Tudor Book Reviews

Posted By Claire on May 15, 2013

Robert Parry’s latest historical novel, Wildish, is set in the 18th century, in Georgian England, a period I have never studied in depth. This made me slightly wary of reading it because I like to have enough knowledge to be able to figure out what is fact and what is fiction. However, my worries were unfounded because this novel concentrates on a fictitious character, and his friends, rather than a real historical character. There are real characters and events in it, for example, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite uprising, but the focus is on the character and his quest “to be transported to the heavens themselves” by a harem of women.

Matthew Wildish is a poet and Master Wig-maker on a mission. He enjoys life to the full, but wants more. He has had many women in his life, and has feelings for his best friend’s wife, but he is convinced that he can reach a higher plane with his plan. He must try and build his harem while avoiding the man-eating Lady Snatchal, whose fall from a horse, she explains, has made her have an insatiable sexual appetite, and while repairing a very special wig for Lord Snatchal. All that, while being a good friend to Sam, helping damsels in distress and gathering intelligence for the King – phew! By the end of the novel, Wildish has had an incredible journey fraught with danger and has discovered the true meaning of love. The tag line of the novel is “A story concerning different kinds of love” and that is spot on. The story covers friendship, sex, the love one has for one’s country, family love and true love. The story is also rather ‘saucy’ at times and has some rather humorous moments. Wildish does get himself into some tricky situations!

I was intrigued by the start of the book, when Wildish starts planning his quest for love, and I loved his character, but I must admit to struggling with the middle of the book. I got a bit lost with the history and wondered where the story was going, but then it picked up and grabbed me once more. I was hooked by the last third and although I wanted to know what would happen to Wildish and his friends I also didn’t want the magic to end. If you do get bogged down in the middle, keep reading, it’s worth it!

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Category: 18th century, Fiction
Tags: historical fiction, Robert Parry, romance

Posted By Claire on May 14, 2013

I have been following Susan Bordo’s journey into Anne Boleyn’s story, and how her image has been reconstructed time and time again through the ages, since early 2011 so I was looking forward to the release of her book, particularly because she interviewed me as part of her research.

The Creation of Anne Boleyn is a very different Anne Boleyn book. It is exactly how it’s described in its blurb, “part biography, part cultural history”. The first half focuses on Anne Boleyn’s life, and subsequent downfall, but then the second part, “Recipes of Anne Boleyn”, looks at representations of Anne in literature and Part III, “An Anne for All Season”, examines the Anne of the big screen and TV, the “Viral Anne” of websites and blogs, and how Anne is seen by today’s young women. The latter section was of great interest to me, being someone who blogs about Anne on a regular basis and who is always ‘hearing’ other people’s views of Anne. Anne is one of those “marmite” historical characters: people seem to love her or hate her, there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. I found Part II fascinating because Bordo examined literature that I haven’t yet looked closely at in my research, including Victorian history books and Mary Hastings Bradley’s 1912 novel about Anne. These books are now on my “to read” list.

Bordo doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to examining how today’s authors and historians have portrayed Anne Boleyn. She is highly critical of Philippa Gregory, who she believes deceives readers by claiming to be “a trained historian” and whose Anne is “a ruthless human predator”. She is also critical of  G W Bernard whose book she describes as “a sensationalistic, poorly argued extension of an equally flimsy scholarly article from 1991″. David Starkey, she believes, presents Anne as a “bloodthirsty” woman who “hunts down all enemies and rejoices at their deaths” and Alison Weir “is not above using dramatic but unfounded stereotype”. Strong words, but then Bordo feels strongly about her subject and how authors and historians treat Anne. Bordo prefers the “more balanced assessments” of the likes of Eric Ives, Suzannah Lipscomb and David Loades, as do I. I too have a problem with the Anne of “The Other Boleyn Girl”, so I can see where Bordo is coming from when it comes to Philippa Gregory. I love historical fiction, but the author’s notes section of the novel make it clear that Philippa Gregory feels that her book is based on fact and that that was what Anne was really like. It has led to confusion and to people regarding her book as more than just a novel. Regarding Bernard, I agree that his book was based on the academic arguments he and Eric Ives had in journals in the 1990s, and I think that Ives won the arguments with his more convincing evidence, but the book was still an interesting read and Bernard is someone I respect as an academic historian. We all have our opinions though and passions always run high when Anne is involved!

