Review: The Chalice by Nancy Bilyeau

In the next novel from Nancy Bilyeau after her acclaimed debut The Crown, novice Joanna Stafford plunges into an even more dangerous conspiracy as she comes up against some of the most powerful men of her era. In 1538, England is in the midst of bloody power struggles between crown and cross that threaten to tear the country apart. Joanna Stafford has seen what lies inside the king’s torture rooms and risks imprisonment again, when she is caught up in a shadowy international plot targeting the King. As the power plays turn vicious, Joanna understands she may have to assume her role in a prophecy foretold by three different seers, each more omniscient than the last. Joanna realises the life of Henry VIII as well as the future of Christendom are in her hands—hands that must someday hold the chalice that lays at the centre of these deadly prophecies…

A while ago I read Bilyeau's debut novel "The Crown" and was hugely impressed, which was a bit of a big thing for someone who was suffering with Tudor Fatigue. So when I was approached to review her second book, I jumped at the chance. The Chalice follows on with Joanna Stafford's story, and is set during the torrid period of the Reformation.

I don't want to give too much away and spoil the story for people (because if there's one thing I myself don't like, it's spoilers!), but Joanna finds herself involved in yet more conspiracies to try and bring the True Faith back to England. It involves visits to famous seers - and I will mention just one name; Sister Elizabeth Barton - and yet again prophecy plays a huge role in the story. It really is a story full of both political and religious twists which prove for riveting reading. We see the return of characters we have both loved (Joanna Stafford, the monks and nuns of Dartford priory and everyone's favourite constable, Geoffrey) and hated (Gardiner) as well as many new faces including Catherine Howard!

As in The Crown, Bilyeau's writing style means that the story reads almost flawlessly. The narrative really makes the reader throw themselves into the story, and makes it so the book is really difficult to put down. I was really very impressed with Bilyeau's writing (As I was in The Crown), and honestly can't recommend this book highly enough. There is just one thing about the story that really niggled me though, and that was the constant mention of the Borgias and their poisoning technique - as it would do, considering as how that family are my specialism and I'm always found fighting their corner - it was really difficult for me to put myself in the situation that those in the sixteenth century would have been in. Anti-Borgia propaganda would have been prevalent back then, and the myths that the family were corrupt poisoners would have been rife. Still, every mention of their evil riled me up a little (a lot), but I can let it pass given how people would have thought back then (I know its a niggly point, but I can't help it).

All in all, an absolutely fantastic read and one I would wholeheartedly recommend! Please do check it out! I'll be looking out for her next book with interest!

The Chalice can be found on Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Please do follow Nancy on twitter, and also check out her website.

My Top Ten Historical Books of 2012

It's getting to that time of year again. You know what I mean I'm sure. That time when I go through all of the books I've read this year and pick out my top ten. Now, considering as how this is a history blog it seems pretty obvious that I'll be picking out the best historical books of the year. I also made it my goal to read 60 books by December 31st and as we speak I've read 59...with just 30% left of the one I'm reading at the moment. That's a heck of a lot of words! It makes me tired just thinking about it. So anyway, here we go!

The Artist, The Philosopher & The Warrior by Paul Strathern

This book is a must read for any one with an interest in Renaissance Italy and follows the lives of three men who were all connected to each other - Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia. I'd read some of Strathern's work before reading this and was highly impressed; this book certainly did not disappoint and is a fantastic introduction to three men who changed the face of the Renaissance.

A Gambling Man by Jenny Uglow

This book has quickly become my bible on the early years of Charles II's life. It covers the first ten years of his reign and I have to say, Uglow does a fantastic job. Her writing style is almost flawless and she can make even the most dull political event in Charles' government seem exciting. Most biography's of Charles concentrate either on his entire reign, or certain events in it such as his relationship with George Villiers or his escape from Worcester and the fact that Uglow concentrates on the first 10 years actually works really well. A fantastic overview of his early reign and a must read for any one interested in Charles II.

Prince Rupert: The Last Cavalier by Charles Spencer

Prince Rupert has long been a favourite of mine, just because he was so...flouncy. The perfect Cavalier really to be honest with his long hair, big hat and rather flouncy clothes. He was also a rather good solider (well, when his troops of horse didn't muck stuff up in the English Civil War), a pirate, an artist and a scientist. Was there anything this man couldn't do? This book by Charles Spencer is a really good read and a good overview of a fascinating man.

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel

The majority of you will know that right now I'm not the biggest fan of the Tudors right now. However, I read Wolf Hall last year and absolutely LOVED it, so when this came out I just knew I had to read it. It was also the very first book I ever downloaded onto my kindle. This book is a fantastic read for anyone who loves a bit of historical fiction - I'm not normally a reader of much historical fiction, but this is just a work of genius. Mantel's writing style isn't for everyone, but to me the way she weaves the words across the page is nothing short of breathtaking. She tells the story of Cromwell so well, tells us through her brilliant storytelling that he wasn't as bad a bloke as everyone makes out and in this book we are introduced to Anne Boleyn - and her portrayal of Anne was brilliant, the way Mantel played the characters off against one another was just brilliant. I'm using the word brilliant a lot here, but trust me, this book is...well, it's brilliant and a must read!

My Dearest Minette by Ruth Norrington

This book is, quite simply, the letters written between Charles II and his sister Minette. And it's wonderful - the way they wrote to each other both personally and in business terms often had me reaching for the tissues. An excellent book, and perfect for anyone looking to research the relationship between Charles and Minette.

The Tigress of Forli by Elizabeth Lev

Up until I read this, I had only ever read snippets about Caterina Sforza's life. And reading this gave me a new respect for this brilliant woman. She was a wife, a mother and a warrior - she was a woman who would not put up with stupidity and she even took on the infamous Borgia family. Lev even goes so far as to debunk the rumours that in 1488 she raised her skirts above her head and cried that she could make ten more sons! A good read that sheds so much light on a very interesting woman!

The Monmouth Summer by Tim Vicary

This has to be one of the best historical fiction books I have read this year, if ever. It tells the story of a young woman whose lover ends up fighting for the King in the Monmouth rebellion in 1685 while her father, brother and betrothed fight for James, Duke of Monmouth. It's a fantastic story of how the Monmouth rebellion split friends and family right down the middle. Not only that, mixed in with the politics and the sadness there is a most beautiful love story woven through it. A fantastic book and really well written, highly recommended.

The Bad Popes by Russell Chamberlin

Interested in the history and corruption of the Roman Catholic church? Then this book is for you. Chamberlin gives an overview of a selection of Popes throughout history and just why they were considered bad. And his selection ranges from the earliest popes of the 10th Century (The Theophylact Popes and the infamous Marozia who made sure her family kept the Papal crown and then ended up being locked up in the Castel Sant'Angelo) through to the corruption, Simony and nepotism of the Renaissance Popes (Innocent VIII and Alexander VI being the main ones here). This book really is an eye opener to the corruption of the early church and it's certainly made me hungry to learn more!

Death in Florence by Paul Strathern

I read this book as a research project for my novel on Savonarola and from the moment I picked it up I was hooked. Yet again Strathern has written a masterpiece, telling the story of Girolamo Savonarola in a gripping and engaging manner. Whilst I have read other books on Savonarola this year none of them have come close to this one. Strathern doesn't just tell the story of the mad monk, he tells the story of the individuals connected with him and the wider stage in which Savonarola lived and he does it in such an outstanding manner.

