|
|
 This collection of stories is the first set in Charles de Lint’s mythical city of Newford, where everyone from all segments of society can get in touch with magic if only they believe.
Kelly at The Written World and I both chose Dreams Underfoot for the Once Upon a Time V challenge – once we saw that we both intended to read it, we decided to read it together! We each asked the other three questions. Here are the three she’s asked me, and my answers:
1. What is it, in your opinion, that makes de Lint’s stories so readable for the people that pick up one of his collections?
De Lint’s stories are so immediately captivating for me because they take place in a world we could all easily imagine ourselves living in. His fantasy is the stuff of myth and feels organic, so it could well have come from our world – it fits right in with Native American creation myths, for example, and is never out of place. Because Newford is fictional, it could be right in our backyard. For me at least, I think this is a low barrier to entry; you don’t need to be acquainted with the world to hop right in, like you would with most fantasy.
2. Last year when I read The Ivory and the Horn with Carl, I said that I thought de Lint could write very believable female and male characters. Would you agree?
I would definitely agree. I find all of the characters to be very realistic and they usually manage to have character arcs no matter how little they stick around. I can’t recall any time where I felt he’d stuck one of his characters into a pigeonhole, which can be so easy to do in a short story. They’re all living, breathing people, which I think goes along with the first question because it’s another thing that makes his work very appealing.
3. At the same time that I was reading this book, I was also reading The Very Best of Charles de Lint. One of the things that both collections had me thinking about were de Lint’s ability to capture very serious issues in very readable ways. Would you agree with this based on what you have read by him so far?
Absolutely – a lot of the characters here go through really tough situations. It can be hard to read about the abuse they’re put through, but I am always reminded that this happens to real people. People die here, they beat each other up, and they even abuse themselves. In some ways I think de Lint softens the edges – the fantasy aspects can be terrifying or they can be an escape, and the supportive Newford community is certainly something that doesn’t always exist when real people need it. But overall the stories feel incredibly real.
You can read Kelly’s answers to the questions I asked over on her blog! I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 Look around you and attempt to count how many objects of plastic are nearby. If you’re on the computer, you’re probably touching some right now. Besides my laptop, I can see my cell phone, which is plastic, the plastic on the cushion I’m sitting on, the plastic on my pen, and there are even some synthetic fibers in the clothes I am wearing. And I’ve gone no further than an inch. When Susan Frienkel attempted to categorize the plastic in her life, she became overwhelmed, and set about writing a book on plastic. Focusing on eight key items that have shaped plastic’s history and our own, she examines the effect the plastic industry is having on our bodies, on the environment, and on the economy, going down to what we can do about it and even whether or not we should.
I’ll confess right here and say that I’m not a huge anti-plastic person. I do bring reusable bags to the grocery store and I recycle the plastic that’s accepted at my local dump, but I don’t really think about it much more than that. Reading this book suddenly made me realize how much of our lives seriously are based on plastic and how little of it is reused. People are far more likely to recycle glass or cardboard or paper, even though plastic is what’s cluttering up the earth, and every attempt at minimising waste or implementing “better” plastic is generally stymied because it costs money. This, while animals are dying and the sea is covered in little tiny bits of plastic, while some plastics are having unknown effects on our bodies, and while we continue to accept the dominance of it in our lives.
Frienkel doesn’t say plastic is all bad, far from that. She even talks to experts, and most of them say that they don’t put plastic in the microwave (whoops, I do this) and do recycle, but they’re not really worried about it in any other sense. Some are damaging, but more research will enable us to sort out the dangerous plastics from the safe ones. Some have already been banned and it’s a matter of paying greater attention as opposed to outright expulsion of plastics. She accepts that we have a reliance on plastic, so in addition to the historical parts on each plastic product, she is more pragmatic about going forward while continuing to keep plastic in our lives. It’s fairly obvious that she leans more towards the side of less plastic is more, but then ideally so do I, and she does treat both sides equally.
