunne In Splendour, with Tannahill's Seventh Son and Whitford's Treason a close second and third, and I'm anxiously awaiting Susan Higginbotham's The Stolen Crown next year.
This Shining Land begins in April 1940 as German troops invade and occupy Norway. During one of the initial bombing raids secretary Johanna Ryen gets a quick introduction to her landlord's other tenant Steffen Larsen, as they barely make it to the basement shelter in time. Sparks fly (of course) and as the Germans continue to take control of the country and its people Steffen and Johanna become involved in the Norwegian Resistance Movement in a dangerous game of cat and mouse -- doing anything and everything to subvert the Germans and gain intelligence for the Allied Forces.
Sounds simple enough, but I found this quite interesting as Laker details not only the politics of the time, but the effects of the occupation by even the smallest details on the populace, as all the basic necessities (food, clothing, etc) were sent to Germany, travel without passes is restricted, radios become secret contraband along with the absolute terror of the constant presence of the Gestapo and SS.
Much of the book is based upon Laker's husband's experiences working in the resistance movement and Laker herself came to Norway as a young bride after the liberation. Laker takes the reader on quite a journey from the first bombing of Oslo to hair raising escapes and nail biting close calls, secret rooms, torture at the hands of the Gestapo to a the horrific details of life in a concentration camp, as Steffen and Johanna try to keep themselves and their love alive. While this story is very different from Laker's usual formula and some of her fans might not care for it, I was quite fascinated and learned much about Norway, its history and customs and how they fought the Nazi occupation. 4.5/5 stars.
This is too good not to share. The whole thing started off as a lark after Michele at A Reader's Respite posted her review of Heir Apparent and I bumped my old one up over at Historical Fiction Online. Member Miss Moppet started her own time travel story and history was made. Swallow your beverage, finish eating and shut the office door so the boss doesn't hear you howling with laughter and read the story here.
Just stumbled across this on my Amazon recs. Apparently a new series featuring D du M as a detective and solver of mysteries. A grown up Nancy Drew?
Product description,
"Walking on the cliffs in Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier stumbles upon the drowned body of a beautiful woman, dressed only in a nightgown, her hair strewn along the rocks, her eyes gazing up to the heavens. Daphne soon learns that the mysterious woman was engaged to marry Lord Hartley of Padthaway, an Elizabethan mansion full of intriguing secrets. As the daughter of the famous Sir Gerald du Maurier, Daphne is welcomed into the Hartley home, but when the drowning turns out to be murder, Daphne determines to get to the bottom of the mysteries of Padthaway--in part to find fresh inspiration for her writing, and in part because she cannot resist the allure of grand houses and long buried secrets."
"He was born to shout for his gloves and have a servant bring them, but I was born to find my own gloves underneath my own chaos..."
Hmmm, I have the cover on the left, the hardback edition. I think I like that one better.
Goudge's novel is a romanticized version of the life of Lucy Walter, long-time mistress to Charles Stuart (or was she his wife?), before he ascended the throne of England as well as mother to the Duke of Monmouth. Raised at Roche Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Lucy is a bit of a tomboy who loves the sea, but her parents eventually become estranged and she must leave her beloved home and start a new life with her mother in London. As a child, Lucy meets Charles by chance and a friendship of sort is born and when they meet again at sixteen love blossoms and they marry in secret - although they only have a couple of days of bliss at Roche castle before Charles must return to his family and their struggles with the Parliamentarians.
Charles eventually flees to Europe and a heartsick Lucy follows him, although Charles is now a poor refugee living on the charity of his royal relatives and Lucy can only be acknowledged as his mistress - never his wife. Charles soon finds Lucy entirely inappropriate as a wife in his new role as King of England, and needing a wealthy heiress to fund his efforts to oust Cromwell unknown forces conspire to discredit Lucy and the marriage and to take her child from her.
