Babylonia by Costanza Casati

November 22, 2024

Babylonia by Costanza Casati

Semiramis is an orphan from an Assyrian village when the king's half-brother plucks her from obscurity and chooses her to be his wife. She travels with him to the capitol city and is soon swept up in court intrigue and national politic, and she has to fight to stay one step ahead of her enemies.

I loved Casati's novel Clytemnestra so I was stoked to read her new book. While I found the story of Semiramis to be fascinating, I didn't love it quite as much as her previous book. Readers of historical fiction will enjoy learning about a lesser known but still powerful queen.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Statue of Semiramis

The Passionate Tudor by Alison Weir

June 22, 2024

The Passionate Tudor by Alison Weir

Mary I, aka Bloody Mary, was the oldest surviving child of Henry VIII and had a happy childhood until her tenth year, when her father became obsessed simultaneously with the need for a male heir and Anne Boleyn. Her life pretty much went downhill from there, as she was first named Henry's heir, then was declared illegitimate, then was reinstated after her brother, then was persecuted for her Catholic faith, finally becoming queen. She inherited her suspicious nature from her father, looking for conspiracies around her, suspecting the motives of her suitors, and even believing that her half-sister Elizabeth was not Henry's child. After she became queen, her two obsessions were restoring Catholicism as the state religion and her husband, Phillip of Spain. She wanted a child so desperately that she suffered two phantom pregnancies. Overall, she lived a sad and lonely life, dying at age 42.

Although Henry VIII was obsessed with the idea that he had to have a son to rule after him and to carry on his dynasty, his councillors didn't agree with him. They felt Mary was intelligent and well-educated, and also that she would undoubtedly marry and her husband would rule with her. Mary wasn't a great ruler or even a good ruler, but what made her memorable was the 300+ Protestants that she burned. Ironically, Mary's attempt to stamp out Protestantism by executing its followers only convinced many of her subjects that Protestantism was a faith worth dying for. Modern historians have tried to improve Mary's reputation and legacy, but there is not much that you can say about Mary that is positive and Weir's well-research book doesn't try to sugar coat Mary's actions. Recommended for readers of historical fiction and those interested in the Tudor period.

Mary I, aka Bloody Mary - she looks kind of like Gerald Ford

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

January 18, 2023

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

In Greek mythology, Clytemnestra, princess of Sparta, queen of Mycenae, is a wicked woman who took a lover and then murdered her husband Agamemnon when he came home from the Trojan war. But in this novel about Clytemnestra's life, there were much deeper reasons and Agamemnon richly deserved to be murdered. As the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold.

The writer of the Odyssey and the Iliad deliberately portrayed Clytemnestra and her sister Helen as wicked women. Clytemnestra murdered her husband and Helen ran off with a Trojan prince, and that's pretty much all most people know about them. It's time that their stories were told. Clytemnestra had good reasons for her actions, as did Helen (before she was Helen of Troy, she was Helen of Sparta). All those Greek heroes don't come off as so heroic here. Even the great Odysseus, considered to be the best and smartest of the Greek kings, does some pretty shameful things. Fans of Madeline Miller's Circe or Natalie Haynes' A Thousand Ships will enjoy this re-telling of the life of a mis-represented queen. Highly recommended.

(My father loved Greek mythology - damn, he would have hated all three of these books for crushing his beliefs about the ancient Greeks!)

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in return for a review.

Image of Clytemnestra with her lover Aegisthus, murdering Agamemnon, from a piece of Greek pottery

Queens of the Age of Chivalry by Alison Weir

November 7, 2022

Queens of the Age of Chivalry by Alison Weir

A history of five English queen consorts from the 14th and early 15th centuries, well-researched with a focus on the lesser known royal women. They influenced politics and economics as well as fashion and the cult of courtly love. The narrative flows smoothly, intended for a popular audience rather than a scholarly audience. The bibliography and notes at the end are extensive, should the reader want to consult primary sources.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.

Philippa of Hainault, queen consort to Edward III

The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner

January 30, 2020

The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner

Joanna (Juana) of Castile was the second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, older sister of Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII of England.  As a toddler, Joanna was promised in marriage to Philip of Flanders of the House of Habsburg and she was sent to Flanders at the age of 16.  After her mother’s death, Joanna became Queen of Castile in her own right.  Although initially happy in her marriage and the mother of five children, Joanna grew dissatisfied with her husband’s overwhelming desire to rule as king of Castile.  But after returning to Spain to take her throne, Joanna soon realized that she was surrounded by men determined to seize her crown.

I love a good historical novel about royalty and have read a number of books by Philippa Gregory, Alison Weir, and Margaret George.  Most books about the royals focus on the British royal families, so I was glad to find a well-written, well-researched fictional biography of Joanna of Castile.  She was also known as Juana la Loca (Joanna the Mad), declared mad and unfit to rule by her own father Ferdinand.  Juana is another one of those unfortunate queens that you keep hoping will have a different, happier ending to their stories (others include but are not limited to Anne Boleyn or really any of Henry VIII’s wives, Mary Queen of Scots, and Marie Antoinette).

Being a female member of any royal family has pretty much sucked down through the ages, since daughters and sisters were used as human chess pieces and baby machines with little regard for their happiness or the appropriateness of their arranged marriages.  There was also the overwhelming boredom these women experienced – days spent oppressed by court etiquette, endless embroidering, gossiping and plotting, with virtually no privacy.  If you were young and lucky and had forward-thinking parents, you got a few lessons in music and languages.  But other than look ornamental, show up for court occasions, and produce a lot of children, queens didn't do much of anything (has anything changed in the 21st century?).

The Queen's Fortune by Allison Pataki

December 25, 2019

The Queen’s Fortune by Allison Pataki

I managed to hurt my back a couple of days before Christmas and spent most of Christmas Day in bed reading this highly entertaining historical novel.  There are worse ways to spend the day. 

Desiree Clary was the 16 year old daughter of a wealthy silk merchant when she met 24 year old Napoleon Bonaparte (or Napoleone Buonaparte, as he was known at that time), a Corsican soldier.  After a quick courtship, Napoleon asked Desiree to marry him; she agreed and Napoleon told her that he would send for her to join him in Paris to get married as soon as he established himself.  But once in Paris, Napoleon quickly fell for glamorous Viscountess Josephine de Beauharnais and abandoned Desiree to marry Josephine.  But Napoleon’s brother Joseph Bonaparte married Desiree’s sister Julie, so Napoleon and Desiree were destined to be connected for the rest of their lives.  Napoleon became the Emperor of France, but surprisingly Desiree went on to become the Queen of Sweden through her marriage.

Desiree Clary Bernadotte is a fascinating but little-known historical figure.  Pataki’s novel is well-researched and overall historically accurate.  Inaccuracies are mostly in the form of omitting certain details (such as how much time Desiree spent away from her husband, residing in France for most of her married life while he was living in Sweden) and the story is a little over-romanticized.  However, this is a great historical guilty pleasure read:  interesting characters, reasonable historical accuracy, royal gossip, lots of banquets, clothes, and palaces.  The writing is excellent and the story is fast-paced – it’s pretty hard to put down.  And the cover is gorgeous.  I had read about Desiree years ago in Annemarie Selinko’s novel Desiree.  I fell in love with her story then and enjoyed getting reacquainted with her.  Readers who enjoyed Philippa Gregory's Tudor queen series will enjoy The Queen's Fortune.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in return for a review.