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

This is a book that everyone needs to read. In a nut shell, it's Machiavelli's guide on how to gain power and keep it. It's definitely not all kittens and rainbows (and to be honest, Machiavelli is the most kittens and rainbows guys in the whole renaissance) - and he makes it clear that if your people start being a bit idiotic after you take power then a bit of cruelty won't hurt matters. And if they hate you after it, then who cares because they'll be too scared of you to keep on being idiots. I loved this book, and thought it was a really insightful look into the world of fifteenth century politics. Plus, it kind of made me love Machiavelli even more than I already do.

So there we go. I have read some fantastic books this year and wish I could have listed them all. But these ones have to be my favourites and I shall certainly be going back to many of them. I hope that in 2013 I will read even more brilliant historic books...I just need to find more space on the bookshelves for them...Now I'm off to finish reading Sharon Kay's "Phantom" - not a book I would normally read but I can't put it down!

A Quick Catch Up - Various Historical Ramblings

It's been a while since I've sat down and written a proper blog about anything. I blame work. No really I do. Also I blame the fact that I've been busy working away at editing my book, which I am slightly behind on because of said work. But never mind. I shall pick the manuscript back up tomorrow evening and try not to drown it in my English Civil War/Stuart family tears.

If I'm perfectly honest I don't even know why I'm sitting here typing this because it will most likely have nothing to do with anything remotely historical whatsoever. I suppose I just felt like checking in with you all and saying hello. Oh, and telling you what historical shenanigans I've been up to this past week - wait, didn't I just say this would have nothing historical? Oh well.

So, on Thursday 14th I wrote that whole post on the death of Juan Borgia, and after I saw the lovely David Oakes tweet about it being the 515th Anniversary of Juan's death I may have, sort of, tweeted him about the piece I wrote. And a couple of days later, as I switched on tweetdeck a little thing popped up in my mentions list. I may have sat there in shock for a good few minutes before squealing at my partner: OH MY GOD DAVID OAKES RETWEETED MY JUAN POST. HE MUST HAVE READ IT AND LIKED IT!!!! Yeah, I may have gotten a little bit overexcited, I'm not sorry one bit.

It's probably not very clear in the screen shot but it says "retweeted by David_Oakes". Now for those of you who don't know, or who haven't seen Showtime's "The Borgia's", David Oakes plays Juan Borgia, second son of Rodrigo Borgia - or as he is more often known "Alexander VI". Now then I won't spoil season 2 for those who haven't seen it, but let's just say that David did an utterly astounding job portraying the history of Juan, despite the inaccuracies of the time lines etc. I found myself in floods of tears seeing Juan's downward spiral, yet at the same time I loved his sass. Honestly, if you haven't seen The Borgias, please do check it out because it is fantastic, albeit not hugely accurate. But hey, it is entertainment after all, and very well done entertainment!!

I may have gone a little bit mad on books this past week. A few weeks ago I went on a bit of a spree buying a ton of books on Minette Stuart, just because I love her and all, and I may have ended up buying a few more than I should have...

The two lying cover up are two that I brought myself on Tuesday from a bookshop when I was on the way back from the hospital. I felt like cheering myself up after a diagnosis of Coeliac disease (I'm not going to go into it too it here as y'know this is a history blog and all but let's just say that things weren't entirely clear from the doctor and they said it was "mild" and I had to cut down on my gluten intake and it runs hand in hand with my type 1 diabetes. Excellent. They didn't tell me that changing my diet to mainly gluten free would really play around with my blood sugars, but still, different story for a different day) and I ended up spending £35 on two books. BUT IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT! The books spine up are mainly all on Minette, except the two on the left which are dedicated to my favourite couple in history; Charles I and Henrietta Maria, and the biggest bad ass woman on the planet Caterina Sforza!

And then yesterday, this little beauty arrived! I'm not going to lie, but I have a bit of a thing for the Earl of Rochester aka John Wilmot aka the man who wrote the most obscene play of the Seventeenth Century. Have any of you seen The Libertine with Johnny Depp? If not, why not? I ADORE IT SO MUCH! I also adore Rochester. The other day I sat down and read his entire obscene play in a matter of hours, and I loved every minute of it. And no, not because if was Seventeenth Century pornography...but because I thought it was freaking hilarious and also provided an excellent commentary to Rochester's feelings on the court of Charles II. Does that sound a bit presumptuous? Maybe. I'm not sorry.

Tomorrow I'm planning on visiting Winchester when I finish work. I went to University in that gorgeous city and haven't been since my graduation. It's going to be amazing to get back there. The town has such a magical quality for me, mainly for its history. The city has been there for centuries, and even has an Iron Age hill fort on its outskirts. I have many fond memories of St Catherine's Hill, particularly sitting up there one very cold November evening watching various firework displays. My main interest in the city lies in its ties to the English Civil War - the city itself changed hands many sides during the War (which is worth a blog post on its own), and the Cathedral shows a lot of English Civil War damage in the interior, caused by Parliamentarian Soldiers. Not only that but the famous Round Table, hung in the Great Hall of Winchester Cathedral, also suffered Parliamentarian vandalism after they burst into the Hall and shot at the table with their muskets! My main plan tomorrow is to have a slow wander around the Cathedral and soak in its atmosphere - I adore the place and find it very peaceful, plus the history held in the building helps. I also have a plan to light a candle for a close friend of mine who recently passed away. There are two statues by the entrance of James I and Charles I both of which have musket damage which I am particularly interested in revisiting. And for those Tudor fans, Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester is also buried within the walls. I will return with lots of pictures. I should also hopefully be meeting up with an old friend from Uni for pints which is always fun!

And if I'm honest there hasn't been much historical fun going on for this past week. I still blame work. I've mainly been reading a book that is so far from history based you wouldn't even believe it. For anyone who cares, I've been reading "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess and it has to be one of the best non history books I've ever read. It's not often an autobiography has me laughing so hard that tears run down my face, but this book was fantastic. Not only that but between the hilarity there were also some very serious moments that provided a very stark insight into mental illness. It is a fantastic book, very funny and very very frank. I would recommend it to anyone, whether they are into this type of book or not. I've also been working my way through "Restoration London" by Liza Picard which reads like a more serious version of Ian Mortimer's "A Visitor's Guide to Medieval England" and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I am learning so much more about what the normal citizens of London in the 1660's would have lived like and it is rather nice coming at the era from the "bottom up" as it were...

And my old A-Level teacher would be so proud of me for using the term "bottom up" in a sentence about history.

Kindley Sort of Feelings

I can't believe I've done this...

Last night I brought myself a kindle...

For the longest time I was so against the Kindle it was unreal. Both my mum and my sister got one a couple of Christmases ago and were raving about how awesome they were, and how I should get one because of all the free book goodness and it holds huge amount of books and is lighter than lugging a library around with you. But I was quite happy with my paper books, thank you very much. Instead I scoured charity shops for used books and raided Amazon marketplace of their cheap books.

But then I got some news. News that I will have to keep very hush hush until I'm allowed to say something but it is exciting. VERY EXCITING. That and I realised that my bookcases (yes, plural) were fit to burst and I just didn't have any more room for normal books. Oh, and I found Samuel Pepys' diary as a free Kindle e-book as well as a plethora of historic non fiction goodness, all for free or if not free then relatively cheap.