And that's as far as I go. If you know Lucy's history you know what happens, and if you don't you won't want me to spoil it for you. Taking a person of whom very little is known about gives Goudge a lot of creative license to craft a lovely tale of what may have happened and the consequences of youthful indiscretion. My only quibbles are that this novel, originally published in1970, could easily lose 200-300 pages and lose none of its potency, and because of that I suspect many of today’s younger readers might give up too soon. Skim the first parts if you must, it's worth it at the end. Too much time is spent on Lucy's childhood relationships and descriptions of the Welsh countryside but other than that her writing was lovely - and ohhhhhh that ending. Tissue worthy.
Dumas fans rejoice! Thanks to Laura at Goodreads for spotting this one. Who knew that Dumas wrote a novel on Mary, or better yet that there was an audio-cassette version narrated by Julie Christie? Heck, it's even available in Kindle format.
There are a couple of new editions on Amazon that I haven't looked closely at yet - and I advise you do so and find out more about the translator and Search Inside before you purchase - a bad translation can result in a mediocre Dumas book. Been there done that. If you're not sure, just go scrounging the old used stores (or try for an Interlibrary Loan you'd be surprised what they'll find for you) and get one of the early 1900's versions. They haven't disappointed me yet.
Full disclosure - Egypt is not a period I have much interest in, so my knowledge of it is pretty sparse. I doubt I would ever have looked into this book outside of the fact that one of my Amazon friends reviewed it and received a bit of a slap from the author who took umbrage with her thoughts on the amount of sex in the novel:
"William Klein says:Hmmm, wonder what the significance is for Tarah being from Utah and what that has to do with her opinons (oh I get it). I for one appreciate a reviewer letting me know if the sexual content of a book is OTT or not - all the better to make an informed reading decision. Although I forgot all about it until lo and behold a *review* shows up on Goodreads that instead of reviewing the book attacks some unnamed reviewer:
If Tara, from Utah, disliked my novel because of an excess of sexuality, I would urge her to avoid Norman Mailer's "Ancient Evenings." If she wants to be a custodian of public morals, intent on policing the world of novels for unseemly references to sexuality, that is her business, but it's not the best way to flesh out the value of a novel."
"They really aren't as bad as she makes them out to be and one wonders what her agenda is. I mean, she has taken a lot of time to write all of her one star reviews."
Sooo, at this point in time I'm fired up enough to see for myself and since the library (fools they are) had purchased a few copies I placed my hold. Big mistake. Huge. I made it to page 110 and finally had to give up. Yes the sex was bad - frankly I was afraid there was a ménage à trois coming up with the monkey but thankfully that didn't happen. Whew!
What "done me in" was the most unbelievably bad drivel I have ever come across. Words can't describe the simplistic silly plot that doesn't even make sense - there is just no story or character continuity whatsoever. If it weren't for the sex I'd recommend this for a five year old. On second thought, perhaps not.
As far as I was able to gather, the story is about Princess Ankhesenpaaten who at fifteen is set to marry nine-year-old Pharaoh to be Tutankhamun. I believe eventually when she is widowed there is a big power struggle and lots of nasty deeds and family treachery. In the first pages, The Princess is more interested in men, sex and drinking at the local tavern. She escapes from the Royal Palace and meets up with the young set (I am not kidding) and heads for the local tavern and gets royally soused and does the hurdy gurdy in front of everyone (no, I am not kidding) and incites the men to mad lust. Then there's some kind of attempt on her life and our intrepid hero saves her and voila (!) they end up at some lake or river and do the nasty and presto-chango they're madly in love and our snotty child abusing heroine (more on that shortly) is the sweetest thing since honey on bread. And I'll buy that bridge in Brooklyn.....
