The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau – Book Review

Jan 092012

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau
Published by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

Joanna Stafford’s family has been repeatedly touched by scandal. First her uncle is executed for treason, and now her beloved cousin Margaret is condemned to be burned at the stake for her part in an uprising against Henry VIII and his persecution of the old (Catholic) ways. Even absent her family connections, Joanna is a suspicious figure as a novice Dominican nun in a time when the King has broken with the Pope and is shutting down religious houses throughout the country. Between the family treason and the religious leanings, Joanna finds herself in great trouble when she becomes involved in a commotion during Margaret’s execution. Imprisoned in the tower, along with her beloved father, Joanna is offered a single way to save both herself and her father by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester: she must return to her convent and find the crown worn by the Saxon King Athelstan. As soon as Joanna returns, however, people begin turning up dead, complicating her mission and making her wonder just what this relic really is.

The Crown would best be classified as a historical thriller, but to my relief, Bilyeau’s writing style is much more closely aligned to the historical fiction genre than to the thriller genre, avoiding the short chapters with cliffhanger endings that are a hallmark of many thrillers. Bilyeau develops her characters well; Joanna is certainly a fully-fledged person and, although the reader does not have access into the minds of the other characters, all of the secondary characters are complex enough to be realistic as well. Even Gardiner manages to avoid being a two-dimensional villain. Each chapter has rich historical detail interwoven with the story, bringing a sense of authenticity, without ever devolving into info-dump territory.

The storyline Bilyeau created for The Crown is fascinating as well. Even while Joanna is in the tower the action continues to move forward and the reader begins to get a sense of the political intrigue occurring throughout the court and the religious orders. The legend of Athelstan and his crown is teased out perfectly, enough information is given to keep the reader from becoming frustrated, but enough is also withheld to keep the level of suspense high.

The Crown may be a debut novel, but it is a fantastic example of the historical thriller drama. If that’s what you’re in the mood for, I highly recommend picking up The Crown.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Dark Rose by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles – Book Review

Jul 122010

The Dark Rose by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

“The Dark Rose” is the second in Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ ‘Morland Dynasty’ series. I have previously reviewed the first book, “The Founding.” Because the books deal with successive generations of the same family, they largely stand on their own and do not really contain any significant spoilers for one another.

In “The Dark Rose,” Paul Morland – founder Eleanor’s great-grandson – has become the head of the Morland dynasty. England has had a bit of a change of leadership as well; the house of York, with whom the Morlands were long allied, has fallen and it is the Tudors who now rule. Just as the Tudors are now dealing with contenders to the throne, Paul is dealing with different factions competing for his affection and a place as a member of his family. Between his wife and children and his mistress and illegitimate son, as well as his half-siblings who he believes to be illegitimate, things are quite messy in the Morland household.

Okay, so “The Dark Rose” isn’t actually as melodramatic as I made it sound, but Paul does act a bit brooding in much of the first half of the book. In fact, he was so brooding as to be somewhat obnoxious, and gave me a bit of difficulty in getting into the book initially. As Paul grew up a bit more and started to act it, though, I slipped into the book more easily. Things got even easier when Nanette, Paul’s niece, became a major character. She was much easier to identify with, and her life was also a bit more interesting, as for some time she was living at court with Anne Boleyn during Anne’s meteoric rise and fall. Harrod-Eagles changed a few pieces of history for no reason that I could discern, however, and that drew me out of the story a few times. For instance, she had Elizabeth Boleyn, mother of Anne and Mary, dying when the girls were young. That is not true, and it seemed to serve no purpose other than annoy me any time it was mentioned. Then there was the whole thing with the uncle and niece falling in love. I’ve more or less made my peace with the creepiness of the cousins constantly marrying one another (and in EVERY generation…), but the uncle to half-niece was just ick. They seemed like true love and all, but my brain just kept going ‘ick, ick, ick, ick, ick.”

