Tagged: medieval england
Blood Oath by Felicity Pulman
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Love, revenge, secrets – and murder – in a medieval kingdom at war.
A young woman, left alone and destitute after the mysterious death of her mother, plants a sprig of rosemary on her grave and vows, somehow, to bring the murderer to justice. But who can Janna trust with the truth? Even the villein Godric, who wants to marry her, and Hugh, the dashing nobleman, have secrets that threaten her heart and her safety.
In a country torn apart by the vicious civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, Janna needs all her wits and courage to stay alive as she comes closer to those who are determined to silence her forever.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I’d previously read I, Morgana by Felicity Pulman so although I normally wouldn’t pick up what amounts to a medieval murder mystery, I decided to request Blood Oath on NetGalley anyway. She did such a good job with the Arthurian legends I stepped out of my comfort zone to give this one a try. In the end, I’m glad I did.
Janna is a young woman living with her healer mother, a bit of an outcast in the community because of her rather progressive views on religion but someone who was generally respected enough to come to when people were in trouble. But when a lady calls Janna’s mother to help her with her birth and then again when the infant won’t suckle, Janna’s life turns upside down when she is called to the manor to discover her mother dead. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that her mother was of course poisoned, but who did it? How can one teenager girl, completely alone in the world and an outcast in her own community, solve a mysterious murder that no one thinks was a murder?
Clearly, we have an interesting plot in the beginning but it does get even more interesting. As Janna roots out suspects and tries to establish a timeline of events leading up to her mother’s death, religious tensions within the community flare and Janna’s position becomes even more precarious than before, particularly since she’s a woman living on her own. I can’t really go into much more detail about the plot because it would give away some of the pretty cool plot twists, but needless to say Janna does find her mother’s killer and it’s not who you would expect or for the reasons you would think.
The murder mystery itself is pretty fascinating, but it was the characters that really caught my attention. Janna herself is pretty progressive for a woman at the time because of her mother’s independence but she still is a woman of her time. She knows that speaking out too much on certain topics can endanger her very life so she has to tread a fine line between standing up for what she believes in and not rocking the boat too much. But when she discovers who really murdered her mother, she decides to act rather than carry on without carrying out a little bit of justice/revenge. Janna is obsessed with finding her mother’s murderer, particularly because they argued so much in the few days leading up to her death. So there’s an element of guilt driving her but also a sense of duty and justice. She wants things to be right and balanced but knows that it’s not always possible in medieval England, particularly with the vicious civil war being waged close to her community.
In Blood Oath, Felicity Pulman has clearly done her research about the time. I’m no expert on medieval England but she lends a very authentic feeling to the novel by using the old spellings and old names for where the action takes place in the novel. Instead of using Oxford, she uses Oxeneford, just little stuff like that. I was also fascinated by the detail she went into for describing medieval remedies for various ailments. Clearly, she has done her research and she says in her Author’s Note that all of the background events in the novel are very true: there really was a civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda (sometimes known as Maude) being waged in England at the time and it really did split loyalties as is described in the novel. It will be interesting to see just how much of an impact the civil war has on Janna since she decides to leave her village at the end of the novel.
To sum things up: Blood Oath isn’t the most fascinating book I’ve ever read because the plot is a little slow in the beginning but it is a good book. The characters are good but I didn’t think they were anything special and Felicity Pulman’s research was excellent. So if the blurb has interested you, I would recommend giving Blood Oath a try.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
The Kingmaker’s Daughter by Philippa Gregory
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Spies, poison, and curses surround her…
Is there anyone she can trust?
The Kingmaker’s Daughter is the gripping story of the daughters of the man known as the “Kingmaker,” Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick: the most powerful magnate in fifteenth-century England. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters, Anne and Isabel as pawns in his political games, and they grow up to be influential players in their own right. In this novel, her first sister story since The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory explores the lives of two fascinating young women.