As if bad writing and storyline wasn't enough to send the book flying the copulating dwarfs most certainly did - let alone what our Royal Princess did to young Tut (remember now he's just nine) when she and her handmaidens attacked him in the bedroom and raised his night shirt (Pages 31 and 32),
'Ankhesenpaaten pulled his covering hands apart, pointed to his little peeper and filled the room with her laughter. "It looks like a toad! A dead toad!"'And this is our MC who we're supposed to care about? You remember the author's comment I quoted earlier about "unseemly references to sexuality"? Ye gods, if that's not unseemly I don't know what is. Fear not, it gets worse for we're soon introduced to her Aunt's (auntie she calls her) pet dwarfs Pere and Renehen (pages 81 and 82):
Ankhesenpaaten took hold of his peeper. She held it between her thumb and forefinger as though it was something fished from the Nile. She gave it several quick jerks. "Little toady goes Peep! Peep! Peep!"'
'His fingernails were allowed to grow long and curved so that his hands resembled the claws of a bird of prey. His cock hung between his legs like a large dark desiccated gourd..... The dwarfs faced each other and gyrated slowly.... The object of interest was the dangling gourd between Pera's legs.....Menkhara stared at Pera's extraordinary organ.... The room shook with roars of approval as Renehen amused the guests with one of her favorite tricks called the Kingfisher. It consisted of a running leap onto Pera's huge scimitar cock, a performance that if improperly executed, could main one or both of the participants.'
Had enough yet? I sure have. My only question is who are those six people giving it glowing five star reviews on Amazon? We'll probably never know but five of the six have only written one review ever and the last has written three. Get it from the library if you must, I'm glad I did. I'll now sign off so I can wash my brain out thoroughly with soap and water.
A perfect book to snuggle up to on a stormy afternoon
Page 51, "The whispering stopped. It stopped as abruptly as an engine shuts off steam. Silence dropped like a blanket, so that in a matter of seconds the memory of the sound seemed illusory, while the silence itself surged with millions of whisperings, all equally unreal. But the sense of desperation was still there, even in the silence. It was as if the stillness were a held breath, that might burst at any moment in a scream."
Page 142, "I turned to look back at Blaven, only to find that the mist was, indeed, rolling down the slopes behinds us like a tide of smoking lava. Blaven was already invisible, and a great wall of mist bore steadily across the glen behind us, obliterating the afternoon."
Can that woman write or not? Seeking relief from her hectic life as a model as well as the crush for the 1953 coronation, divorcee Gianetta leaves London for a vacation at a rustic resort on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, although she's a bit flummoxed at the surprise appearance of her ex-husband Nicholas Drury as one of the inn's guests. Gianetta soon finds herself in the midst of a murder mystery with a dead body or two and suspects everywhere - a local girl was murdered in a ritual resembling the ancient Beltane rites.
Soon two female guests disappear while climbing Blaven - but who was the third person seen heading towards the mountain with them? Could Gianetta be marked as the next victim? Inquiring minds want to know, but I am not telling - read it for yourself. This was a fabulous fast paced read and Stewart keeps you guessing to the very end with a doozy of a nail-biting finish set amongst the swirling mists, shifting bogs and the rocky crags of the Cuillin on the Isle of Skye. Written in the 1950's its a bit dated in places (I just cringed every time someone tossed a cigarette but down the mountainside) but other than that another solid read from Dame Mary Stewart.
Page 142, "I turned to look back at Blaven, only to find that the mist was, indeed, rolling down the slopes behinds us like a tide of smoking lava. Blaven was already invisible, and a great wall of mist bore steadily across the glen behind us, obliterating the afternoon."
Can that woman write or not? Seeking relief from her hectic life as a model as well as the crush for the 1953 coronation, divorcee Gianetta leaves London for a vacation at a rustic resort on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, although she's a bit flummoxed at the surprise appearance of her ex-husband Nicholas Drury as one of the inn's guests. Gianetta soon finds herself in the midst of a murder mystery with a dead body or two and suspects everywhere - a local girl was murdered in a ritual resembling the ancient Beltane rites.