Naturally for me, the historical parts were the most interesting. Susan delves into eight items, among them the comb, the lighter, the plastic bag, the plastic chair (who hasn’t spent their childhood sat on a tiny plastic chair?), and IV tubing. With the comb, for example, she looks at how the comb was made before plastic, and how sustainable that practice was. Combs were expensive, generally made from tortoiseshell, ivory, or even wood – they’re something that’s found in virtually all layers of human history, and used to be a high status value item. Those of us who read historical novels probably know that already. Now, obviously, using a tortoiseshell or ivory to make a comb is considered atrocious, and wasn’t exactly sustainable then, so in this respect plastic, if treated properly, has actually improved things. Plastic combs are cheap, easy to use, and hardly ever get damaged, unlike the other types. It’s very, very interesting reading, and gave me a lot to think about that I’d never actually considered before.
Of course, Frienkel also stresses the need for more research, more recycling and investment, and more consideration of our choices. Implementing things like bottle charges are proven to work, yet have been shot down since 1986 because people don’t want to pay and don’t want to be obliged to return to the store to get their five cents per bottle. Thinking about the wider impact, though, makes it obvious that we should go that extra step. It’s not hard to round up all your bottles and cans and take them with you when you next grocery shop, and it’s those little steps, combined with larger measures of research and safety standards across plastic manufacturers, that will make the world a safer place for our children.
Plastic is a flat out fantastic book, well worth reading for everyone, because let’s face it: plastic is a huge part of our lives and it’s a part that’s going to stay. Isn’t it worth educating ourselves? This book is a great first step in that direction.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from netgalley.com.
 In celebration of the Royal Wedding coming up later this month, Avon commissioned this romance anthology from three of the genre’s best authors. Stephanie Laurens, Gaelen Foley, and Loretta Chase are all household names in the romance world. Each of these stories revolves around a royal wedding but has the characters finding a bit of love themselves along the way (naturally!).
The first one is “The Wedding Planner” by Stephanie Laurens. In it, Lady Margaret Dawlish is called upon to plan a royal wedding; with her exceptional planning skills, surely such a big event is well within her grasp. Throwing a wrench in her neat plans is the new Duc de Perigord, a man she’d met years ago while still engaged. Now, Meg’s fiance has been killed in the line of duty and Gaston has come to seize her heart for himself.
I quite liked this story; it’s the longest in the book but still very short. Gaston has a few obstacles in his way to winning Meg over finally which make for an engaging read, plus I liked that Meg had a sort of career of her own. It’s a bit rarer in historical novels to find a woman who is actually busy doing something other than waiting for a husband – and she’s good at her job, too. It’s probably not the most memorable story I’ve ever read but was lovely nonetheless.
The second story is “Ever After” by Gaelen Foley. Surprisingly, given my recent history with Gaelen Foley’s novels, I loved this one. It’s about a husband and wife who have grown apart over the years. Eleanor feels that her husband always puts his work first and has recently become convinced that he’s acquired a mistress, while he struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and is perplexed at his wife’s coldness. It was so sweet to watch these two come back to loving one another after an obviously painful separation for both of them and it did a stand-out job of portraying the way misunderstandings can mushroom in a marriage. I really felt like Foley got some of her passionate storytelling back with this novella and I can only hope it comes back to her novels soon, too.
The final story, and my favorite, is “The Jilting of Lord Rothwick” by Loretta Chase. In this very short tale, heiress Barbara has decided that she and her fiance, Lord Rothwick, simply won’t suit, and writes him a letter to that effect. Inspired by the imminent loving nuptials between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Barbara craves a loving relationship and is convinced that Rothwick is only marrying her for her money. But Rothwick has simply been behaving as society expects him to; in reality, he’s head over heels in love.
Much like the last story, this is about a misunderstanding that has completely magnified; it’s obviously an overused trick but here it is also done very well. I have to admit that this story captured me with the sheer romantic appeal of it; the characters’ personalities and emotions just leapt off the page and into my head. Chase has the perfect opportunity to really work this situation and she does a fantastic job – further proof that I should be reading more of her novels. Luckily, I have three in my possession and I suspect it will not be long before I read them now!
This is a lovely anthology celebrating the upcoming royal wedding. If you’re craving a bit of romance, it’s ideal, and at the bargain basement prices of $1.99 and £0.49, there is no reason to resist!
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from Netgalley.
 Mount has declared that Latin is fun and is using this book to show the rest of us the way. It’s a quick Latin primer, designed to take the casual reader or lapsed Latin learner through the paces of the language, up to the point of translating a small passage at the end. Interspersed with the tables are a lot of amusing stories about Latin and the appropriate hints of what you’ll begin to understand once you actually can read Latin. Mount decries the falling trends in Latin learning and explains, convincingly, why Latin is indeed a worthy language to learn.