So last night, I sat there and went against everything I had ever believed in and brought myself a kindle. I didn't go for the super duper all singing, all dancing 3g touch screen one because I don't need it. And I don't need a keyboard either, so I just got the bog standard kindle that can fit 1.500 books on it. And it was relatively cheap too, considering as how many books you can fit on it. And the best thing is I don't have to worry about breaking the bank on books because looking through the amazon site, they are so cheap. I have spent an absolute fortune on books in the past year, so this will be a great opportunity for me to save some much needed mulah and keep my library growing. Oh don't get me wrong, I will ALWAYS prefer paper books and keep on growing the library that I will eventually have on display in my very own office when I'm lecturing in some university but for now, this will do nicely.

And I won't have to lug a billion heavy books with me when I go to Rome.

Which has to be a good thing.

I do however have to apologise to my future Kindle for all the history feels it will have sobbed all over it, particularly when it comes to my wonderful English Civil War and Restoration. Oh, and when I download Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel, which will be one of the first things I buy for it. And novels. I don't read enough novels.

I'm a little nervous about how I'll feel about it when it arrives. Right now I kind of hate the fact that I've gone against myself and got myself one when I was so vehement about them before. Who knows, maybe I'll fall head over heels in love with it in time.

Review: Marie Antoinette by Evelyne Lever

I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I've been struggling to think up stuff to write about. Oh there are plenty of starter ideas, historical people I want to ramble on about but thanks to some rather nasty hours at work I've just been coming home and practically falling into bed. But now it's Friday, and I am now off work for a whole week, so that means plenty of time to write about fun people in history, historical hotties who I have a bit of a crush on or just various historical ramblings about whatever takes my fancy. As I was sat about on my lunch break at work today reading my new book about Prince Rupert, I thought about reviewing the latest book I read about Marie Antoinette but then I thought the review would probably end up in a very long post with me grossly sobbing about how much I love Marie Antoinette and quite frankly how perfect I think she is, and how sad her story is. MadameGuillotine, I totally blame you for this new love (and I regret NOTHING!). But now as I sit here listening to some rather nice music that reminds me at the same time of both Charles II's Restoration Court and the Court at Versailles, I thought I would write it anyway. Gross sobbing or not, you have been warned...

Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France by Evelyne Lever is the second book I've ever read on Marie Antoinette, and I have to say I was not disappointed. After reading Antonia Fraser's biography of the ill-fated Queen I found myself hooked, desperate to find out more, desperate to visit the Palace at Versailles. And whilst this new found love is nowhere near as intense as my love for anything Charles I/II related, I have revelled in the fact that new doors have been opened to me and thus I have found new interests. I even sat down and watched Sophia Coppola's 2006 film "Marie Antoinette" starring Kirsten Dunst; and despite realising that it probably wasn't the most historically accurate of films, I thoroughly enjoyed it because it was just so beautiful, and the performances from the actors were just amazing.

Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI in Sophia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" played by Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman

First of all, I want to point out that Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette went into a lot of detail and was a lot thicker than Lever's work. This is not a bad thing, because at time Fraser's work may have become a little dry. That's not to say I didn't love Fraser's love and devour it, because I really did. But with Lever's book I found that I literally could not put it down - and normally I hate that phrase, but I just couldn't. Her writing was snappy, and it gave the information that was needed, yet described enough of Marie Antoinette's life to paint a beautiful portrait in your mind. The snappy writing style also meant that the chapters were not overly long, they got the point across with just enough information to keep you hungry for more. There were points where, even though I was reading a historical biography and academic work, I felt like I was reading a historical novel set in Versailles because Lever managed to pull me into the excesses of the French court with her writing. And it's not often that a book does that to me.

The majority of the book, of course, concentrated in the life of Marie Antoinette leading up to her downfall from her early life up until her family's imprisonment at the Temple in Paris. This of course is to be expected because after the death of her husband Louise XVI her own downfall was exceptionally quick. But through this huge part of the work, we are able to see how Marie Antoinette went from adored Dauphine of France to hated Queen. We also see how she went from a carefree young woman who loved to party to a woman on edge, who hid behind a false smile, and a woman who suffered almost silently from horrific health issues. As I read I often found myself shocked at how Marie Antoinette was treated in her later years as Queen of France - the horrible pamphlets that were published about her so called orgies and her loose living at court; the names she was called. It amazed me that she managed to stay so strong for so long.

When I watched Coppola's movie, and saw that Marie and Louis took so long to consummate their marriage I could barely believe it. 7 years!! But after doing some reading I realised that this was accurate, but the film didn't really explain why it took so long - the shyness of Louis, his psychology of thinking that he was a lesser man than the rest of the court, it all counts and again, I felt very sorry for this young man. Despite being presented with portraits showing a rather handsome young man, Louis in fact was a rather portly young man who waddled rather than walked so was it any wonder that in her younger days the beautiful young Dauphine didn't really make any move towards her husband? She tried of course, and to me it seemed halfheartedly, on the wishes of her mother the Empress Maria-Teresa and it ended up with visits for the Dauphin/King of France visiting his doctor!! Seven years later they finally consummated their marriage much to the joy of the Court and eventually had many children. What really got to me about their relationship was how close they became in their later years, and it seems to me that they really loved each other. Marie Antoinette insisted on staying with her husband throughout the dangers that beset them in their later years and during the beginning of the French Revolution, how he panicked when she took so long to reach their carriage upon escape from the Tuileries and how Louis always stayed loyal to his wife, despite the horrid rumours spreading amongst the populace about her, and about the paternity of her children. It also struck me how after Louis' execution, Marie grieved deeply, and wore mourning clothes for the rest of her life, and how she refused to walk past her husbands old room door in their prison after his execution.

As I mentioned in my review of Fraser's book, the Diamond Necklace Affair really struck me. It was a huge part of Marie Antoinette's life and I thought Lever did an excellent job telling the story of what happened, perhaps even better than Fraser did! Lever's writing style helped, because there seem to have been a hell of a lot of politics playing around in this part of Antoinette's life, but Lever did an exceptional job. She tells the reader what happened, and explains the reason behind it as well as the outcomes and the repercussions. As previously mentioned, Lever keeps her chapters short and sweet and the chapter on the Diamond Necklace Affair is no different and comprises of a grand total of 10 pages but Lever explains everything to the point without rambling on for pages and pages without getting into the nitty gritty details which for the most part will bore the reader. Well, unless they're me who devours all the nitty gritty political stuff. But still! Fraser went more into the nitty gritty, and whilst she did a good job it did get rather dry. Lever's chapter on the Affair, her wonderful narrative on the fraudulent notes from the Queen saying she would have the hugely expensive diamond necklance, just made me want to know more but didn't go into too much detail to let my mind wander. And I like that in an author.

Throughout the book as well I found myself struck with the relationship between Marie Antoinette and Count Axel Fersen - I don't want to go too much into this because it would end up being far too much conjecture for a book review but I do like to think that maybe, just maybe, she sought solace from the excesses of Versailles in his arm. Of course this can never be proven really, but they were close right until the end, and I found myself getting rather irritated when I found out that when Marie Antoinette was imprisoned he ended up in another relationship with Eleonore Sullivan. Yet at the end he mourned her hugely and it seems developed a distaste for Elenore, due to the fact that with her he didn't share the care and tenderness that he had with Marie Antoinette. I would love to know what really happened between the Queen and her Count, and Lever does a very good job at showing her readers what can be deduced from the surviving letters and his later actions. Alas I don't think that we will ever know. As I said previously, I like to think that they had a bit of a thing going on, especially considering as how the King often left them alone, especially at their last meeting. Did he know? That's a question I doubt we can ever answer.

