Category: Historical Fiction
The Secret Eleanor by Cecelia Holland
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
1151: As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor grew up knowing what it was to be regarded for herself and not for her husband’s title. Now, as wife to Louis VII and Queen of France, she has found herself unsatisfied with reflected glory-and feeling constantly under threat, even though she outranks every woman in Paris.
Then, standing beside her much older husband in the course of a court ceremony, Eleanor locks eyes with a man-hardly more than a boy, really- across the throne room, and knows that her world has changed irrevocably…
He is Henry D’Anjou, eldest son of the Duke of Anjou, and he is in line, somewhat tenuously, for the British throne. She meets him in secret. She has a gift for secrecy, for she is watched like a prisoner by spies even among her own women. She is determined that Louis must set her free. Employing deception and disguise, seduction and manipulation, Eleanor is determined to find her way to power-and make her mark on history.
How do you turn a woman who left an incredible mark on history by daring to choose her husband, who set a new standard for women in power into a shallow, conniving, backstabbing, whiny little girl? After reading The Secret Eleanor I’m still not too sure, but Cecelia Holland somehow managed it.
As you’ve probably guessed, this book was a complete letdown. I expected to admire Eleanor because in history she really was a strong, intelligent and cunning woman. I didn’t expect the whiny, self-centred creature that Cecelia Holland portrayed her as. How could this woman have done half of the things she did in real life if she was as Holland imagines her? Answer: she couldn’t and that’s why her portrayal falls flat.
There has to be a strong suspension of disbelief to finish this book because we learn that Eleanor while Eleanor was pregnant with Henry’s child her sister Petronilla impersonated her. This I highly doubt. Sisters can look alike, it’s true, but very rarely can someone truly copy another person’s mannerisms and vocal patterns. Even when they’re close sisters. Honestly, if this scenario had been true, someone would have noticed and outed the whole conspiracy. As it was, everyone within Eleanor’s inner circle knew so it’s pretty safe to say that in real life, someone would have squealed.
I could look past the implausible scenario if the rest of the book was well written, but it was not. The plot seems to jump all over the place as we follow the different characters through their journeys. Claire, the young maidservant, randomly seems to get quite a bit of page time in the last third of the book. Eleanor all but disappears from the narrative as Petronilla takes over her role. Sometimes there seems to be neither rhyme nor reason as to why Cecelia Holland changed points of view other than in a desperate attempt to move the plot along. It didn’t work.
Basically, if you’re even vaguely interested in Eleanor of Aquitaine this book is not for you. I honestly wish I hadn’t wasted my money on it.
I give this book 1/5 stars.
Angeline by Karleen Bradford
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Stunned by the blistering heat, the noise, the sea of faces crowding in upon her in the teeming Egyptian market, Angeline cannot believe that she is being sold as a slave to one of the great princes in Cairo. Only a short time ago she left her small village in France to follow Stephen, a shepherd boy whose vision led him to mount a children’s Crusade to the Holy Land. But they were decieved by those who offered to help. Now it seems they are doomed to a life of slavery in a foreign land and even Stephen has lost all hope.
Somehow, Angeline must find the strength to survive, as well as to help Stephen overcome his despair. But first she must learn to understand and respect the ways of a culture so very different from her own.
This is another one of my re-reads from my childhood. When I first read it, I was (oddly enough) actually in the target age group for Angeline and enjoyed it immensely. But now that I’m long out of the target age group of tweens and young teens, how did I find the book?
Not bad, actually. For a book aimed at tweens Angeline explores some pretty heavy issues like religion, discrimination and slavery. Does Karleen Bradford go into as much depth as I would have liked? No, but considering her target age group she never goes so far as to speak down to her readers. Things like sex are alluded to and you’d have to know some history to truly appreciate references to the Coptic church and such but it doesn’t feel like the author is writing down to her readers. She doesn’t go and blurt out the message of the book, instead allowing her readers to come to their own conclusions. That’s very rare in middle grade fiction.
One thing I appreciated far more this time around was Karleen Bradford’s representation of Islam. I grew up in a very whitewashed community of Roman Catholics so it was in Angeline that I had my first real exposure to Islam. She doesn’t hold it or any other religion as superior but instead represents both Christianity and Islam well. Now that I’m actually more conscious of other cultures and religions, that was definitely something I could appreciate.