In many ways, Mount is preaching to the crowd with this book and me. I have taken Latin, both at undergrad and graduate levels, but it has slipped out of my mind in the past two years. I don’t want to get too rusty, as I do want to do a PhD, so I have been trying to find ways to improve and refresh my Latin without actively sitting down and devoting hours to it. This was a fun way to do so and reminded me of all the Latin I used to know (thanks Professor Johnston!). Plus, I adore languages. I ascribe my general ability to understand grammar and my wide vocabulary (not usually evidenced around here) to the fact that I’ve studied five – even though I speak none but English fluently, they’ve taught me an insane amount about my own language and codified the intuition I’d picked up from reading everything in sight.
Latin in particular is surprisingly fun, and that’s one of the best parts of this book. Translating Latin into English is like doing a puzzle; you first have to find all the pieces and then put them together in a way that makes sense. I’m probably crazy for thinking that’s fun, but it truly is if you’re armed with the knowledge to do so. The not-so-great part of this book is that it’s too speedy. It’s easy to just skip the charts and move on to the next bit of English. It’s a nice refresher, but I couldn’t imagine actually learning any Latin from the book, and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to translate the bit at the end.
Regardless, Mount reminded me of how much I love to study languages, and his goal to encourage others to learn them too is nothing short of inspiring. He laments ‘the good old days’ a bit too much, but his intentions are excellent. I immediately decided to learn French, too, and actually bought myself a beginner’s course. In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose – why not learn both languages I need to at once?
Anyway, Amo, Amas, Amat, and all that … is a fantastic choice for the lapsed Classicist and an interesting book for the rest of us, too, giving us a peek into the history of a civilisation and a language that has influenced a huge amount of what we do today. Highly recommended.
I am an Amazon Associate. I borrowed this book from my library.
 More and more women over the course of the twentieth century made the choice to be single; still more didn’t choose to be single but ended up in that boat anyway. Marching alongside the female crusade for greater freedoms was often a parade of usually young women determined to enjoy them, creating waves and social trends as they went along. Israel’s book charts their progress, from the Flappers of the ’20s to the working women in World War II to the professional single women of today. She ends by asking whether or not women are still expected to marry and have children – and if so, why?
This is a very light, magazine-like read about the history of single women, mainly in New York City to give the book a focal point, though Israel actually starts out with nineteenth century women that chose to be or ended up single like Louisa May Alcott. In many respects the book wavers between these two types of women, the ones who chose not to marry and the ones who were widowed or simply couldn’t find an appropriate husband (the advent of the spinster). She charts the greater freedoms accorded to women and just when it became okay for a girl to go out on dates alone, when they went out dancing with just their girlfriends, and how employment helped the single woman get by and enjoy herself.
The most interesting aspect for me was obviously the historical, rather than the sociological angle. I had fun imagining my grandma out in New York City with her friends as a young girl; I know she got married young and didn’t really work before she married my grandpa, but it was still fun to think about, putting a human face on the stories of the women Israel actually discusses. It’s fascinating to see how the pendulum on treatment of women swings depending on circumstances and even events going on in the wider world – everyone knows that women were freer during the World Wars because the men were off fighting and they had to work, but the book also discusses what happened when the Depression hit and mentions other, later eras as well.
The real downside of the book was the fact that, although it is meant to focus on the single woman, the author really emphasizes the stigma they’ve always faced in opposition to the celebration the book suggests. Yes, there are issues even now; women are still looked down upon for not wanting to have children, for getting on in years without marrying, and so on. Men are still praised for doing things that women are expected to do, like childcare and housework. But I went into the book expecting a celebration of choices, because we really can lead happy and fulfilled lives without getting married (not that I can talk having been married at 23), and didn’t really feel I got that. The author takes things from a feminist point of view, but I felt depressed by the end of the book instead of empowered. If it makes sense, there wasn’t enough, “Look how far we’ve come, we can go even further!”, and too much, “Things are still bad and probably won’t get better.”
Still, Bachelor Girl was an engaging read that delved a bit deeper into the issues single women have faced throughout history right up until the present day. Its approachable, magazine-style prose makes it perfect for even the most casual reader. Recommended.
- No buy links because the book appears to be out of print and I can’t find anywhere that has it!