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Category: Anne Boleyn, Non-fiction, Six Wives, The Tudors
Tags: Anne Boleyn, Creation of Anne Boleyn, Susan Bordo, Tudor

Posted By Claire on May 14, 2013

Thank you so much to Penelope Wright for writing the following review for us. Over to Penny…

I was really looking forward to moving away from the Medieval and Tudor mysteries I have been reading lately into the later period of George II. Although I was fascinated to learn about the role of the Coroner and the use of cadavers for science and research I was disappointed that I guessed much of the plot very early on (Perhaps this is because I have been reading those same Medieval and Tudor murder mysteries and have a little medical knowledge!). However there are several twists and turns that are very unusual and certainly not “run of the mill”.

I would say “well done Robin Blake” for approaching the subject of the then provinces by entwining the superstitions, prejudices and remoteness of 18th century England into a tale of murder, mystery and mayhem. I would not be put off in reading another tale by this author although I would ask that the names of the characters, apart from his “heroes” be a little more conventional. Brockletower and Garlick Hall did not flow for me and in the early stages of the book I found these quite irksome. I did, however, manage to overlook this as the book progressed.

Book Blurb

From Amazon:

In 1740s England, the roots of evil run deep…

The year is 1740. George II is on the throne, but England’s remoter provinces remain largely a law unto themselves. In Lancashire a grim discovery has been made: a squire’s wife, Dolores Brockletower, lies in the woods above her home at Garlick Hall, her throat brutally slashed.

Called to the scene, Coroner Titus Cragg finds the Brockletower household awash with rumor and suspicion. He enlists the help of his astute young friend, doctor Luke Fidelis, to throw light on the case.

But this is a world in which forensic science is in its infancy, and policing hardly exists. Embarking on their first gripping investigation, Cragg and Fidelis are faced with the superstition of witnesses, obstruction by local officials, and denunciations from the squire himself. A Dark Anatomy marks the arrival of a remarkable new voice in mystery and a pair of detectives both cunning and complex.

Book Details

Hardcover: 368 pages (available in paperback in the UK, 304 pages)
Publisher: Minotaur Books; Reprint edition May 21 2012 (UK paperback by Pan, 19 Jan 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250006724 (UK 0330518089)
ISBN-13: 978-1250006721 (UK 978-0330518086)
Available as a hardback and Kindle version from Amazon.com – click here – and as a paperback or Kindle version from Amazon UK – click here.

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Category: 18th century, Crime/Thriller, Fiction
Tags: 18th century, A Dark Anatomy, historical fiction, Robin Blake

Posted By Claire on May 9, 2013

John Guy is one of my favourite historians. He is so thorough in his research, his books are always fully referenced, allowing the reader to check the sources for themselves, and he writes in a very ‘readable’ style. This means that anyone from the casual history fan to a history scholar can appreciate his work.

From the title of this book, I was expecting it to be mini biographies of each of Henry VIII’s children in turn with very separate sections on each of them, but it’s not like that at all. Guy looks Henry’s family chronologically, from the birth of Henry, Duke of Cornwall in January 1510 to Elizabeth I’s death in 1603, he tells their stories.  It works really well because the reader can see the interaction between Henry’s children, the relationships they had with each other. As another reviewer noted on Amazon, the book focuses more on the early years of Henry’s children and when it does cover their reigns it concentrates “more on the personal than the political except where they were intertwined”. There are plenty of books on Henry’s children’s reigns, so I enjoyed this look at them as people and members of a family.

The  book isn’t a heavy tome. It is 198 pages, not counting the notes and bibliography, so is a relatively quick read. It gives just enough information, without bogging the reader down with detail. I loved the extras like the family trees, the notes on units of currency, and the photographs of letters written by Henry’s children when they were young – very interesting, particularly the difference between the styles of Mary’s handwriting and that of Henry’s other children, who were taught the more fashionable Italic script.

It is an excellent book and was a pleasure to read. I recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about Henry VIII’s struggle to produce a legitimate heir, his four children and the nature of their relationships with each other.

The book is divided into the following parts:

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Category: Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Henry VIII, Mary I, Non-fiction, The Tudors
Tags: Children of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII, John Guy, Mary I

Posted By Claire on May 9, 2013

Thank you so much to author Katherine Longshore for sending me an ARC of her upcoming novel Tarnish, a novel featuring three of my favourite historical characters: Anne Boleyn, George Boleyn and Thomas Wyatt.