Soon two female guests disappear while climbing Blaven - but who was the third person seen heading towards the mountain with them? Could Gianetta be marked as the next victim? Inquiring minds want to know, but I am not telling - read it for yourself. This was a fabulous fast paced read and Stewart keeps you guessing to the very end with a doozy of a nail-biting finish set amongst the swirling mists, shifting bogs and the rocky crags of the Cuillin on the Isle of Skye. Written in the 1950's its a bit dated in places (I just cringed every time someone tossed a cigarette but down the mountainside) but other than that another solid read from Dame Mary Stewart.
A very cool pic of Blaven and those treacherous mists can be seen here, and don't miss looking at the rest of her work. Awesome.
Or did you think such a thing from if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all Harriet was even possible? Thanks to some sleuths at Amazon who figured out how to sort a person's reviews by star rating I took the link and popped in Harriet's customer ID and here is a link where you can search reviews by relevance, rating, date, etc. Change the search to low to high and voila (!) you have three two star reviews at the very top. Considering some of the very very bad books I've picked up that Harriet's given five stars to one has to wonder how bad a book can be that she's given a two star rating. I'm not sure I want to try them and find out but here are the three two star rated books that tops her "list":
Had the makings of a good story but it fizzled, March 23, 2001 
too harsh a protagonist, feels stereotypical, April 25, 2000 
So-so, July 31, 2001 "Bleeding the River Dry"
Buchanan's first novel begins in 1915 as Beth Heath leaves the Loretto Academy at Niagara Falls and finds herself living a very different lifestyle from the privileged one she's accustomed to. Her father has lost his job at the Niagara Power Company, is drinking too much and her mother is forced to take in dressmaking to pay the bills. Bess meets Riverman Tom Cole - although her parents are none too thrilled with the relationship and encourage her to become engaged to a more suitable man. Bess and Tom's story continues as WWI begins as well as the increasing development of the Niagara River and the Hydro-Electric Plants. I really don't want to say much more as I'd be giving the entire thing away and I do not write book reports.
While I enjoyed this novel a great deal, this is not going to be the book for everyone. Bess and Tom are engaging but at the same time they not a pair of star-crossed lovers that will keep you turning the pages into the wee hours of the morning. What I liked most was the story of the river and how it was affected by the increasing development of the Hydro-Electric plants - it reminded me of how the Columbia River in my neck of the woods changed from a wild, plunging river that was a constant challenge to the pioneers to the now placid and reasonably tame (albeit beautiful) river it is today. The writing was lovely, but the best part was the vintage photographs from the *early days* as well as the way the author worked those legends into her story - especially the real Riverman William "Red" Hill. Four stars.
Still searching for a good historical romance.......
....and that's because I did not find it here. I have to fess up, when I read Harriet's review wherein she gave if five stars and called it a "profound historical romance" along with the comment "never slows as William feels like he has three (his natural hardened sword) and often four (his metallic sword) legs throughout much of the plot", I just had to go and see for myself (I do love it when Harriet gets frisky and tries to slide something by the Ammy censors).Siobhan Fraser (an Irish name for a Scottish lass, how odd) discovers that her father has been kidnapped by the evil Pierre de la Roche who covets the hidden treasure of the Knights Templar, including the Spear of Destiny - whoever controls the spear can rule the world (raising your eyebrows in disbelief yet?). Coming to her rescue is Templar Knight Sir William Keith as the two find the hidden map to the treasure and the adventure begins. *Yawn*
I really didn't have high expectations going into this, but I certainly didn't expect to find such a jumbled mess of cartoon cut-out characters, including an evil baddie in the mold of Snidely Whiplash - I kept waiting for him to twirl his mustache (sorry, I couldn't resist).
Never fear, it gets worse. Our plucky heroine is able to travel anywhere and everywhere ALONE with our hero with nary an eyebrow raised by anyone, she gets a quick lesson in swordplay and she's able to swing the broadsword like a man, leap tall buildings with a single bound.....
