What did I love best about this book? Always,always I appreciate historical detail and characters. Wulfhere of Horstede, a Saxon Thegn was an actual person and he and his neighbor/adversary Helghi are found in Domesday.
They had a life and lived and breathed and shared it with actual persons who were numbered in the census of the day, the Domesday Book. Paula Lofting did a terrific job of "creating a family and a life " for both of them. Their environment and their possessions breathed a life and personality into them that the author was able to discern.
Lofting's activities in the Regia Anglorum reenactment society has most likely aided her in the knowledge of what persons of the time said and did. Their societal roles dictate, surely, whether they are aggressive or passive in their relationships. The times were brutal and primitive and these characters play their roles very well.This period of history leading inexorably to the Norman Conquest is my very favorite to read about.
Were they appealing characters to me? Not with any consistency, but occasional glimpses of warmth and affection are admixed with the violence necessary to survive those times with success.
Other historical characters like William Malet, having more details known about them, are likeable although still true to the era. A gritty but oh so entertaining novel which very much shone for me.
I truly am holding my breath until the sequel when I can again visit with this group.So happy that it will not end.
This apparently was the first book I finished on my new kindle and I did not get my review posted until now. Countdown until Lofting's next book has begun
Nathaniel Philbrick's narrative took me into Boston of 1775, surprisingly a small town where everyone knew everyone else by sight at least. I was entranced with that concept and enjoyed it immensely.
I saw a young John Quincy Adams and his mother nervously watching events from the window from a hill that no longer exists. John Adams was in Philadelphia with the other movers and shakers of our country's beginning.
I was there at the Boston Tea Party through the Battle of Bunker Hill and saw specific men dressed as Indians dump the tea in Boston Harbor. I watched it lay in messy drifts on the tidal flats and saw young boys trying to do damage control with what was left by scattering it with their feet..
Joseph Warren was everyone's physician, and friend to many likeSamuel Adams, whose protégé he was. Who knew that Warren dispatched Paul Revere to warn the countryside?
A fine inside look at Boston, small town and microcosm of the larger war for independence.
Drawn to this book by an interest in the Ojibwe culture from my graduate anthropology degree, I was not to be disappointed. Donald Smith's 40 plus years of study has brought considerable insight to this population so these stories, and these persons will not be forgotten.
Although there was less about the addiction that has plagued this population and more about their religion or lack of it than I would have anticipated, nevertheless I was able to find reasons for both reliance on alcoholism and religiosity from their history. The Ojibwe were essentially robbed of many things and the roots of their culture was the most traumatic to them as a people.I was struck by how hard they worked to transfer their agricultural knowledge into what they were told were more acceptable European skills.
This well researched and splendidly written collection of portraits should be an asset to educational and cultural understanding of this populations and these families and people. I appreciated the opportunity to review Mississauga Portraits.
An impressive first novel about a favorite character! Tim Shaw is a medievalist, a fine writer and an impeccable researcher. See his Blog http://dailymedieval.blogspot.com/ which I am having a very good time following.I am thrilled that it has a sequel in the works, I cannot wait.
A young Geoffrey Chaucer awaits you in "A Death in Catte Street", new to his career as a courtier. He is retrospectively looking back at this event in his life and is critical of his youth and impulsiveness.
A young Geoffrey can be seen as well as the man he will become in his interaction with parents, authority figures, peers and casual acquaintances. He is impulsive and empathetic and a typical young man, albeit of a different age.
The mystery that unfolds as he is pushed into a murder investigation is intriguing.Geoffrey ends up a hero of sorts and a champion of those less fortunate.
Geoffrey's character as well as those who are in his sphere is very well developed. Crafted by a medieval scholar and historian it is a tale worth snatching up and reading.
I am very glad I did so.
I have been waiting impatiently for this book to be in print and I was not disappointed. Anne Easter Smith is a tremendous writer and a fine researcher. She said this in her author's notes " That Jane Shore, known by her fellow citizens as the Rose of London, became the concubine of Edward IV, William Hastings, and Thomas Grey is fact".
Jane Lambert was essentially sold in marriage by her father to a cold and impotent silk merchant many years older than her. A lovely woman, she is pursued by many handsome men and won by King Edward as his favorite mistress for years.
Surprising to me, the author, a staunch Richard III supporter, was somewhat disapproving of Richard's treatment of Jane Shore after his brother, Edward IV's death. Smith hopes "I have created an enigmatic personality with flaws" in regards to Richard's character and deeds.
I think she succeeds quite well and the book has twists and turns which take the reader on a journey.
The journey ends in an afterword where she shares with readers a meeting that Jane,now Mistress Thomas Lyneham,has with Sir Thomas Moore as an old impoverished woman,who,"delighted not so much in her beauty as in her pleasant behavior"
A solid ending to a fine book about an extremely fascinating person.
Elizabeth Fremantle begins her first novel as Katherine Parr is about to be widowed for the second time. Lord Latymer is dying and already King Henry VIII has cast his eye on Katherine Parr..
As a courtier she delays returning to court, which is her occupation until she is summoned to Mary Tudor's entourage. Reluctantly she packs up herself and her young stepdaughter Meg and Meg's maid,Dot.
Dorothy(Dot)Fowntain could have a whole story written about her and the book divides her life's narrative with Katherine Parr. Her marriage to William Savage a court musician helped brighten the otherwise sad ending.
Katherine Parr like many females attached to the court was sacrificed to her family's ambitions through all three of her first marriages. The fourth marriage her "love match" with Thomas Seymour was not happy even before it ended with her death.
This was an impressive first novel,the characters came alive and drew me in early on. Elizabeth Fremantle's research is impeccable and her storytelling enthralling.
I hope to see another one very soon.
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle relates ""And in the same spring the Lady, Richard's daughter, came here to the land". Emma of Normandy was raised to be a Peaceweaver although that probably was not shared with her. She arrived in Canterbury in 1002 at a very young age to wed an older monarch. Æthelred the Unready had decided to replace his recently deceased with Emma as the lesser of two evils.
Emma knew she was intended to be England's Queen. She did not know she was not really welcome in that land either by her husband, his children or the people. Her resilience and intellect prompted her mother Gunnora to choose her to fulfill England's request instead of her older sister who was expected.
Æthelred and Emma were not a match made in heaven or anything close to it. Anglo-Saxon Britain was far more violent and savage than continental Normandy; the King was the epitome of a brutal warlord who had no love for anyone around him. Emma the Queen and Peaceweaver did not act as the teenager she was and rose to fulfill the role she was delegated.
I loved this book, adored Emma and really, truly, was sorry the book ended. I am thrilled that it will have a sequel or two. Patricia Bracewell is a splendid writer and the characters sprang to life again after 1000 years . I am counting down until the next book.