Now, I’m hard to please when it comes to fiction on Anne Boleyn because I research Anne on a daily basis and spend my time trying to banish the myths propagated by some novels. I have to chant “it’s fiction, it’s fiction” before I start an Anne Boleyn novel, but there have still been novels that I’ve had to give up on because they’re so far removed from history or they’ve just plain got on my nerves. Thankfully, Tarnish was one that I enjoyed. There were a few things that niggled me – the characters of George and Thomas, and the fact that Anne was sent back to France after her return to the English court because she shamed her family. I also sighed on the first page when a mention is made of Anne hiding her misshapen finger, but I was relieved when it is explained that Anne actually broke her finger in a childhood accident, it’s not an extra finger – hurray!

What I really enjoyed about this novel was the interaction and relationship between Anne Boleyn and poet Thomas Wyatt. Nobody knows the depth of their relationship, whether they ever had a romance or whether it was unrequited love, so it is the perfect topic for an author to explore in fiction. Their relationship starts with a wager: Wyatt promises to help Anne, who’s the odd-one-out at court due to her dress, her past and her sharp tongue, advance at court. Her reputation has become ‘tarnished’ and she needs help, but it’s also a game to Wyatt. He believes that if he helps Anne to be accepted at court that “before long in this pretty, showy dance, you will want me in your bed.” They make a wager: Anne makes Wyatt promise that he will leave her alone and not “press” her further if he loses the bet and in return she promises to “follow through” if he wins and she desires him. As the nature of their relationship is unknown, this wager adds tension to the book and the reader is desperate to find out where Longshore will take them. What will happen?

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Category: Anne Boleyn, Fiction, Henry VIII, The Tudors
Tags: Anne Boleyn, historical fiction, Katherine Longshore, Tarnish, Thomas Wyatt

Posted By Claire on April 30, 2013

Today’s review is by Penelope Wright. Thanks Penny!

Before I started this book my knowledge of the Crimean War was limited to Florence Nightingale, Tennyson’s poem and the film of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

This exciting spy story woven into the fabric of the history of the Crimean Campaign was fascinating, kept me guessing and wanting more. Berridge used her research to make this a believable reason for many of the poor leadership decisions. I can thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical novels based on fact and spy intrigues.

Book Blurb

From Amazon.com:
“Into the Valley of Death” is the first in A.L. Berridge’s “Crimean War” series. 1854 – The Allied armies prepare to besiege the Russian stronghold in the Crimea. Harry Ryder is a maverick hero. Resentful of the army that destroyed his father and his own career, he has no time for incompetent commanders. He clashes with his superiors as fiercely as he fights the Russians. Four men, one woman and a game of cards will change everything and alter the course of a war.

Something evil has crept into the ranks of the British Army’s own officers, an unknown enemy who plans lure men to ruin on the battlefields. The only path to victory lies in uncovering the truth, but to find it and confront his own destiny Ryder must charge with the Light Brigade into the Valley of Death itself…

From A.L. Berridge, Top Ten Bestselling author of “Honour and the Sword”, comes “Into the Valley of Death”; the first in a sensational new series set to the bloody backdrop of the Crimean war. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden, “Into the Valley of Death” is a masterpiece of exhilarating historical adventure. So begins a thrilling new series set in the midst of a brutal war that shifted the balance of power in Europe and set the stage for World War One.

Praise for A.L. Berridge: “Fast-moving, exciting historical fiction …bringing the Crimea back to life …It’s pitch-perfect, breakneck writing”. (Conn Iggulden). “The novel opens at a cracking pace and accelerates…A. L. Berridge has done it again – quite simply superb”. (“The Historical Novel Society”). “Explodes into life, drama and action on every page. This truly is an outstanding book”. (Parmenion Books).

Book Details

UK Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Penguin (11 April 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 024195410X
ISBN-13: 978-0241954102

US Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Michael Joseph (May 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0718158989
ISBN-13: 978-0718158989

Available from Amazon.com as hardback or Kindle, Amazon UK as paperback or kindle, or your usual bookstore.