Actually that's really our hero who just like Superman can outfight any evil baddie who crosses his path, including fighting his way through forty (yes 40) armed men with nary a scratch - let alone that scene where they're both hanging by a thread above a spike filled dungeon. Did they have spike filled dungeons in the 14C?
Actually that's really our hero who just like Superman can outfight any evil baddie who crosses his path, including fighting his way through forty (yes 40) armed men with nary a scratch - let alone that scene where they're both hanging by a thread above a spike filled dungeon. Did they have spike filled dungeons in the 14C?
But to top it all off is some of the most insipid dialog I've come across in a while,
"We are one."
"I never imagined it could feel so good"
"I've never felt like this before"
Just the kind of talk I look for to liven up a sex scene. Not. Frankly the sex scenes were pretty crappy for your standard bodice ripper romance. No chemistry there. In the end, it's just a big fluffy piece of preposterous nonsense - imagine the Saturday morning cartoons set to a book. But never fear - there's more coming soon as this appears to be the first in a series. I don't know about anyone else, but I'll pass. Get it from the library if you must, I'm glad I did.
"We are one."
"I never imagined it could feel so good"
"I've never felt like this before"
Just the kind of talk I look for to liven up a sex scene. Not. Frankly the sex scenes were pretty crappy for your standard bodice ripper romance. No chemistry there. In the end, it's just a big fluffy piece of preposterous nonsense - imagine the Saturday morning cartoons set to a book. But never fear - there's more coming soon as this appears to be the first in a series. I don't know about anyone else, but I'll pass. Get it from the library if you must, I'm glad I did.
Nice image on the cover, but I like the look of one of the original Sunflower paintings courtesy of Wik,
Oooh, what I'd give to see one in real life.
First time author and art historian Sheramy Bundrick takes a character who is a mere footnote in history - a prostitute by the name of Rachel was presented with Vincent Van Gogh's severed ear by the artist himself - and spins an artful (pun intended) tale around what-might-have-been. Told from the first person POV, Rachel awakes from a nap in a city garden to find a odd gentleman sketching her - and a new friendship begins that quickly turns to love - although Rachel's love is strongly tested when Vincent begins displaying bouts of madness and he is hospitalized and eventually taken away from Arles and Rachel. Can their love survive? Can Vincent overcome his madness and marry her? If you don't want to know the answers before reading the book stay off the internet. Outside of a few minor quibbles, I found this was a very entertaining, albeit a quick and light read (heh, after Wolf Hall anything would be light and easy). I'm not terribly fond of the first person narrative, although it did work well here, especially seeing Rachel's reactions to Vincent's madness as well as to his paintings (nicely done), but it did box the author in when she had to use *letters* between Rachel and Vincent later in the book. There was more black and white in some characters than I care to see (argh! the prostitutes with the heart of gold), and perhaps some of the language (especially the cursing) was a bit too modern. Although I haven't a clue how any Frenchman (in this century or the last) swears so what do I know? Rachel seemed to have a touch too much freedom, both coming and going from the brothel as well as when Vincent was in the asylum - but those are all minor nits on an otherwise engaging tale.
A big thumbs up on the author's notes telling us what is known and what was not as well as when she *fudged* a date or two to make her story work. I like to see that - now if Ms. "historical entertainment" could learn to do that. This is a solid first entry into the historical fiction field and I look forward to who or what she'll write about next - love the art angle and want to see more.
Author Hilary Mantel gives the reader a new take on that oft told tale of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn by showing it through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell, who despite humble beginnings was able to raise himself very high while aiding Henry VIII to rid himself of Katherine of Aragon in "The King's Great Matter", as well as his involvement in the Reformation and destruction of the monasteries and abbeys (to his own great gain). I think most of us have read enough about Henry and his six wives and know the basics, as well as enough reviewers have come before me so I don't need to rehash it all again. I'm just here to give my two cents on the book.