Count Axel Von Fersen

As I read the closing chapters of Lever's book this morning before work I found myself tearing up. Just nine months after the execution of her husband, Marie Antoinette found herself being lead to her own death at the Guillotine. In her short chapter on the death of the Queen, I found myself exceptionally moved as I read about her trial at a Kangaroo Court that had already decided her fate, and how just 2 after the start of her trial she found herself being faced by her executioner in her cell at the Conciergerie as they tied her hands and hacked her hair off. She protested, saying they hadn't tied her husband's hands but was ignored. And despite the plots to free her, including the famous Carnation Plot, she was executed on 16th October 1793 at the Guillotine set up on the Place De La Revolution. Was she guilty of what she was charged of? High Treason? Incest? According to Lever, she would have been guilty of treason after releasing details of France's military plans yet the official verdict was unproven. The people just wanted her dead, the woman who they unjustly saw as the reason for their sorrows and hardship.

I have to say, both books I have read on Marie Antoinette have been seriously hard going as I reached their conclusion very likely due to how heavy their subject matter became. Yet at the same time, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the story of the Austrian Archduchess and Queen of France. Her life was exceptional, so full of fun but ended in heartbreak and I thought that Lever did an exceptional job telling the story of Marie Antoinette - and she certainly showed the transition of the carefree, party loving Marie Antoinette to the Queen weighed down by politics and by the people's hatred, exceptionally well. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in the life of Marie Antoinette who doesn't know too much on the era, and even to those who know a lot about it! It is a wonderful work, and it tells the story of the ill fated Queen in a way to inspire pity in even those who believe that the verdict on Marie Antoinette was the true one. This is certainly a book I will return too, and it has helped to give me a taste for more. Thanks to this work, and that of Fraser, I will certainly be reading more about this fascinating woman.

Review: A Gambling Man by Jenny Uglow

Charles II has to be one of my favourite monarchs, I'm sure you're all aware of that by now. In fact I can even go as far as saying I have a mild historical crush on the man - which I have absolutely no shame in admitting whatsoever. He certainly wasn't the perfect man, he enjoyed his women a little bit too much, enjoyed his drink and made a heck of a lot of mistakes (THAT foreign policy after all!) but at the same time he was loved by many, he cared about his subjects, strove to make sure that religion wasn't as issue and he helped his own subjects fight against the Great Fire in 1666. He was a man of the people and why? Because he understood their plight, the plight of the poor. After all, he spent many a year in exile as a poor and penniless King. In simple terms, he got it.

It has been a long time since I have read a good biography of Charles II, and the last one I read was by Antonia Fraser which, although a gallant attempt, just didn't cut it for me. It started out good, giving a brilliant account of Charles' years in exile but soon it got very, very dry. That's the thing with the politics of the era, it can get very dry very quickly and there aren't many who can write a particularly riveting account of the stuff that Charles and Parliament got up to in those years. That was until I read this book by Jenny Uglow - a biography of Charles II that is slightly different to the majority of the books out there. This one concentrates solely on the first decade of his reign from 1660 and his triumphal return to England, up until 1670 when he said goodbye to his beloved sister Minette for the final time.

Now 10 years may not seem like a very long time in the world of history, but during Charles II's reign you could write an entire library on his reign and Uglow does a wonderful job of telling the stories of these first ten years mixed in with quotes from the diaries of Pepys and Evelyn as well as letters that Charles wrote to his sister. And more so, Uglow's writing style flows really very nicely making it an absolute pleasure to read. Now I will admit that it took me a while to read it, despite how well written it is, because not only is it a rather large book but there were a lot of rather complicated ideas and events in there too (as expected) - and whilst the chapters on Charles' early foreign policy and religious policy were certainly very interesting I did find them a little...dry...at times. That however cannot be helped, as there is only so much politics that a girl can take before she puts a book down due to her head hurting slightly. Despite this, those chapters were a lot more engaging than many I have read in the past and really helped my understanding of Restoration politics - I remember at school being overly confused at the idea of Whigs and Tories and had no idea what it meant - now though I have to say that I'm pleased to have a lot more understanding on these political parties, what they did and what they wanted. Mixed in with this we get to read about life at court, court factions, the mistresses of Charles II and how he spent his down time; but as well we see how Charles earned the respect of his subjects and the chapters on the Plague and the Great Fire moved me to tears - how Charles was out there with his people, ordering houses pulled down to stop the spread of the fire, carrying buckets of water and promising Londoners that he would rebuild the city bigger and better than ever. You can't help but feel a little proud of this man as he worked alongside his subjects.

This book isn't perfect, perhaps a bit like Charles himself, but it is certainly one of the best books I have read on him in a very long time. Reading about how he helped his subjects, how he adored his sister Minette, how he endeavoured to tolerate all religion and how he managed difficult political and foreign issues has just made me adore this monarch all the more. But more so I loved how he let his hair down, we know how he loved the theatre, how he reinstated sport after the Interregnum but I honestly did not know that there were times he dressed up in disguise and ran amok with his friends and go to the brothels in London! There was also one line that made me feel very sorry for this King - after dealing with the Plague, the Great Fire and the War with the Dutch Uglow states, "Rochester said of this period that he was completely drunk for five years" - despite his outward appearance of being the "merry monarch", is it any wonder that after so much worry for his subjects both due to disasters like the Plague and Fire, and a war that threatened his country, he turned to the drink? And it is these moments that show Charles as a human being rather than a King.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Charles II and the Restoration, not only to those who already have a sound knowledge of the period but those who are looking for a good introduction. Uglow's book is a great read, full of interesting information that will keep the reader hooked even through the parts that may get a little complicated or dry. It's definitely worth getting through these complicated parts as it provides an important part of Charles' reign, and after all it wasn't all fun and games for Charles. A great read and highly recommended!

Review: A Visitor's Companion to Tudor England by Suzannah Lipscomb

Did you know...Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester entertained Elizabeth I at Kenilworth Castle for 19 long days in 1575, in one last attempt to win her hand in marriage? In Oxford you can still see the charred door of Balliol College that was licked  by the immense fire that Mary I had built to burn three famous martyrs who refused to renounce their protestant faith. Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned many times in cold and dank Tutbury castle, before plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I by smuggling messages out in beer barrels. But she was led into a trap, which cost her her head. Henry VIII was twice betrayed at Pontefract Castle. It was overrun during a rebellion in 1536, and Katherine Howard entertained her lover, Thomas Culpeper, there is 1541.

I know I said not long back that I was tired of the Tudors, and I still am. Or rather tired of that TV show, and people thinking that whatever was shown on it is fact. But anyway, it makes a change to read a book about the Tudor dynasty that really can refresh you, and reawaken an interest. I have previously read Suzannah Lipscomb's "1536" which was absolutely brilliant, and this book is just as brilliant. But what I liked most about this book is that it doesn't bog the reader down with complicated analysis - this book is aimed at everyone, not just those who want to read academic history. It can be used as a guide as you explore the buildings of Tudor England, explaining the main stories that happened there during the Tudor era; or it can be a starting point if you want to read a little introduction in the way of the houses, castles and buildings of Tudor England. And Lipscomb does this in a clear, concise and interesting way that makes the book a wonderful page turner.

Lipscomb splits the book up into geographical areas - London and Greater London, South East, South West etc which means that the pages flow nicely. It also helps if you're going to be visiting a particular area and fancy picking a few Tudor sites to see while you're there! What I also liked was that for each building, Lipscomb was very to the point and gave the reader only what is needed - the main reason why said building is an interesting place for Tudor history as well as a few other little bits of Tudor-esque stuff to see there. This meant that each building had just a matter of pages to explain its importance, and it does just enough to whet your appetite.