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Category: 19th Century, Crime/Thriller, Crimean War, Fiction
Tags: Crimea, Crimean War, historical fiction, spy, thriller

Posted By Claire on April 30, 2013

Thank you so much to Kyra Kramer, author of Blood Will Tell: A Medical Explanation for the Tyranny of Henry VIII, for reviewing Lacey Baldwin Smith’s new book on Anne Boleyn. Over to Kyra…

Lacey Baldwin Smith (LBS) is one of the “big name” historians, and for good reasons. His research is meticulous and his analysis is often profound. His book on Henry VIII is one of the most cited and significant works on that King. Thus, when he wrote a book about Anne Boleyn I scurried over to Amazon to get that baby on my Kindle.

Here’s the blurb for the book:

“The story of Anne Boleyn goes to the root of all history; what makes an individual or event memorable to later generations? Anne is an exceptional case for her life was a double helix intertwining extraordinary human drama with profound historical crisis. A young lady of no particular importance or talents – she was neither a great beauty or a captivating charmer – married a man who turned out to be England’s most notorious monarchy, and then three years later she was publicly executed for treason, accused of quadruple adultery and incest. Mistress Boleyn was the crucial catalysts for three of the most important events in modern history: the break with Rome and the English Reformation, the advent of the nation state, and the birth of a daughter whose 43 years on the throne stand as England’s most spectacular literary and political success story. Remove Anne and the Reformation as we know it today would not have taken place; remove Anne and Elizabeth I would not have existed at all. Anne Boleyn stands as a monument to the truth that there is nothing consistent in history except the unexpected.”

LBS states right off the bat that the book is more of an “essay” aimed at understanding the psychological framework of the Tudor era and and how that effected Anne Boleyn’s life, rather than a straight “history” book. So if you aren’t interested in what anthropologists call the “thick description” of context, or you are a novice who hasn’t read any of Queen Anne’s biographies before, this book is probably too much “background” for you to enjoy. However, if you are like me and yearn for context and thoughtful psychological insights into the thinking patterns of Henry’s time, then you will be glad you bought the book.

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Category: Anne Boleyn, Non-fiction, The Tudors
Tags: Anne Boleyn, Lacey Baldwin Smith

Posted By Claire on April 15, 2013

I first came across the heroine of Roses Have Thorns, Lady Helena Gorges (born Elin von Snakenborg) when researching Elizabeth I’s household. I was immediately intrigued. Why was there a Swedish lady in Elizabeth’s household? How did she get there and what was her story? Well, Sandra Byrd tells her story in this wonderful novel.

The novel is obviously fiction, but Sandra is committed to staying as close to the real history as possible and then filling in the blanks with things that make sense. She also makes use of historical researchers to help her get the details right.

At the start of the novel, Elin von Snakenborg is a sixteen year-old girl due to marry a man who seems more interested in her sister. Instead of marrying him, she travels to England in Princess Cecilia’s entourage and is offered the chance of staying there and serving Queen Elizabeth I, the famous Virgin Queen. Elin jumps at the chance of settling in England and changes her name to Helena to appear more ‘English’. At the English court she meets the kindly William Parr, Marquis of Northampton and brother of the late Queen Catherine Parr. Unlike her former Swedish beau, Northampton is besotted with Helena and is a real gentleman. Unfortunately, although he and his wife have been estranged for many years and she has been unfaithful to him, the Queen has not allowed him a divorce. Will Helena ever find true happiness?

If you know your history, then you’ll already know what happens to Helena, but I won’t spoil it for those of you who don’t know her story. What I can tell you is that Helena is such a warm and likeable character that you will be crossing your fingers and toes for her, hoping that she will find happiness and fulfilment.

As well as Helena’s story, we also get Elizabeth’s story told through the eyes of her lady-in-waiting. The novel touches on Elizabeth’s relationship with Robert Dudley, her tricky relationship with Mary, Queen of Scots, and the way she treated those who served her. I really enjoyed this view of Elizabeth.

All in all, it’s a well-written historical novel and perfect escapism.

Details

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Howard Books; Original edition (April 9, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1439183163
ISBN-13: 978-1439183168
Available to buy now at Amazon UK and Amazon.com

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Category: Elizabeth I, Fiction, The Tudors
Tags: Elin von Snakenborg, Elizabeth I, historical fiction, Roses Have Thorns, Sandra Byrd

Posted By Claire on March 13, 2013

UK Cover

This treat for historical fiction fans has just come out in the UK and comes out on 11th June in the US. It is the debut novel from Fashion editor Elizabeth Fremantle and Fremantle is definitely one to watch as the book is a wonderful read.