Isn't he a grim old soul? While I did enjoy a fresh take on this period, seeing it through the eyes of Cromwell, as well as seeing him interact with his wife, children and other family members, I did find the present tense very distracting and I had a difficult time getting started. Frankly, I picked up (and finished) four different books in between periods working on this one - although one covering the same period helped me a great deal as it served as a *refresher course* on who and what Cromwell was.
I found I couldn't read it during the work week at the end of the day when my brain was tired as well as on weekends when it was getting too close to bedtime - I put it down and read something lighter. That said, by the time I hit page 150 or so I was enjoying it a great deal and eventually I wasn't bothered the present tense at all, nor the excessive use of referring to Cromwell as "he" (it will drive you nuts at first).
I've seen this book described as a "rich meaty stew" and that's pretty much how I approached it, I took it in small bites over several weeks instead of gorging myself all at once and getting heartburn (reader burnout). Or you can look at it like you're climbing a mountain - you have to stop to rest and acclimate yourself, as well as slowing down to savor the shifting scenery as it changes from the alpine meadows and flowers to the starker views of the alpine tundra above the tree line. And wow towards the end when I reached the summit and saw the beauty of it all below me.
I loved the characterizations of the Boleyns, especially Anne, Mary and George (and oooh, his witchy wife Jane Rochford), anytime they were in a room things really moved along. I really enjoyed Cromwell's dry wit and I'll share some of my favorites here,
Cromwell's family asking him about Anne Boleyn,
"They say she is graceful. Dances well."
"We did not dance."
Mercy says, "But what do you think? A friend to the gospel?"
He shrugs. "We did not pray."
"Are her teeth good?"
"For God's sake woman: when she sinks them into me, I'll let you know."
Mary Boleyn,
"Anne has very long legs. By the time he comes to her secret part he will be bankrupt. The French wars will be cheap, in comparison."
Discussing Anne's virtue (or lack of) with Wyatt,
"...Besides, the king is no judge of maidenheads. He admits as much. With Katherine, it took him twenty years to puzzle out his brother had been there before him."
Final thoughts - if you're a first time novice reader on this period this is not the book for you - you need to come into this knowing who is who and who did what to whom. If it's been a few years and you're feeling rusty, find something else first and give yourself a refresher course. Lastly, do not be afraid to put the book down and take a breather and pick it up again later. If it isn't the book for you don't be afraid to just stop, prestigious literary award or not. Not every book is going to be for every person and life is too short. 4/5 stars.
Thanks to Ashley Pattison of Henry Holt and Company for my copy of this book.
In the first book in what is known as her Plantation Trilogy, Deep Summer, Bristow began the story of Phillip Larne as he brings his new bride to carve a new life out of the steaming jungles of Louisiana. Handsome Road carries the Larne and Sheramy families through the Civil War and emphasizes the struggles of the upper class and their efforts to hold onto their way of life through the carpet bagger era. Which brings us to the last book in this trilogy - This Side of Glory begins in 1912, as Eleanor Upjohn works as secretary for her father Fred, who despite a poorer birth has made a successful career as a builder of river levees. She meets plantation owner Kester Larne and its love at first site - but can they overcome the huge gaps in their two social classes and build a successful marriage? Eleanor is shocked at the run down condition of the Larne family plantation as well as the huge debts Kester's neglect has incurred. Eleanor cracks the whip and begins to put things to right, until a shot rings out in Sarajevo and as war breaks out it brings the price of cotton drops down to dangerous levels and threatens to destroy them all.....
And that is all I'm going to tell you. This is not one of those action-packed page-turning novels, but more one based on Kester and Eleanor's relationship as they try to grow and adapt to the death of one society and emergence of the new. Despite a bit too trite of an ending, I enjoyed this a lot and I can't remember the last time I stopped so many times to note a page I wanted to go back to and quote for the review. So without further ado,
"She began to understand what people might be like when they had lived for generations in this quiet grandeur, their instincts curbed by the standards of their culture till they had no uncertainties, their characters polished by their knowledge in all circumstances of what was expected of them."