What surprised me was just how many Tudor buildings there actually are in the country. I knew about the main ones such as the Tower, Hampton Court etc but it seems there are a lot more Tudor treasures kicking about the country than one first thinks, For example, I went to University in Winchester and knew that the Cathedral was where Mary I and Phillip of Spain were married but I had no idea that nestled in the local neighbourhood was The Vyne, a once massive mansion (almost the size of Hampton Court in its hey day!) owned by William, Lord Sandys. The fact that it is so close to where I live even now has got my feet itching for a sojourn up there! In fact it seems wherever you are in the country, there is a Tudor treasure just around the corner. Next time I'm visiting my family up in the West Midlands I'll be making a point of re-visiting Kenilworth Castle and Shakespeare's birthplace after reading about them in this book, and reading the short chapters on these two fantastic places brought back some really rather good memories. But always among the places I knew, were little gems that I had no idea about. For instance - I had no idea that the doors of Balliol College in Oxford show scorch marks from the flames that burnt three famous protestant martyrs, Ketts Oak and the many mansions/palaces that still stand today. The stories that go with each of these places are enough to make your mind race.

As I found with "1536", Lipscomb's writing style is very easy to read, and it flows nicely. There is something about the structure of her work that makes the words seem to dance off the page. And I have to say, as I read this at the same time as a rather large tome on Charles II which is full of politics (and thus can get rather dry), it was a nice change to be able to escape into something light and that wasn't bogged down with huge lists of academic references. Now don't get me wrong, I am a big, BIG fan of references and in academic books they are an absolute god send. In my Charles book, they are proving to be very helpful (and it does irritate me no end when an academic book isn't referenced properly) HOWEVER Lipscomb's book is not meant to be a full blown academic book. She says both in her introduction and in the acknowledgements section that the book isn't meant to be just for academics, but for everyone and thus, a fully referenced "visitors guide" just wouldn't have cut it. This, for me, was a very brave thing for Lipscomb to do and in my opinion she managed to pull it off exceptionally well.

This book will certainly help out hugely when looking for my next trip out to a sixteenth century house/palace/cathedral and I intend on going back to it. As I mentioned above, it is a great starting point and stepping stone into the history of these wonderful places - and if you want to learn any more information then you can (especially as Lipscomb provides a rather excellent further reading list at the end of the book also). I honestly recommend this book to anyone interested in Tudor history, and to anyone interested in visiting some of the wonderful Tudor sites dotted around the English countryside.

Review [In Brief]: Tudor Survivor by Margaret Scard

A few months back I was wandering around the bookshop in town and saw a little sign. It read "Margaret Scard Book Signing - This Saturday" and had a picture of the front cover of her book on it. The title interested me greatly, "Tudor Survivor: The Life & Times of William Paulet" - I had heard of this man and had an inkling that he had been pretty important; so off I toddled downstairs and picked myself up a copy. The sales assistant reminded me that the author was doing the signing on Saturday and I told myself I would pop in on the way home from work. And pop in I did.

Margaret Scard was an absolutely lovely lady and we had a really nice conversation about Edward Seymour and Edward VI and she told me that Paulet had been around during that time period. She then signed my book and said she hoped I enjoyed it. I can't remember how long I was in the shop talking to her, but it must have been a while because I was much later home from work than I intended to be!

Now then, it has taken me a while but I have finally gotten around to reading this little gem. And from the moment I picked it up I was blown away. This is the story of William Paulet, Marquis of Winchester and a man who lived until at least his 80's (if not longer, which was super, super old for those days!) - he served five monarchs and I include Lady Jane Grey in this because he did serve her, and he survived in a world where many of his colleagues fell victim to the axe. And when he was asked how he had survived it, he answered "by being a willow, not an oak" - I guess in a way this was true because he did bend and sway with the different monarchs, changing as they changed. But at the same time he really could have been like the Oak, standing steadfast through the changes, and sticking to his guns. As I read about his life, I was just blown away by everything he saw, everything he took part in. The man rose through court mostly on his own merits and he survived into old age; Elizabeth I even said if he were younger she would marry him!

I honestly don't want to go into too much detail because I'm afraid I won't do this wonderful book justice. But if I'm honest I would recommend this to anyone interested in the Tudor reign, as it is full of interesting information on the different reigns, how royal visits were arranged and even got right down to the nitty gritty of how Paulet ran the King's household. It is honestly astounding, and you can tell that a heck of a lot of research went into this book.

This book will certainly be one of the ones that I will come back to again and again. Plus, it really didn't read like a history text at all, particularly with how Scard mixed it up with passages that were written as if they were fiction, but well written fiction. You could tell these bits as they were separated from the rest and written in Italic, but honestly it was just so well done. A highly enjoyable and well researched book which I shall certainly be going back to!

Review: Ordeal By Ambition by William Seymour

I wrote this review about a year ago, and was reminded about it after a conversation I had on twitter last night and picking up the book to try and answer a question on the author. This book is written by a direct descendant of Edward Seymour, and an absolutely fantastic read! I definitely recommend it to any one interested in the Seymour family

When I first picked this book up, I almost put it down again in sheer frustration. The first chapter, or the Prologue, describes how the Seymour's came to power through Anne Boleyn's fall. However, William Seymour made so many mistakes in describing Anne Boleyn's fall that it was unreal, and I almost gave up. I will say only this, Seymour mentions that when Anne Boleyn was arrested and taken to the Tower of London she was taken through Traitor's Gate. She was not. But I can forgive that, as for the longest time that was believed to be what actually happened and since this book was written we know a lot more now than we did back then.

Anyway, moving on. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It read very easily and there were times where I forgot that I was reading a history text. The stories of the three Seymour children were told wonderfully and colourfully and I now have a more profound respect for all three of them, even Jane Seymour who has never been my favourite Tudor Queen. However, over the past few months this family has become of great interest to me and reading their stories in greater depth has proven incredibly enlightening.

The main reason I read this book was to gain a greater understanding of Edward Seymour and his wife, Anne Stanhope. Yet again though, there is very little mention of Anne but what I did read made me hop around with excitement. She is often talked about as a haughty woman and a woman who had little love for her husband. However, how can a woman who went to the Tower with her husband be one who did not love him? Not only that she bore him 9 children. They really seem to have been a force to be reckoned with, after all, Anne was the one who refused to give Katherine Parr her rightful jewels back. What a woman. Yet, the stories are abounded in sadness. Both brothers ended their careers thanks to the axeman's block, and it seems through Seymour's writings that these careers were ended through very little evidence. Edward in particular lost his life through a charge of treason and felony and all on trumped up charges and lies brought against him. Thomas however, went down in history as a notorious womaniser who tried to bring about his brothers downfall.

The chapters on Jane Seymour took up only a very small proportion of the book whereas the huge careers of both Thomas and Edward took up a huge majority. After all, Jane's career as Queen was very short lived whereas her brothers lived through two Tudor reigns. I found the stories evocative and thrilling and found out facts I never knew before. I read stories of the brothers participation in various wars (The Battle of Pinkie being one I had never known of before) and how through sheer hard work both climbed their way from humble beginnings at court to the heights they finally reached. For instance, Edward Seymour started out humbly as Master of the Horse to Henry VIII's bastard son Henry Fitzroy before being employed as an Esquire of the Body in Henry VIII's Privy Chamber and working his way up from there. Now that's working your way up the ladder!!