I am an Amazon Associate. I borrowed this book from my library.
 Miss Lucy Jones has little hope to marry. Orphaned as a child, almost consigned to the workhouse, she and her brothers now live on the charity of their aunt and uncle. Lucy has learned to curb all of her emotions in order to perfectly please her aunt and give her brothers the best chance possible for success in life; she knows she’s destined to be a companion for the rest of her days. At a house party for the marriage of one of her cousins, Lucy accidentally runs into James Wright-Gordon, Lord Selsley, and his sister. She’s immediately drawn to Lord Selsley, but her cousin has just asked her to marry him, throwing all of her expectations to the wind. When she’s accidentally compromised by Lord Selsley, she finds herself as the lady of consequence, a position she’d never foreseen, with a husband she isn’t sure how to deal with.
There were so many things I liked about A Marriage of Inconvenience! I was surprised by how delightful it was. The writing was fairly simplistic, but the story itself was a really fun read. It actually kept me up past my bedtime, for once making use of my lighted Kindle case, as I kept on reading to try and get to the end of the story. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how it would end, as all romance novels end more or less the same, but I genuinely was enjoying myself.
Carina Press is meant to be experimental and so far I’m really liking what I’m reading, in that a lot of times the characters behave in ways they never would in a ‘traditional’ romance. I’m going to risk the spam bots and say that one of these was the couple’s approach to the bedroom. Unlike in a normal romance, where everything is hunky dory, this couple has a bit of trouble. Naturally it’s unrelated to their actual physical compatibility, but I can’t remember if I’ve ever actually read a romance where things didn’t go smoothly (when both of the people involved wanted them to). Refreshing!
Lucy is a wallflower, like many romance heroines; she fades away into the background next to James’s sister and her own beautiful cousin. Still, she obviously has appeal of her own, and just needs to gain the confidence to seize her position in the spotlight. James, in contrast, is already a powerful man, with a fast-track political career and a lot of influence where it counts. He needs an assured wife, not a wealthy one, but he isn’t really looking when the book starts. He doesn’t have the immediate need to possess Lucy forever and ever. Instead, their marriage is truly inconvenient – he doesn’t get the wife he thinks he needs and Lucy is thrown into a situation she isn’t entirely ready for. They’re both ill prepared, not at all madly in love, but are forced to reconcile with each other and actually grow fond of each other in the end.
There were a couple of downsides – as I mentioned earlier, the writing is fairly simplistic. It’s just a vehicle to move the story along. And there was a plot twist towards the end that I found more or less unnecessary; it was obviously foreshadowed and made James and Lucy realize some things about their relationship, but their reactions to it didn’t really fit with their characters.
Overall, though, A Marriage of Inconvenience was a truly delightful read and would be a great way to spend an afternoon or evening. Recommended.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from Netgalley.
 Allison Glenn has done her best to hide what happened the night she was arrested, but people always find out. Five years later, she’s out of prison, but she isn’t sure she’s happy about it; in prison she had peace for the first time in her life. Though everyone knew what she’d done, they’d done heinous things themselves. Out in the world, though, she is judged and condemned without an opportunity to speak up for herself. Her sister has been open to the criticisms for five long years, dealing with the stigma of that night, and wants nothing to do with Allison ever again. But Allison won’t give up and her perseverance will have consequences not only for herself and her sister, but for an innocent little boy and his family as well.
These Things Hidden is a book that starts out fairly slow but more than makes up for its drawn out beginning. Because it’s only a short book, I was surprised at how many characters were introduced over the course of the first fifty pages; there are four perspectives and each have their own supporting characters. I suspect it felt longer than it was because I was most drawn to Allison’s story and I wanted to get back to her immediately! Lucky for me (and the book’s momentum), the individual stories began to be interwoven almost immediately and all of them are necessary for the central mystery of the book.
Essentially, finding out what exactly happened that night, when Allison got arrested and destroyed her family’s life, is the underpinning of the entire book. Bits and pieces are made clear as the story goes along, but it doesn’t all wrap up until the end of the book. It’s an important driver for the rest of the book, which is a more emotional look at family love all around. Each character has a completely different relationship with her immediate family. Claire and her husband have been unable to conceive and have been able to adopt Joshua. Charm loves her stepfather, but has a difficult relationship with every other member of her family. And obviously, Allison and Brynn’s relationships with their families have changed drastically since that night and continue to evolve. They’re all very different structures, but the women are connected.