The novel follows the story of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife, from 1543, when she is nursing her dying second husband, to her death in September 1548. It is a novel covering just five years, but it was an action packed five years in Katherine’s life – she lost a husband, fell in love with another man but had her hopes dashed, married a king who had executed two of his wives, survived a plot against her, lost her third husband and then married for love, only to be betrayed and then die. Phew! You’d think it was far-fetched if it wasn’t true!

Many people still think of Katherine as the woman who was nothing but a nurse to Henry VIII during his final years, but that’s not the Katherine of this book or the Katherine of history. Katherine was an intelligent woman, a committed reformer and published author. She survived a rebellion which saw her taken hostage, she built good relationships with her stepchildren and ward, and Henry chose her to act as regent while he was at war in France. That is the Katherine of the Queen’s Gambit, a strong character who survives the intrigues and corruption of the Tudor court and who leaves the world a better place for her having lived. The Katherine of the novel has a way with people, she is loved and respected, and from the start you can’t help but empathise with her and the situation she finds herself in, when she has to sacrifice her dreams for the greater good.

Of course, there are blanks in Katherine’s story. We don’t know what happened to her when she was held hostage with her stepchildren during the Pilgrimage of Grace, we don’t know her feelings towards Henry VIII, we don’t know her relationship with Anne Askew and other reformers, and we don’t know the full nature of Thomas Seymour’s relationship with the young Elizabeth. It is an historical novelist’s job to fill these blanks in using their imagination, but to make their choices make sense. Although the filling in of the blanks regarding Katherine’s experiences during the rebellion, Elizabeth and Seymour’s relationship, and Latymer’s death didn’t sit comfortably with me, it did work for the story and who knows what happened? Fremantle’s author’s note explains some of the liberties she took, but not all of them, so I would have liked some more detail here.

The thing I really loved about the novel is that there are parallel storylines. Although Katherine is the main character, you also have the story of Dot, who had served Katherine since her first marriage and who was held hostage with her and Katherine’s stepdaughter, Meg, and then, to a lesser extent, the stories of Meg and Huicke, the King’s physician. Dot is a wonderful character and I loved seeing the events at court through her eyes and seeing what happened to her as her loyalty to her mistress put her in danger.

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Category: Fiction, Henry VIII, Six Wives, The Tudors
Tags: Catherine Parr, Elizabeth Fremantle, historical fiction, Katherine Parr

Posted By Claire on March 11, 2013

Thank you so much to Melanie for sending me a review copy of her novel, The Truth of the Line. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.

Melanie is an art historian and teacher and this novel is the result of her fascination with the life of Elizabethan miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard, his miniature of an Unknown Man with the strange motto “Attici Amoris Ergo” and her research into the illuminated ‘P’s of the Coram Rege rolls between 1553 and 1565. Melanie has a controversial theory regarding the sitter of the Attici miniature and the reason why Elizabeth’s image changes between the 1560 Michaelmas term P and the Hilary term P, and a novel is the perfect way to explore this theory and to “what if?”. Melanie’s “Author’s Note” explains that the storyline of the novel is based on her theory and she provides a full bibliography of sources, both primary and secondary, so that readers can investigate her ideas further and make their own minds up.

The protagonist of the novel is Nicholas Hilliard, or Hillyarde, and the story follows his life from his beginnings as a student under Levina Teerlinc, through his career in Elizabeth I’s reign up to her death in 1603. It is a wonderful novel which weaves together Hilliard’s own personal story with the intrigue of court life, the rich symbolism of paintings and the messages they conveyed, and the story of Elizabeth’s relationship with Robert Dudley. I don’t want to say any more and spoil the story but suffice to say that I loved the novel. It has all the right ingredients for a gripping read – danger, intrigue, love, secrets, puzzles and death – and left me wanting to research the subject more. I also fell a little in love with Hilliard!

Whether or not you agree with Melanie’s theories really doesn’t matter as you can enjoy it simply as a thrilling historical novel. It is a magical read and I can’t wait for Melanie’s next novel.

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Category: Elizabeth I, Fiction, The Tudors
Tags: Elizabeth I, historical fiction, Melanie Taylor