When Will Somers hits puberty and loses his beautiful singing voice, he is at a crossroads in his life, not only a disappointment to himself but also to his father. An accident brings Master Richard Fermor to the farm of Will’s uncle, and an even happier coincidence leads to Will’s employment with the Fermor family. Will becomes good at his clerking, but retains a love for performance, which he can’t resist showing off at the king’s court when he accompanies his master. Henry VIII is diverted by the sight and immediately hires Will as his fool. At court, Will is witness to history.
At first I was a little put off by this book’s slight historical inaccuracies, but quickly realized that the author had died in 1962 and historical understanding was completely different then. Barnes could have easily done all the research available to her and I would still find fault with it, so I threw everything I knew out the window and just tried to enjoy the story, and enjoy it I did. The writing isn’t dated at all and I knew it was a re-release, but I don’t tend to start with the author bio when I go to read a book. I will admit that I was perplexed in other ways by the beginning; though Will moves around a lot, the story wasn’t excessively interesting until he reached court and Henry’s service.
I thought it interesting that though Will is the “fool”, he’s so level-headed and earnest most of the time. We hear only a little about how he entertains the king and court, more about his personal relations with the king and family, and about Will’s own personal issues as well. I think I preferred this varied look. We still get plenty of historical figures, but I became attached to Will in a way that may not have been possible if he was a more ridiculous character. I liked him very much and wanted him to do well. I preferred that the story was centered on him.
Overall, I think this is a nice work of historical fiction that definitely deserves the re-release Sourcebooks is giving it. I enjoyed the time I spent reading it and would certainly recommend it to someone else who liked the genre.
Buy King’s Fool on Amazon.
I’ve enjoyed the other Margaret Campbell Barnes books I have read, so I am going to be looking out for this one.
Marg’s last blog post..March Update
Well duh I have to read this one!! I read the other King’s Fool book — was it by Margaret George? I’ll have to read this one too. Thanks for the warnings about the small inaccuracies.
Beth F’s last blog post..Monthly Wrap Up: March 2009
Yup, that’s pretty much exactly how I felt about this book. Even before the book was super interesting, Will was definitely a nice, sympathetic character.
Jen – Devourer of Books’s last blog post..King’s Fool – Book Review
I’m fascinated by your comment that historical understanding was completely different then. You need to do a post on that!
I enjoyed My Lady of Cleves, so I’ll have to give this one a try. Thanks!
S. Krishna’s last blog post..The Conqueror – Georgette Heyer
This one looks interesting. If you haven’t already read it, there is another book out there about Henry VIII with some tangential information on Will Somers…it is called the Autobiography of Henry VIII With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers, by Margaret George. It is an extremely large book, but it was excellent.
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I really enjoyed the focus on Will, too, though I do wish there had been a little more written on the big dramatic events at court.
Loved your review, so I linked to it here
Lana’s last blog post..The King’s Fool – Margaret Campbell Barnes