Captive Queen

Review of Captive Queen by Alison Weir


Overview from www.bn.com: Nearing her thirtieth birthday, Eleanor of Aquitaine has spent the past dozen frustrating years as wife to the pious King Louis VII of France. But when Henry of Anjou, the young and dynamic future king of England, arrives at the French court, he and the seductive Eleanor experience a mutual passion powerful enough to ignite the world. Indeed, after the annulment of Eleanor’s marriage to Louis and her remarriage to Henry, the union of this royal couple creates a vast empire that stretches from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees—and marks the beginning of the celebrated Plantagenet dynasty. But Henry and Eleanor’s marriage, charged with physical heat, begins a fiery downward spiral marred by power struggles and bitter betrayals. Amid the rivalries and infidelities, the couple’s rebellious sons grow impatient for power, and the scene is set for a vicious and tragic conflict that will threaten to engulf them all.

My Review:

Wow, another long book. I sure hope the next book isn’t this long. I have however, once again, returned to fiction. This one about Eleanor of Aquitaine. It is called Captive Queen, written by Alison Weir who I believe is a famous historian over there on the other side of the pond. The novel covers a large period of Eleanor’s life though not all of it.


First I have to admit that I was tempted to stop reading this one after the first few chapters. If it had not been for Weir’s reputation, I most certainly would have. These chapters are quite bawdy and contain many f bombs, too many in my opinion. I have to say though that I am glad I didn’t give up on it because the tale is an interesting one and those elements do give the reader an idea of the sorts of persons both Eleanor and Henry were.


Upon finishing the book, I have to admit what amazed me most was just how long Eleanor lived. She was in her eighties on her death which must have been very unusual for the time period. And yet she seemed to have lived a very full life even if it was not entirely good. She made the best of her situation most of the time and didn’t seem to hesitate when it came to admitting her own faults.


In the novel, we start with the annulment of her first marriage to one of the Louis, king of France. It seems Eleanor is unhappy with this arrangement since her husband rarely visits her bed and would make a better monk than priest.


As she embarks on her next marriage to Henry, all seems well at first. They have a huge empire that stretches all the way to England when Henry inherits the crown from King Steven. But differences of opinion later separate them as Eleonor takes her sons’ part in the disagreement which will eventually land her in prison.


The story is probably worth checking out, particularly if you are interested in the lives of either Eleonor or Henry but keep in mind that is not entirely a happy one. Let me know what you think.


Side note: I will be going on vacation for a while so there will not be any new posts to this blog for a few weeks. Thank you for your understanding.

Catherine, Called Birdy

 

 

Review of Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

 

Overview from www.bn.com: Catherine feels trapped. Her father is determined to marry her off to a rich man--any rich man, no matter how awful.

 

But by wit, trickery, and luck, Catherine manages to send several would-be husbands packing. Then a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes to call--by far the oldest, ugliest, most revolting suitor of them all.

 

Unfortunately, he is also the richest.

 

Can a sharp-tongued, high-spirited, clever young maiden with a mind of her own actually lose the battle against an ill-mannered, piglike lord and an unimaginative, greedy toad of a father?

Deus! Not if Catherine has anything to say about it!

 

My Review:

The story of Catherine, a girl of fourteen who comes from a moderately wealthy family, is told to the reader from the diary she writes in every day. The first entry records the fact that her brother is responsible both for her being able to read and write and for the fact that she is being forced to write her thoughts down. The diary itself takes us through a year of her life.

I got this book out of curiosity after I spied on the website that the library has for those who want to borrow e-books. I never imagined that I would like it so much. I thought of it only as a short book to pass the time until I found another one.

I not only liked it though, I absolutely loved it. I think it has been a while since I read a book that I could honestly say that I loved but this one was great. Not only did I appreciate the author’s attempts to portray the Middle Ages as realistically as possible but I was also surprised by how funny it was. The main character is not type of girl who stays out of trouble and she is not exactly an all-out rebel either but she does get into some scrapes once and while and they are hilarious. Not only that but hearing her thoughts about people and some of the things that she does to show her displeasure with her lot kept made me laugh out loud. And there are very few books that can make me do that.

Here is an example:

“More lady-lessons. It is impossible to do all and be all a lady must be and not tie oneself in a knot…A lady must have six hands! She must not look proud nor yet too humble, least people say she is proud of her humility. She must not talk overmuch yet not be silent, lest people think she does not know how to converse. She must not show anger, nor sulk, nor scold, nor overeat, nor overdrink, nor swear. God’s thumbs! I am going out to the barn to jump, fart, and pick my teeth!”

The main conflict in the story, besides Catherine’s desire to escape being a lady, is her attempt to keep her father from marrying her off to some old weirdo for money. She prefers not to marry at all but if she must marry then she would rather marry someone close to her own age. This is where many of her troubles come from as well as her desire to help others, such as some of the villagers that are under her father’s thumb.

If there is any downside to this story, I can’t see it. I didn’t even find any swear words unless you count Catherine’s own attempts at swearing by saying “God’s thumbs” or “Corpus bones” which just make me laugh. She is one of the most likeable characters I have read about for a long time. I think I will order the e-book version of this so that I can have this one permanently. I think I could read it again and again.