Kester's definition of `white trash', "people who have no fineness, no delicacy, no knowledge that some things are Caesar's and some things are God's."
"We fell in love because we were so different. Then all we did was twist and pull at each other, trying to make changes that couldn't be made."
"New people are generally those who have moved into the neighborhood since the Civil War. They all say 'since the war' as if it had happened last Tuesday."
"They had rushed into a marriage across a barrier that intolerant generations had been building for a hundred and fifty years; they had laughed when warned of its existence and then blamed each other when they had found that laughter did not blow it down."
Don't let those used prices scare you on some of those editions in the Trilogy - they can be found in libraries in the US and if yours participates in the ILL program you should be able to get them. Or there's always the challenge of scrounging your favorite used book stores until you find a copy. Four stars.
Do you remember those campy sci-fi movies in the 50's that were so bad they were fun to watch?Well, that's pretty much the way I had to look at this book and certainly the only way I finished it (although I don't think the author intended this to be a satirical farce). The basic premise sounded interesting for readers looking for an entertaining time slip of a book - masons working at Hampton Court in 2070 find a woman's body and a letter that leads them to believe that she was Henry VIII's mistress and pregnant. Curator Kaitlyn Rose has issues of her own, as Anne Boleyn's ghost seems to really have it in for her, and she's in love with her boss Colin. Half brothers Colin and Brighton (who have a mysterious past that shocks the you know what out of Kaitlyn) hate each other, and the aging Queen Mum sends them all back to Henry VIII's court to find the pregnant woman and bring her back to the future so England will have an heir. Once our intrepid time travelers arrive they hook up with Henry and Anne and their court and surprise (!!) Henry immediately starts lusting after the beauteous Kaitlyn while the evil brother Brighton schemes to leave his hated brother Colin in the past. OK, now that I've put that down on paper it is sounding a bit silly.
Where to begin on what is wrong with this book when there are so many places to start? First off, this is apparently self-published POD which means no editor. And boy did this book need editing. Typos on almost every page -- you instead of your, now instead of know, there instead of their, ware instead of wear, you're instead of your, 5:00 shadow and then two pages later it's five o'clock shadow -- get the picture? Now for the setting of London in 2070, outside of a few Jetsonesque like references to 3D TV, I really didn't get much feeling for being decades ahead of our current lifestyle. Worse yet, the way the dialog was written in an attempt at British accents was way over the top - virtually every sentence had either bloke, bloody or bollocks in it.
Now for the story itself. Two men and a woman traveling alone walk right into Hampton Court and they're just accepted like that? No one is shocked at unmarried Kaitlyn traveling alone with two men and no chaperone? No lady to attend her? Righto. They're promptly given rooms by Henry and of Kaitlyn's given the room of his absent mistress - yet still no lady to attend her. Worse yet, Colin comes and goes and spends the night (!!) in Kaitlyn's room and not an eyebrow raised. Want more? How about Anne Boleyn the Queen of England running off to the forest to make whoopee with Brighton and nobody notices? I could go on and on but you get the picture.
Now, why is this so campy and hysterically funny? For starters, the emergency kit brought along by Kaitlyn was priceless - "her tried and true pink and blue plaid pajama pants with their matching pink tank top", biscuits, diet cola, chocolate, tampons, anti-bacterial soap and lice killing shampoo (I did not need to read about the other part of her body that needed shampooing). Kaitlyn keeps getting tipsy during the Court entertainments and ends up on Colin's lap (!!), or better yet all the times she's mad about something and in front of the King and Queen she pouts and puts her arms akimbo. Although the flat out hands down winner that had me on the floor laughing was when our intrepid heroine displays her skill in martial arts and karate chops Henry's guards when they attempt to arrest Colin. Lol. A couple of my favorite quotes:
"Without hesitation, Henry snapped back into king mode, hastily slipped through the door, sans shirt, with his breeches half opened, barely containing his thwarted..." (I won't use the word but it starts with an "e").