One thing I really appreciated about the book as well was how different each of the women’s voices were. I don’t know about you, but often when I’m reading a book with multiple narrators, they start to blend together. I hardly ever notice chapter divisions and there have definitely been times when I’ve sped through a book, the perspective has changed, and I haven’t realized that I’m in someone else’s head. That doesn’t happen here; each woman is distinct, with her own story to tell. The only one I struggled to relate to was Brynn. While I couldn’t understand all of their actions, I understood hers the least, but I think if I had gotten further inside her head it would have been a bit worrying.
These Things Hidden is a compelling novel that explores the relationships between women and their families in real depth while providing enough plot to keep the pages turning. Recommended.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from a publicist.
 India Selwyn Jones is a female doctor who wants to make a real change in the world. She dreams of opening up her own clinic in Whitechapel, a very poor area of London, and helping women and children have healthier, longer lives no matter their economic status. But her fiance would see her dreams stifled and aims to make her the perfect political wife, simply an asset to him as he rises to the top of British politics. It doesn’t take many ventures into Whitechapel before India meets Sid Malone, legendary bad guy who masterminds gangs of thieves, opium dens, and brothels, making a fortune on the backs of others. India doesn’t know that Sid is actually Charlie Finnegan, brother of Fiona Finnegan from The Tea Rose, but she quickly realizes that he is a gangster with a heart, and they have a cause in common – helping the poor of London to live better lives.
After reading The Tea Rose, I didn’t rush to open this, its sequel, simply because I wasn’t really that crazy about it. I knew Jennifer Donnelly could do better, though, and with some urging from my mom, who adored both books, I finally settled down to read it. While it still isn’t as polished as Donnelly’s later books, I found The Winter Rose to be a superior book in almost every way, with more realistic characters, a more intense love story, and another eye-opening peek into the often dreary world of Victorian London. There was even a trip into Africa, further widening the scope of the story, and all adding up to one insanely compelling book.
I loved that the central focus here was more on improving others’ lives, rather than enriching the characters’ own. India is wealthy, but she doesn’t act like a wealthy heiress of the time. She’s far more interested in prenatal care, saving lives, and eventually doing what she can just to make people happier. She eschews a comfortable position taking care of wealthy women to focus on those who really need her, and determines to make their lives better without wringing every last penny from them. Sid is also wealthy, but on the dark side of wealth; he knows what it’s like to be poor and does indeed do his part to shelter others from harm. He is a good man who sometimes does bad things. Though they are both superior to their peers in many ways, they never achieve the surreal perfection that both Fiona and Joe did in The Tea Rose; they remain firmly true to life and I was glad to follow them on their adventures. Fiona and Joe also feature in this book, though not the main characters; even with them Donnelly has dialled down the perfection and made them both more human and fallible while still retaining their core characters.
The scope of the novel is immense but the story doesn’t drag; it keeps moving and skips some of the parts which could have become boring. In fact, I read the last 300 pages in one sitting, staying up far later than normal to actually finish the book. I read it in about three days; its predecessor took me over a week. That should tell you how much more I enjoyed this book! I particularly loved the parts in Africa at the end; they were so evocative and suspenseful that I kept turning the pages well past when I should have stopped.
The Winter Rose is a fabulous, sprawling novel that takes into account not only characters’ lives and loves but the wide-ranging social situation of the poor and the wealthy. Highly recommended, and now I can’t wait to read The Wild Rose in August.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 Shortly after her mother’s death, Yeine is summoned to the capital, Sky, by her royal grandfather. Formerly ruler of a small nation, Yeine has never been acknowledged by her mother’s family because they never approved of her parents’ marriage, but her death changes everything. Yeine is declared an heir to the throne and must compete with her two cousins, both of whom were raised in Sky, or her life will end. Quickly, her struggle takes on bigger dimensions as she finds herself caught in a war between gods, questioning whether she can save those who have been imprisoned to serve humans or must bow down the god who now rules over all.