At the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne grows from a delightful child to become ever more fearful and desperate when her father makes war on his former friends. Married at age fourteen, she is soon left widowed and fatherless, her mother in sanctuary and her sister married to the enemy. Anne manages her own escape by marrying Richard, Duke of Gloucester, but her choice will set her on a collision course with the overwhelming power of the royal family and will cost the lives of those she loves most in the world, including her precious only son, Prince Edward. Ultimately, the kingmaker’s daughter will achieve her father’s greatest ambition.
Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick during the time of Elizabeth Woodville was queen has never been one of my favourite figures throughout history. He seemed to go wherever the winds blew, betraying this cause and that to make sure his own blood got on the throne of England. I’ve never liked historical figures like him, but I always pitied his daughters Anne and Isabel, who were nothing more than pawns in his schemes. Married off to men much older than they, told to think and act certain ways depending on their family’s current alliance and such.
I was also reluctant to pick up The Kingmaker’s Daughter because the last Philippa Gregory book I just read was The Other Boleyn Girl, which I hate with a passion right now. Still, I couldn’t resist the Cousins’ War series, not after loving The White Queen that featured Elizabeth Woodville.
What was interesting to me was seeing Elizabeth Woodville as the villain of the piece. In this story, everyone sees her as an evil witch who curses anyone who gets in her way. Why, she even kills her own brother-in-law. Anne Neville, our novel’s main character, is predisposed to see Elizabeth as the enemy and a witch because in reality she probably did. Gregory doesn’t make her out to be some sort of super-heroine that manipulates everyone around her either; she stays relatively true to historical fact and at the same time, tells a story of a woman who seized her own destiny only to realize its true cost.
Anne Neville is a three-dimensional character and not only that, she’s interesting. She’s brought to court at a young age and has to stay in that viper’s nest for a little while. It certainly makes an impression on her, but her naivete wins out when her father orchestrates a match that would make her sister Isabel Queen of England as well as later when her father does the same thing for her. As she grows, though, losing her father and her first husband, Anne really realizes the cost of all these ambitions both morally, personally and politically. Eventually she does get her dream, but it is a Pyrrhic victory.
I wouldn’t say that the plot of The Kingmaker’s Daughter is fast-paced by most standards, but it was interesting enough to keep me wanting to find out what happened to Anne. Although I’ve never been fond of her as an historical figure, I like how Philippa Gregory went above and beyond in terms of effort so that she would shine as a person, not just as a political pawn. Anne had a hard life, made only worse by the tragedies that occurred later on, so you can’t help but feel sorry for her and feel a vested interest in what happens to her next.
All in all, The Kingmaker’s Daughter was a pretty solid book. The character of Elizabeth of York really shone through in the end as her star was rising so I honestly can’t wait to read her take on things in The White Princess.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
(Cover picture courtesy of Glamour Glory.)
Brother turns on brother to win the ultimate prize, the throne, in this dazzling account of the wars of the Plantagenets. They ruled before the Tudors, and now Philippa Gregory brings them to life through the dramatic and intimate stories of the secret players: the indomitable women.
The White Queen tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville, a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition, who secretly marries the newly crowned boy king. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become the central figures in a famous unsolved mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the lost princes in the Tower of London. Philippa Gregory brings the artistry and intellect of a master writer and storyteller to a new era in history and begins what is sure to be another best-selling classic series from this beloved author.
When I received The White Queen as a late birthday present from my best friend, I was a bit skeptical. Historical fiction had bored me up to that point, but Philippa Gregory’s amazing novel forever changed my attitude toward it.
The White Queen is the tale of Elizabeth Woodville, a woman who is recently widowed and fighting for her two sons’ inheritance. She meets the boy king Edward and immediately sparks fly. A whirlwind romance, battle and secret marriage later, Elizabeth becomes Queen of England. Philippa Gregory’s amazing novel chronicles the life of an extraordinary woman who was a secret force behind politics in the late 15th century England.
Elizabeth is a very believable, complex character who makes a wonderful narrator. Her motivations vary throughout the novel, yet she is still sympathetic and readers will root for her the whole time. She truly comes alive in Philippa Gregory’s vivid descriptions of life in 15th century England and the multifaceted politics of the time. There is certainly a reason why Philippa Gregory is known as the queen of royal fiction.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.