There is a line at the end of the book where Seymour describes how his ancestor was buried in the chapel of St Peter Ad Vicula next to Anne Boleyn, and how this woman with her wonderful sense of humour would not have lost the irony of the situation. There, one of the main players in her downfall, lost his life the same way she did. He met the same fate as her, and like her, on trumped up charges. Towards the end, I was almost in tears reading the account of Edwards execution.

William Seymour shows his ancestors as loved by the people, who only fell because of the work of factions in court. Edward Seymour was known as the Good Duke, and a man beloved by his people. He even had to calm the people down who were there to watch his execution. In the end, this man only wanted to run the country to the best of his ability and hand over a peaceful country when his nephew came of age. But unfortunately this was never destined to come through.

I found I could not put this book down, it read so easily and was written very, very well. This book will forever stay on my shelf as my bible of the Seymour family. And despite the lack of Anne Stanhope mentions, there is enough in there to keep me going and will help hugely in the years to come

Review: Birdsong

As I mentioned in my last birdsong post, after watching the BBC adaptation I was going to pick the book up again and reread it. And reread I did. I certainly was not disappointed. As I mentioned previously, I picked this book up in the visitors centre at Thiepval (particularly appropriate considering as how Thiepval is mentioned many a time in the story!) - I fell in love with Thiepval, it was a very moving place and so this book holds a special place in my heart. Of course it has its flaws but then what book doesn't have flaws? In my eyes however, this book is as close to the perfect historical fiction as you can get.

Sebastian Faulks tells us the story of Stephen Wraysford, a young man who finds himself in Amiens; sent there by his employer to learn more about the fabric business. He stays with the Azaire family, and whilst there he starts to notice Madame Azaire (also known as Isabelle) - of course he falls in love with her and they begin an affair which eventually comes to a head and they leave the house together. The love story makes up the first portion of the book and if I'm honest it really wasn't my favourite part of the story although it does go some way to explain why Stephen is the way he is in later chapters. And by the time the second part of the story kicks in, when Stephen is in the trenches, so much has happened with Isabelle that he doesn't find out until much much later.

The second part of the story, where Stephen is in the trenches was my favourite part of the whole book and I'm glad it made up most of the story. And if I'm honest this part had me blubbing more than any other part. Here we see Stephen as he attempts to gain the love and respect of the me he commands, the strange friendship he builds with Captain Weir and his strange ability to stay alive despite the odds. Weir, in my opinion, has to be one of the best and most lovable characters in the story. He is a shy man, with a dependence on alcohol and a man who comes to rely on Stephen and his strange ways - he even admits to Stephen that he has never slept with a woman, leading onto a rather distressing incident in a brothel! Not only does he have this friendship with Weir, but he also develops a very close friendship with many of the tunnelers on the front line. One character in particular always sticks in my mind, Jack Firebrace - a man, not young, who came from digging the London Underground to digging tunnels in France to blow up the Germans, whose son is very unwell. Firebrace is immediately lovable, and I won't spoil what happens but let's just say that by the end of the novel I was sobbing so much I could barely breathe.

Of course, in a novel about the First World War, characters that you know and love will ultimately end up dead. And that is so well done in this novel, Faulks describes the battles as if he were an eye witness and his description of the battle of the Somme had my heart in my mouth for the entire chapter. I loved how Faulks used very short sentences to convey the scene, the horror, the desperation. I could honestly imagine I was there as Stephen watched his comrades fall as the advanced at walking pace into the enemy machine gun fire. The way Faulks created this scene, and indeed the whole book, was just utterly breathtaking.

The final part of the book deals with a young woman named Elizabeth, who is in fact Stephen's granddaughter. She spends a few chapters looking at the notebooks Stephen kept whilst he was at war trying to link to her past, visiting places like Thiepval. If I'm honest this could have been left out of the book, I really didn't like the character of Elizabeth (not sure why, don't judge me) and the fact that she was involved in an affair with a married man who kept everything secret, and then had a child with said married man. It was a little cliched and I breathed a sigh of relief when I got to the end of the section and read about Stephen's escape from being trapped in the tunnels after a German explosion.

The few chapters detailing Stephen's escape were mind blowing. To cut a long story short, Stephen and Firebrace end up trapped in the tunnels after the German army set a charge off in a tunnel above theirs. Everyone else dies (surprise), and Firebrace ends up very badly wounded. After finding a stash of explosives left by the New Zealanders and blowing it, Stephen ends up being dug out of the tunnels by the Germans who inform him the war is over. And he walks across No Mans Land completely safe, back to the British trenches but without poor Firebrace.

Reading this review back, I realise a lot of it sounds very very cliched, with the whole love story thing and the girl running off, man goes to war and in the end future person finds out about her past; but in all honesty I recommend this book to anyone whether they have an interest in the war or not. It is very well written and you really do end up connected to the characters. It is a roller coaster ride of emotion, which has you laughing at one moment and in floods of tears the next. And the historical moments dealing with the trenches and the battles are so well researched, despite its flaws I do honestly believe that Birdsong is one of the best examples of historical fiction that anyone can ever read.

Review: The Artist, The Philosopher and The Warrior by Paul Strathern

In the autumn of 1502 three giants of the Renaissance period - Cesare Borgia, Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli - set out on one of the most treacherous military campaigns of the period. Cesare Borgia was a ferocious military leader whose name was synonymous with brutality and whose reputation was marred with the suspicion of incest. Niccolo Machiavelli was a witty and subversive intellectual, more suited to the silken diplomacy of royal courts than the sodden encampments of a military campaign. And Leonardo Da Vinci was a visionary master and the most talented military engineer in Italy. What lead him to work for the monstrous Borgia? And what attracted him to the cunning Machiavelli?

I’d been seeing this book everywhere in the months up until Christmas and thought how interesting it sounded; just think a book dedicated to three Renaissance men all about how their lives intertwined. Alas, I did not buy it for myself. Imagine my surprise when on Christmas morning I opened up a gift only to this peeking out of the paper at me!

This idea for this book really is wonderful, and I can imagine it having been very difficult to pull off. The book pulls together the lives of three men during Renaissance Italy and how their lives intertwined, how they met and how they worked together. And Paul Strathern does an absolutely astounding job with it. Not only that but his three subjects are quite possibly the three most interesting men of the period: Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia. All three of these men had a huge impact on Italy as they knew it; Da Vinci was one of the world’s greatest artists and scientists; a man who thought of windmill’s and tanks long before they were “invented”, Machiavelli was the creator of “realpolitik” and author of the controversial ‘The Prince’; a work that was banned and had poor Machiavelli labelled as an agent of Satan, and Cesare Borgia – a man known for his murderous ways, said to be involved with his own sister and a man who became the greatest military general that Italy had ever seen.

The first and main thing I want to say about this book is that Strathern’s writing style is just flawless. It is so easy to read, and as I was reading I could imagine what he was describing (and these days with books it’s very rare that happens to me) – I could imagine Leonardo working on his paintings and coming up with military weapons for Cesare, I could imagine Machiavelli sitting there writing his dispatches back to Florence, and I could imagine Cesare as he lead his armies into the Romagna to overtake them. The entire book was so well written and I enjoyed it from the very first word and despite the cliché, I just couldn’t put it down. I have read a few reviews of this saying that the way it is structured makes it very difficult to follow, and that the switches between characters means that it’s almost impossible to read without getting confused. I did not find this at all, in fact thought that Strathern pulled everything together excellently, staying in chronological order and tying the relationship between these three Renaissance men together with an expert eye for detail. It was really very interesting to read how these men eventually came together, how Leonardo and Machiavelli ended up working for Borgia and how Borgia himself developed such a respect for these men that he may have even considered them as friends.