Overall, I did very much enjoy “The Dark Rose,” although perhaps not quite as much as “The Founding.” I liked it enough that I’m excited for “The Princeling,” the next book in the Morland dynasty series.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

This review was done with a book received from Danielle at Sourcebooks.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – Book Review

May 242010

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

If you don’t already know what this book is about, there is a good chance this isn’t the sort of book you would like, because this has got to be hands-down the most talked about historical fiction novel of the past 12 months: Henry VIII’s court from Thomas Cromwell’s point of view.

Thomas Cromwell. Not, perhaps, the most sympathetic character from Henry VIII’s reign, and there were an awful lot of unsympathetic characters running around that court. In most works of historical fiction, Cromwell is vilified, detested; he is a horrible, horrible man who craves naught but power and influence. Honestly, doesn’t sound like the sort of man that I would like to read a 600 page book about, whose head I would want to be in for that long.

But Mantel does something special with Cromwell in “Wolf Hall.” She humanizes him, and actually makes him sympathetic. Honestly, I’m not even sure how she did it. Although we are somewhat in Cromwell’s head throughout the story, her narration is still in third person and somehow everything seems a little on the distant side – I felt almost as if I was watching everything take place through a pane of frosted glass. And yet, I felt that I understood him, that I cared what he thought and felt.

One of the main things that everyone has talked about with this book is the fact that it is a difficult read. In particular, Mantel almost always refers to Cromwell simply as ‘he’ and, yes, when he’s talking to other men, that gets very confusing. And really, some of the passages are just plain dense, and a bit hard to get through, in the second and third sections particularly.

But then, in the second half of the book, it just all came together for me. I was completely drawn into the story by that point, I was used to Mantel’s writing, and it all just flowed. I loved it. LOVED it. I’ve never read Tudor fiction like this, I’ve never seen Cromwell as a character like this and, despite early difficulties, I absolutely adored it.

If you love literary fiction and historical fiction and are willing to put a little work into your books, I highly recommend “Wolf Hall.”

A note on how I read this: I actually read “Wolf Hall” over about six weeks, reading a section each weekend to discuss on Monday with a friend. Although the discussions petered out, I think that reading it like this really worked well for me. Trying to read the entire thing at once might have burned me out, but having it as my weekend read with other books during the week always left me wanting more, particularly towards the end when I got really into it.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

This review was done with a book received as a gift.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Queen’s Governess – Book Review

Mar 302010

The Queen’s Governess by Karen Harper

Kat Ashley, nee Champernowne is well known by those who have read about Queen Elizabeth I. Not only was Ashley Elizabeth’s governess when she was young, but she remained a devoted servant when Elizabeth ascended to the throne. What many may not know – I certainly didn’t! – is that her original sponsor when she arrived at court was none other than Thomas Cromwell. Harper’s version of Kat had her groomed from her relatively poor family as a protege of Cromwell and a sometimes-spy for him at court who grew to love both her first mistress Anne Boleyn and her daughter Elizabeth. Kat stood by Elizabeth during many of the greatest trials and scandals of her young life.

Yay! I like the Tudors again! Time and time again recently I’ve tried to read a novel based on the Tudors and I’ve just been bored and sort of annoyed, major Tudor fatigue. I should have known, however, that Karen Harper wouldn’t let me down. While she doesn’t necessarily create a complete air of time and place, Harper’s storytelling ability pulls me right into the lives of her characters. While Kat was occasionally ever-so-slightly modern sounding, she was a strong and engaging main character and I loved the relationships she built with her husband John Ashley and, of course, with Elizabeth. It all seemed to flow in an entirely plausible and convincing series of events, I thought Harper supported her interpretation of these women’s story very well.

There were a few anachronisms, however, one in particular that really jumped out with me was John Ashley quoting a nursery rhyme:

“I hear Humpty Dumpty is heading for a fall, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never put him back together again – or want to” – p. 143

Popular belief is that this nursery rhyme was based on a cannon used in 1648 against the Royalists in the English Civil War. Ashley is speaking in 1540. Even so, the couple of anachronisms didn’t pull me out of the story as much as it might have done. Other than having to run to Wikipedia after the Humpty Dumpty incident, I was actually able to stay in the story really very well.

Don’t let the anachronisms throw you, this is some of the most engaging Tudor fiction I’ve read lately. Love me some Karen Harper!

Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*