This time around I found myself getting a little bit frustrated with Angeline and her woe-is-me attitude but then again if I found myself sold into slavery in a strange culture and land I’d probably do a heck of a lot more whining. She does eventually grow as a character and makes the best of her circumstances but I can see where readers would get frustrated with her for the first half of the book. As she grows to accept her situation, so too does Stephen, the visionary child crusader. It’s interesting to see how he slowly regains his faith after such a devastating outcome to his supposed grand vision. All of the characters involved are well fleshed-out and have believable character arcs.
I wouldn’t say the plot is fast-paced, but it’s not boring either. It’s the kind of book that you read as a child, re-read and remember fondly. Of course it doesn’t seem as good as when I first read it but it’s still a very good book. If you or someone you know has a daughter from age 10-12ish this book would be an excellent gift.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
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A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
(Cover picture courtesy of this wiki.)
Nhamo’s mother is dead, and her father is gone. When she learns that she must marry a cruel man with three wives—before her twelfth birthday—she runs away. Alone on the river, in a stolen boat, Nhamo is swept into the uncharted heart of a great lake. There, she battles drowning, starvation, and wild animals, and comes to know Africa’s mystical, luminous spirits. Nhamo’s journey will transport readers into her world, in a story that is poignant, humorous, dramatic and extraordinary.
This isn’t actually the first time I’ve read this book but I hadn’t read it for several years so when I saw it in the library the other day I decided to give it another try. I remember loving it, but how was it this time around? Well, it was okay. It’s nothing really all that special, despite the fact it was a Newberry honor book in 1997.
It’s an interesting look at life in remote Africa that’s both interesting and unsettling. On one hand, it was fascinating to see the spirituality of a different culture. On the other hand, there were definitely some practices like the ngozi marriage Nhamo was going to be forced into that really are terrible. Nancy Farmer manages to balance out these ‘good’ and ‘bad’ elements in a non-biased way that tells a good story. I obviously can’t speak as to how accurate things are portrayed but Nancy Farmer included a bibliography and some further explanations for things she alluded to in the book.
Nhamo is an excellent character. Sometimes she’s surprisingly mature, surviving out in the bush on her own for months at a time. Other times she’s very immature, throwing temper tantrums that you would expect from pretty much any preteen girl. This is definitely aimed at more of a middle grade audience so I think readers of this age will be able to identify well with Nhamo, despite the cultural differences.
The only thing that stops this book from being a great book is the pacing. When things are interesting Nancy Farmer’s pacing was way too fast. And when things were more boring the pacing became uneven and the plot slowed down to a crawl. It reflects the actual time Nhamo spends in certain places but it doesn’t make for the most interesting read, believe me.
So was A Girl Named Disaster as good as I remember? No, but it was still a pretty good story and if you have a preteen or young teen that likes to read I’d definitely recommend this book.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
The Wise Woman’s Tale by Phillipa Bowers
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Kate Barnes is 14 years old when she first experiences the strange gifts she has inherited from her grandmother’s side of the family. She has a vivid waking dream, a memory of an earlier life centuries before when she was murdered by an angry mob who believed her to be a witch. Her grandmother decides the time is right to reveal to Kate some family secrets, including the ancient cave that houses the family tomb. Just as Kate is learning to develop her second sight, her education with her grandmother is interrupted when her father insists she return home. He is determined that Kate forget her grandmother’s teachings and get a job in order to help support their growing family. But nothing will keep Kate from her destiny: to take her grandmother’s place as local wise woman and guardian of the mysterious cave.
If there’s one word I could use to describe this book it would have to be ‘confusing’ or ‘pointless’. Throughout the book I felt like Phillipa Bowers meant to impart some knowledge to the reader, to get to the point of the story but at the end I just felt confused. Basically, what was the point of writing this story? It wasn’t particularly entertaining, there were no great insights and the writing was mediocre at best.