I have to say as well, that I learnt a lot whilst reading this book that I didn’t know before. I did not know that Leonardo Da Vinci came up with things long before their time, like windmills, or diving suits or even the world’s first flying machine. According to Strathern the likelihood that this was tested is very slim, yet Leonardo made mention of his plans in his notebooks. With Machiavelli I knew that he was the author of “The Prince”, a book that I still have yet to read, and that he had an immense amount of respect for Cesare Borgia and I knew he spent time with Borgia, I did not know quite how hard up he was whilst he was staying with Cesare. According to Strathern Machiavelli kept having to write to the Signoria to beg for money, and begging to be recalled home. It seems he was also a bit of a joker with his friends, and one letter that Strathern quoted made me laugh out loud – although I must say it is rather cruel – when he spoke about how he went to buy a shirt, and the woman took him into a darkened room to try out the goods. There he made love to a woman he could not see in the dark, and when he turned the lights on he found her so ugly that he threw up all over her! And of course anything about Cesare I will eat up, whether they are facts I know of or not. With Cesare, whilst I knew he managed to escape from prison at the Medina Del Campo and fought with his father in law (which consequentially lead to his death), I did not know that before he was moved there he tried to escape from his previous prison, but injured himself trying to escape!

In all honesty, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is full to bursting with facts about three very interesting individuals of the Renaissance and it is all written in such a way that there were times I could have sworn I was stood in the same room as Leonardo as he painted his famous Mona Lisa. I found the exact same thing when I read Strathern’s book “The Medici” which, like this one, is just a brilliant and informative read. If you even have an inkling of an interest in any of these three men then I recommend picking up this book as you will be astounded by what you read, and more so you will begin to understand how these three Renaissance giants lives’ all intertwined, how they met, how they worked together and ultimately came to respect each other as friends. Yet I really don’t want to spoil the book for those of you who haven’t yet read it, I could type for pages and pages on the relationship between these men based just on what Strathern has written, but I won’t. I’ll let you discover it all for yourselves…

Yet More Books!

Today, as I was on my way to yet another doctors appointment, I found myself in front of a charity bookshop with a massive sale sign in the window. I decided to pop in and see what their history section was like. And when I came out my purse was much lighter than it had been when I went inside! What I found was a plethora of beautiful books, and that was just in the history section alone - I didn't really have time to check out the fiction section - and I could have spent hours in there. In the end I picked up a few books that caught my eye, the Jasper Ridley one in particular is one I've had my eye on for a while but never gotten around to buying, and the Mary Tudor one by Anna Whitelock was one I picked up almost straight away. I've only ever read snippets on Mary so it will be nice to actually read a full scale biography. But it was the one at the top of the pile that got me excited, "At The Court Of The Borgia" by Pope Alexander VI's Master of Ceremonies Johann Burchard, and translated by Geoffrey Parker. You guys know me, I love the Borgia family and it will be really interesting to read something originally written by someone close to Alexander VI, and just how biased it is. Plus the front cover is actually gorgeous...

Not the best photo, blame my lame point and shoot camera, but it really is beautiful.

I have to say, I am really looking forward to getting stuck into these later on this year. I have a few to read before I start on them, but keep your eyes peeled for reviews when I finish them!

Review: The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir (historical fiction)

Recently I've been delving into the world of historical fiction, reading books such as Alison Weir's "Innocent Traitor" and Ken Follet's "Pillars of the Earth". Historical fiction can be great, if it is written and researched well but more often than not it ends up being an inaccurate, awful thing to read. Very rarely do I come across historical fiction that pulls me in enough so that I can read it in a couple of days, the only ones that I have read lately are "Pillars of the Earth" and "Mistress of the Art of Death" although there have been others throughout the years.

I wanted to write today about the latest historical fiction book I've read, and literally finished a couple of days ago. It was a copy of Alison Weir's "The Lady Elizabeth", and I was looking forward to reading it. I am a huge fan of a lot of Weir's non fiction work, and have found a lot of it to be well written and well researched, but with this novel I was sorely disappointed.

The book itself is the story of Elizabeth I's early life, as she grows up through the execution of her mother, her father's countless wives, her bastard status, living in fear as her sister Mary ascended the throne and she spent time in the Tower. Don't get me wrong, it's well written and I loved how Weir wrote how Elizabeth was feeling at certain points in her life, how she cried when she found out about her mother, and how the execution of Katherine Howard made her sure she never wanted to marry. We also see the incident that happened between Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour when she was staying with Katherine Parr, the sexual tension between the young Elizabeth and the much older Seymour, how they were caught in a passionate embrace which made Katherine send Elizabeth away...

It was at this stage I almost put the book down. It seems that Weir thought it would be a good idea to write about the rumours that Elizabeth bore Thomas' child as if it were true. This was never proven and I'm sure that had their been more to the rumours then as historians we would know more. However these days we can deduce that this did not happen, as the rumours came from the anti-protestant factions at court. Now I understand that this is historical fiction and readers like a bit of scandal but this was going too far for me - Elizabeth, later known as The Virgin Queen, pregnant with Thomas Seymour's child, a child that was miscarried and thrown into the fire as soon as it was born? I don't think so. The problem with this is that if someone does not understand the time period, and read this in a novel written by a respected historian, they will believe it and yet again inaccuracies will be placed in the public mindset. Look at the vilification of Anne Boleyn, and the publication of Phillipa Gregory's "The Other Boleyn Girl" - people already believed Anne to be a whore who slept with countless men, believed her to be a witch (which we of course know she wasn't, and that she was innocent of all charges) but when TOBG came out, people started believing it. I have lost count of the amount of times I have heard people say Anne must have slept with her brother and given birth to a deformed foetus and it must be true because TOBG says so. It makes me want to bash my head against a brick wall. As I said above, it's fiction, a story made up by the author and readers like a bit of scandal, but completely changing history in that sense? It's just awful.

However I carried on, however grudgingly, and made it to the end of the book. Weir's writing was good, and flowed nicely, and I have to say she did tell the story well especially the rivalry between Mary and Elizabeth after Mary took the throne, and I felt Elizabeth's fear as she was taken to the tower, felt how scared she was that she would follow the Lady Jane Grey to the block. There aren't many authors that can do that to their readers, and for that reason I'll be marking this book a little higher than I would have done.

This book is a quick read, and a good one to read if you just want to escape into the past for a little while. I do recommend it to those interested in Tudor historical fiction, although I would say go into with an open mind and take the rather huge inaccuracy with a pinch of salt. But if you'd prefer a more accurate portrayal of Elizabeth then I would go for a non fiction book about her, "Elizabeth" by David Starkey or even Weir's non fiction "Elizabeth the Queen".

I think it's time for me to head back to the non-fiction shelves...

Cheriton 1644: The Campaign & The Battle

After receiving some distressing news health wise this afternoon I thought I would come back home and share some happiness with you all. Hey, it'll make me feel better.

My speciality in both history and archaeology has always been the English Civil War and in particular the Battle of Cheriton which took place on 29th March 1644. When I was working on my BA dissertation, which was a study of the landscape archaeology of the battlefield (I ended up mapping the entire battlefield, looking at both proposed sites and working out that the traditional site was the most likely due to the landscape...which in itself is another post!), I came across a great book by John Adair in my University library. This book, named simply "Cheriton 1644: The Campaign and the Battle" became my bible, I had it out of the library for almost 6 months and used it intensively. And it was a sad day when I had to give it back at the end of my course.