It’s been a long time since I read a new-to-me epic fantasy as engrossing as this one. I’ve seen this book over and over again, but mainly dismissed it from my thoughts. Then, it got chosen for a book club pick, and though I was forced to miss the meeting, I still bought and read the book in time. I’m so happy about that – I would have missed out on an amazing book more or less because the cover didn’t appeal to me and I thought it would be another 1000+ page chunkster. How wrong I was. This was a stand-out book with a gorgeously realized world, beautifully drawn characters, and a strong emotional heart.
One of the many reasons I read fantasy is down to world-building. I can get lost in a well-written fantasy world, happily exploring the corners of it for page after page. Though this is only the first book in a trilogy, I am well and truly intrigued. In this world, the struggle between the gods has defined the way the people live. The original war left one god supreme, one god killed, and the third major god imprisoned, along with the rest of the lesser gods, forced to obey humans. Naturally, they’re not particularly fond of this, and will do anything to get out of it, hence one of the core plotlines of the book that becomes clear as we go along.
Probably the only part that I struggled with at the beginning is the writing style and the inadequacy of Yeine herself. The book is told through Yeine’s reflections and her memory is muddled. She goes back in time and talks to herself, for reasons that also become clear as the book continues, but which lead to a confused reader at the start. But when everything came together at the end I was left wondering how well the foreshadowing would stick together on a second read, which means I do plan on reading it again at some point.
To top it all off, there is a romance involved, which when done well almost always makes a book better for me. I loved this one. Though as mentioned earlier Yeine is frustratingly powerless, obviously a pawn in others’ hands at times, there was certainly something about this pairing that pulled on my heartstrings and had me crossing my fingers for them. I think it would have been a lesser book without that emotional anchor.
I am very glad that I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of number two in the series! Expect a review of that one soon too – I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to wait. In the meantime, I highly recommend this to other fantasy readers. There is a reason it’s been nominated for a Nebula.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 The marriage of Monsieur Montespan and his wife, Francoise de Mortemart, was an accident, but at first a fortuitous one. Montespan’s brother, Francoise’s fiance, was killed in a duel, leaving him free to claim the beautiful lady. They begin their marriage deeply in love with one another and have children together. Francoise, however, starts to chafe at their poor lifestyle and the couple becomes mired in debt. To make up for it, Montespan heads off to a series of wars, while his wife enters the court, taking on the name “Athenais”. She is so beautiful, charming, and accomplished that she attracts the eye of legendary Louis XIV. What is a loving husband to do?
I’ve only recently become interested in the reign of Louis XIV; in high school, I had a history teacher who was fascinated by him, which led to a bit of an overdose. After I visited Versailles last October, though, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the man who had built the palace, the “Sun King”. As a result, I snapped this book up for review and have really been looking forward to reading it. I was particularly attracted by the fact that it was written by a Frenchman; I’ve read plenty of Americans and Brits writing fiction about French history but rarely a French novel in translation. I was not disappointed, especially given that the book is written in a much grimmer style than most historical fiction I’ve read.
By this I mean Teule doesn’t miss portraying history as it really was, at least as far as a modern novel can, including all the excesses that to us seem rather vile; nobles stuffing their rotting teeth with butter, the horrors of the duel, even the fact that the king visited with people while on his chamber pot, which I’ve heard before from multiple sources. He’s also quite happy to describe the pleasures that Montespan took with his wife, but given Teule is French, this is no surprise; even when I went to Paris I could tell things were a lot freer in this respect. This is no romantic, sanitized version of history. I questioned at times whether things were that disgusting, but given what I’ve actually learned about the past, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that it was all true.
The rest of the book is very accurate, at least as far as I can check. It seems excessive, but yes, Montespan did actually protest the fact that his wife was the King’s mistress, reject his offerings, and set up mourning for their love while she was still alive. Even Athenais’s new hairstyle is as described. It’s sensational, but the best kind of sensational because it actually happened. I felt incredibly sorry for the poor man but at the same time wanted to give him a push into getting over his wife. I’ve since learned that poor Montespan has been ridiculed throughout history for refusing to sit back and let the King take his wife while he enjoyed the spoils of it, so I’m glad Teule has at least done his part to turn this around and show the court as a darker and more sinful place than normally portrayed.
If you’re interested in historical fiction that portrays a version of Louis XIV’s court without thick rose-colored glasses on, Monsieur Montespan is an excellent choice. Moreover, it gives us a perspective outside the glittering world of court and Versailles, which I for one quite appreciated. Recommended.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review.
|
|
Recent Comments