Where do I start with the writing? Sometimes Phillipa Bowers tries to make the characters speak in a dialect characteristic of their social upbringing and the area they live in and other times it sounds like they’re almost speaking a more modern dialect. Her writing has absolutely no transitions whatsoever, which is in part why this story is so confusing. One minute Betty is a bratty four-year-old (as far as I can tell) and the next minute she’s darn near 13. How the heck did that happen? If there was a time jump she didn’t make it very obvious at all and if there was no time jump she should have done a better job making Betty’s age clear. It’s just plain confusing.
Since the writing was so confusing, the characters were bland at best. Kate is a stupid, naive young girl who doesn’t know how to say no to anyone. That seems typical for the times but she never really grows out of it. She never really realizes what is going to make her happy and her relationship with her younger sister Betty is just plain bizarre, even considering the circumstances. Part of the problem is that when a major change happens in the story, there’s no build-up to it. Suddenly her mum dies, her brother leaves, she moves out, her grandmother dies, etc. There’s just no transitioning.
I can’t call the plot fast-paced in all honesty because I struggled through this book. If the writing had been of a better quality this easily could have been a great read. However, since the writing was of such a poor quality the plot was all over the place and I had no idea what was happening half the time. This was just a really confusing story and I honestly couldn’t recommend it to anyone.
I give this book 1/5 stars.
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In a Treacherous Court by Michelle Diener
(Cover picture courtesy of Michelle Diener’s website.)
1525: Artist Susanna Horenbout is sent from Belgium to be Henry VIII’s personal illuminator inside the royal palace. But her new homeland greets her with an attempt on her life, and the King’s most lethal courtier, John Parker, is charged with keeping her safe. As further attacks are made, Susanna and Parker realize that she unknowingly carries the key to a bloody plot against the throne. For while Richard de la Pole amasses troops in France for a Yorkist invasion, a traitor prepares to trample the kingdom from within.
Who is the mastermind? Why are men vying to kill the woman Parker protects with his life? With a motley gang of urchins, Susanna’s wits, and Parker’s fierce instincts, honed on the streets and in palace chambers, the two slash through deadly layers of deceit in a race against time. For in the court of Henry VIII, secrets are the last to die…
Brilliantly revealing a little-known historical figure who lived among the Tudors, Michelle Diener makes a smashing historical fiction debut.
[Full disclosure: I requested a review copy from Michelle Diener and was sent a free physical copy in exchange for an honest review.]
As much as I’ve read about the Tudors I never actually heard of Susanna Horenbout or John Parker. It’s strange because you’d have thought that a female illuminator would be mentioned frequently (if only because it was such a rarity) but Susanna really hasn’t been recognized by history. Michelle Diener meant to remedy that in this book.
Susanna is an amazing character. I like how she’s constantly trying to prove herself in a world where men don’t really believe she is a talented artist. It’s not a typical girl empowerment story so much as a very realistic portrayal of the attitudes of the time. At the same time, Susanna loves her art. She loves to draw and paint and she’s good at it. Inspiration strikes her at odd times but she’s not your typical day-dreaming artist either.
She has a good head on her shoulders and she’s more than a match for the cunning, somewhat ruthless John Parker. John Parker is also a fascinating character. His horrible childhood combined with his ruthless determination to serve King Henry VIII would make him interesting enough, but it’s his change in personality caused by Susanna that really makes him memorable. Both characters change as they spend more and more time in each others’ company.
The plot was very fast-paced, but obviously not at the expense of character development. There’s assassins lurking behind every corner, romantic intrigue aplenty as well as plots that strike at the heart of England’s court. Michelle Diener did fabricate some of the details but in her note at the end I liked how she justified her decisions to change history just a little bit. She blended history and speculation together perfectly and it all came together in a great novel.
From the moment you read the first sentence, you’re sucked back in time. From its filthy streets to the hostile/merry court of Henry VIII you feel like you’re right there with Susanna and John. You feel their emotions as their own, especially their pain, love and determination. I can’t honestly speak to the total historical accuracy of In a Treacherous Court but I can tell you that the major details are accurate and Michelle Diener certainly created a very authentic feeling with the details of daily life in Tudor England. That’s what’s really important in historical fiction.
Basically, this was a great debut novel and I can’t wait to read about the rest of Susanna and John’s adventures.
I give this book 5/5 stars.