"She had changed out of the festive gown from the night before, into a simple dress of lavender velvet, trimmed in mint green gold with a square neckline cut so low the terracotta of her nipples nearly broke free. Bonus, Brighton thought."
"She had changed out of the festive gown from the night before, into a simple dress of lavender velvet, trimmed in mint green gold with a square neckline cut so low the terracotta of her nipples nearly broke free. Bonus, Brighton thought."
BONUS?? There you have it, a silly plot filled with huge gaping holes that falls apart quickly, poor sentence structure laden with typos and way too many commas along with cartoon cut-out characters all add up to a mess of a book and a serious waste of a tree. If you find it at the used bookstore for a penny (no more) and want a few laughs go for it, otherwise skip this it doesn't even deserve one star.
But this all begs the question - who are those all those members on Paperbackswap and Bookmooch that have it on their wish lists? Hee, if I'd known someone wanted it I'd have gone that route instead of inflicting Michele. Although then we wouldn't have had such a great review and giveaway from A Reader's Respite, would we? Details here. Think we're exaggerating? You just go to Amazon and chose that search inside feature and chose a few surprise me's. Wish I had before I plunked down $18 for this mess.
PS, despite her resolution to never, ever borrow a book from Misfit she forgot there's another one in the works that I'm sending on as soon as I've finished. It promises to be a doozy :p
"Sometimes, she thought, that's what God intended for her - to take care of older husbands and their children." Believe it or not Katherine Parr did have a life before marriage to Henry VIII and quite an interesting one at that. Her mother Maude Parr was a lady in waiting and close companion to Katherine of Aragon and her father Sir Thomas Parr was a descendent of Edward III. Katherine was schooled with and was close friends with Mary Tudor (Henry's sister and future Queen of France) and Kate Willoughby (the future Duchess of Suffolk). Katherine's first two marriages were to Edward Borough and after his death wed John Neville, both widowers with children and powerful northern Lords. Left a wealthy widow, she finally hopes to wed her old love Thomas Seymour, but fate intervenes as old Henry decides to make her wife number six and she must once again put duty before love and happiness. The rest of the story is known history as Katherine's religious views threaten to get her into hot water with Stephen Gardiner and Thomas Wriothesley, her widowhood upon Henry's death and final marriage, her involvement and care of Henry's children so I'll not go into it in further detail. Although I have to say I loved the little *cat fights* between Katherine and the incredibly snotty Anne Stanhope (wife of Edward Seymour) - especially that spat over her missing jewels.
Through Katherine, Luke shows the reader how the Northern people reacted to the dissolution of the monasteries as well as the growing power and abuses of Thomas Cromwell. While this is a novel, it is a biographical one and I did find it a bit slow in places where there was more telling than showing, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. This is not a fast paced, action packed page turning read, and if that's what you're looking for this is not the book for you. However, if you're interested in reading more about Katherine I'd snap this one up if you spot it at the used book store.
The Knot Garden at Sudeley Castle 
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. That said, I've just picked up the following courtesy the King County Library System,
Don't you just love that Mary Stewart cover? I've been waiting almost two months for my turn at The Day the Falls Stood Still and it finally shows up when I'm swamped with reading. Argh! This Side of Glory is the third in Gwen Bristow's Plantation trilogy and via interlibrary loan courtesy of Seaside Oregon Public Library (half the fun of ILL's is seeing where they came from). I didn't know The Other Eden was written by the same author who wrote Sand Daughter - I've a friend who read that and wasn't all that warm and fuzzy.
Still slogging away at Wolf Hall, its very heavy going and the present tense is driving me nuts. I've actually picked up three other books, currently reading The Ivy Crown by Mary Luke (it's about Katherine Parr), but I hope to get back at it this weekend.
Still slogging away at Wolf Hall, its very heavy going and the present tense is driving me nuts. I've actually picked up three other books, currently reading The Ivy Crown by Mary Luke (it's about Katherine Parr), but I hope to get back at it this weekend.
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