However, looking around online it seemed that this was a rather rare book and only went through one lot of publication, meaning that any available copies were all first editions and thus rather expensive. All copies I found ended up costing between £150-£300, all new and in great condition which obviously was a little expensive. But I was determined on getting myself a copy to take pride of place on my bookshelf between my other rare books. After a lot of searching I managed to find a "used but good condition" on Amazon marketplace for just £28. Guess who snapped it up.

When it arrived I was shocked at the condition. It was perfect, never read. OK so it was a little discoloured due to the age (published in 1973) but other than that it was perfect. No tears, the hardback was almost perfect. The only thing missing was the dustcover. Had it come with that then the price would have rocketed. Not only that it was lovingly parcelled up too, wrapped in protective cellophane and then wrapped like a parcel with a nice note from the seller too!

I'm currently reading this wonderful book again and loving every moment of it. Not only that, it's helping with my research for my Nanowrimo novel (which is even better!) and it's really got me back into this wonderful battle. I fully intend to start back on my work on the battle now, get some pieces written on it and see where I go from there.

Book Give-away!

Apologies for my lack of posts recently everyone, I've been slightly busy with some of my real life stuff - I'm sure you know the deal: work, visits, life. I also made the decision to take part in National Novel Writing Month (again!) which I may be regretting a little. Writing 50,000 words in a month is a bit of a mountain to climb. I have got some proper posts coming, I just need to sit down and actually write them!

I just wanted to let you all know that this blog now has a facebook page! Please do come and like us here, and when we get to 100 likes I will be doing a book giveaway! So please do come over, hit the like button and you may find yourself the lucky owner of The Borgias & Their Enemies by Christopher Hibbert. This is a really fantastic book, and I love the way Hibbert writes about this fantastic family!

So remember, as soon as we get that 100th "like" over on our facebook page, I'll be randomly picking someone to receive this wonderful book! So please do come over and say hello, and spread the word!

Books, Books & More Books!

I may have done a little dance of joy when I got home and found that the postman had delivered me all of these wonderful books! I'm looking forward to getting stuck into these (and would you believe there are more on the way too!). Lady Jane Grey is next on my "to read" list and after that who knows, but three of those books are ones I have been looking forward to for a long time - Lady Jane Grey by Eric Ives, The Winter King by Thomas Penn and The Boleyns by David Loades. I'm sure within the next few weeks you'll be bombarded with book reviews. You'll notice though that the two at the top of the pile are in fact novels - after watching "The Pillars of the Earth" and loving it, I decided I should use the opportunity to take a break from the non fiction and get stuck into a good story!

Below is a list of the books, with a quick typed up version of their blurbs.

The Winter King - Thomas Penn

It was 1501, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and counter coups. Through luck, guile and ruthlessness, Henry VII had clambered to the top of the heap - a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's crown. For many he remained a usurper, a false king. But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his longed for dynasty. Now his elder son would marry a great Spanish princess. On a cold November day this girl, the sixteen year old Catherine of Aragon, arrived in London for a wedding upon which the fate of England would hinge...

Lady Jane Grey - Eric Ives

Lady Jane Grey is the Queen England rejected. In July 1553, Edward VI, the heir to Henry VIII, died after only a brief reign as a minor. His death left the Tudor dynasty in turmoil. In the aftermath, Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen only to be ousted after thirteen days by Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's bastard daughter. Seven months later she had Jane beheaded. History has portrayed Jane as both a hapless victim of political intrigue and a Protestant martyr, but most of all as an irrelevance, hence the popular but erroneous label, the "nine days queen". Revisiting the sources surrounding Jane Grey's upbringing, Eric Ives challenges these views, presenting Jane Grey as an accomplished young woman with a fierce personal integrity, and England's outstanding female scholar. He teases out the complex evidence of the 1553 crisis and dissects the moves and motives of each of the other protagonists: Edward VI himself, feverishly re-writing his will during his dying days; Mary Tudor, the woman who 'won' the crown; John Dudley, Jane's father-in-law, traditionally the villain of the piece; and her father Henry Grey. As the story moves through the summer of 1553 to Jane's execution, we see these people as agents in Jane Grey's unfolding tragedy and her eventual moral triumph. The result is a new and compelling dissection by a master historian and storyteller of one of history's most shocking injustices.

Nell Gwynne: A Passionate Life - Graham Hopkins

Nell Gwynne, the archetypal tart-with-a-heart, lived the classic rags to riches story: the poor woman who fell in love with a King. Nelly - as she was known - also stole the heart of a nation and has held the affection of generations since. A star of the stage - an accomplished and much loved comedienne - she caught the eye of King Charles II, becoming one of his mistresses and bearing two of his thirteen children. Their relationship lasted over 17 years and only ended with his death in 1685. The story of Nell Gwynne is the story of romance itself. Born into poverty, Nelly progressed from selling oranges in the theatre to performing on the stage itself, becoming the leading comedy actress of her day. Set in the dizzying times of Restoration England you have an irresistible romance between the merry monarch and the woman Pepys called 'pretty, witty Nell'. Confident, mischievous, generous, caring and outrageously funny she became an icon in her own lifetime. Graham Hopkins's passionate account of Nelly's life and times shows us why she remains so today.

The Boleyns - David Loades

The fall of Anne Boleyn and her brother George is the classic drama of the Tudor era. The Boleyn's had long been an influential English family. Sir Edward Boleyn had been Lord Mayor of London, his grandson Sir Thomas had inherited wealth and position and through the sexual adventures of his daughters Mary and Anne, ascended to the peak of influence at court. The three Boleyn children formed a faction at court, making many enemies: and when those enemies secured Henry VIII's ear, they brought down the entire family in blood and disgrace. George, Lord Rochford, left no children. Mary, left a son by her husband William Carey - Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon. Anne left a daughter, Elizabeth I - so like her in many ways and a sexual politician without rival.

Nell Gwyn - Charles Beauclerk

Beautiful, quick witted and sexually magnetic , Nell Gwyn remains one of England's great folk heroines. The story of her exceptional rise from an impoverished, abusive childhood to the wealth and connections that came with being Charles II's mistress is a dramatic mix of lust, money, high politics and love. famously spotted selling oranges in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Nell's wit and charm brought her to the attention of one of the theatre's leading actors. Under his patronage. she soon established herself as the greatest comedienne of her day so caught the eye of Charles II, the newly restored 'merry monarch' of a nation in hedonistic reaction to puritan rule. Their seventeen year affair is one of the great love stories of our history, played out against a backdrop of fire, plague, court intrigue and political turmoil

Elizabeth The Queen - Alison Weir

In her highly praised "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" and its sequel "Children of England", Alison Weir examined the private lives of the early Tudor Kings and Queens, and chronicled the childhood and youth of one of England's most successful monarchs, Elizabeth I. This book begins as the young Elizabeth ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary's disastrous reign. Elizabeth is portrayed as both a woman and a Queen, an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age. Alison weir writes of Elizabeth's intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, of her dealings - sometimes comical, sometimes poignant - with her many suitors, of her rivalry with Mary Queen of Scots, and of her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior. Rich in detail, vivid and colourful, this book comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person.

The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follet

Set in the turbulent times of twelfth century England when civil war, famine, religious strife and battles over royal succession tore lives and families apart; The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of the building of a magnificent cathedral.

World Without End - Ken Follet (The Pillars of the Earth #2)

On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the Cathedral at Kingsbridge. In the forest they see two men killed. As adults their lives become braided together by desire, determination, avarice and retribution. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. Yet they will always live under the shadow of the unexplained killing on that fateful, childhood day.