Medieval Bookworm

Summary from the publisher:

Palace intrigue, romance, and illicit affairs—Rebecca Dean has written a glorious novel that will sweep Philippa Gregory fans off their feet.

Delia Chandler, an eighteen-year-old Southern girl, marries Viscount Ivor Conisborough just before World War II, becoming part of the Windsor court. It’s every girl’s dream come true. But Delia is jolted from her pleasant life when she realizes, after the birth of her two daughters, that Ivor chose her only to bear an heir to his estate. Shortly thereafter, she begins an affair with her husband’s handsome, titled, and frequently scandalous best friend.

When Conisborough is appointed as an adviser to King Fuad of Egypt, Delia exchanges one palace circle for another, far different one. While she sees Egypt as a place of exile, her two daughters regard Egypt as their home. Only when war comes to Cairo—and Delia finally reveals the secret she has kept for so long—can she begin to heal the divisions separating her from those she loves.

Rebecca Dean’s irresistible combination of real events and masterful storytelling will keep readers fascinated until the very last page.

This book didn’t capture me, I’ll start by saying that.  The category of “historical fiction lite” applies perfectly here.  There are historical characters, but only on the sidelines.  The actual main characters fell flat for me, particularly Delia, who frustrated me with her frivolity and total inability to relate or talk to her daughters.  The novel’s viewpoint rotates from Delia to Petronella to Davina, but I had the distinct feeling that the girl who was narrating seemed different from the girl who had been described before or after.  Character changes over time, but it wasn’t convincing.  Neither were the love stories, even though in retrospect it’s as though the entire novel is a rotating battle through romance.  Obviously, I read romance, and shouldn’t have a problem with such a focus, but the book felt too shallow for me.  This is the lead-up to World War II, after all!  Maybe the high society didn’t feel it but everyone else did.  The only concession to the times is one of the sisters’ charity work.  Even the move to Egypt isn’t explored the way it might have been and feels very much like the British court all over again rather than a different culture.  We are thrown a few bones in the way of revolution, but not many details or actions take place.

In the end, reading this book was little like watching a soap opera.  The characters are caricatures, the situations are ridiculous, and none of it seems to reflect on real life events in anything but a shallow way.  Moreover, literally everyone is having an affair, which may have been the case but was still repugnant to me.  The book is enjoyable in a light, frothy way that doesn’t appeal to me.  Had I approached it as a light read, in the vein of one of my romances, I may have been able to get more into it, but I tend to think of historical fiction as deeper, even when it focuses on a royal court.  This was not, and it disappointed me.

Check out Palace Circle on Amazon.

Lady Dona St. Columb leads a life in London with which she has grown tired.  After doing something that even she finds reprehensible, she takes her children and flees to her husband’s country estate, Navron, trying her best to get away from him, his friends, and her own scandalous reputation.  While walking at Navron, she discovers someone who helps her to completely reevaluate herself, her life, and learn to be a woman that she likes rather than a woman she despises.

My expectations for this book were about medium.  I loved Rebecca and really did not care for The House on the Strand. I really enjoyed this book, though.  I tend to always appreciate books about self-discovery, and Dona does a great deal of discovering.  She has a lot of hard looks at her life and what she’s doing with it and she figures she wants something else.  That something else is actually a lot more scandalous than her current life, but she definitely grows as a person, especially regarding the decisions she makes towards the end.

Du Maurier seems to have a thing for characters without real names.  The Frenchman has a name, Jean-Benoit, but almost never goes by it.  He exists as an entity, onto which we can place our expectations of a pirate, a Frenchman, a romantic hero, and he can fulfill them.  He’s got a personality, but it’s almost as though his lack of name and real characterization makes him less distinct and almost legendary in his exploits.  I think this is a really interesting device that du Maurier uses and it really adds something to Dona’s infatuation with him; most women have a thing for the mysterious and dangerous man.

I also just love the prose in this book.  It’s sparse but beautiful at the same time.  Let me give you an example that speaks for itself, the first few sentences:

When the east wind blows up Helford River the shining waters become troubled and disturbed and the little waves beat angrily upon the sandy shores.  The short seas break above the bar at ebb-tide, and the waders fly inland to the mud-flats, their wings skimming the surface, and calling to one another as they go.  Only the gulls remain, wheeling and crying above the foam, diving now and again in search of food, their grey feathers glistening with the salt spray.

– p. 1, Frenchman’s Creek.

For me, that evokes some gorgeous imagery and is a fantastic way to set up a book about a pirate and a lady, don’t you think?  Du Maurier’s prose is very distinctive and when the story is good, it works extremely well.  This is the case with Frenchman’s Creek. The story is intriguing and the book is an absolute pleasure to read.  I had a lovely time with this, and I think you would too.

Buy Frenchman’s Creek on Amazon. It’s just been re-released by Sourcebooks and this is a gorgeous edition. If you’ve been interested in reading more by Daphne du Maurier, or you’re looking for a great, well-written piece of fiction, I recommend this book.