2 posts tagged “historical novel”
The Last Boleyn: A Novel, by Karen Harper, is the story of Mary Boleyn (Bullen), Anne Boleyn's older sister. Much like The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory, this story describes Mary's life as a pawn in elaborate French and English court intrigue. Mary, through her father's political ambitions, is placed in a position where she is pressured to be the mistress of both Francis I and Henry VIII at different times in her life. She is married to William Carey, who is also thoroughly embroiled in court politics, and eventually falls for William Stafford, one of the king's right-hand men. In the story, she watches as Henry puts her aside for her younger sister Anne, and struggles to assert her own independence in a time where that was simply unheard of.
What I liked about this book is that it wasn't depressing. A lot of historical novels, particularly those centering around women, end up with everyone dead and/or brokenhearted. This version of Mary Boleyn's story has her grow from an eight year old child to a thirty-something woman who is able to negotiate her place in the world, long after she was passed around as a sexual pawn and married off. This is not to say that Mary is one of those ridiculously strong, assertive heroines that would be completely out of place in the early 16th century. Instead, Mary is, in my humble opinion, a very realistic person: she has her own mind and desires, but she is also indelibly marked by her training at court. She can be silly and weak and frustrating at times, and she can be independent and bold at others. Mary's character often submits to the men in her life, because that is simply what women did in that era - but that makes the times where she tells everyone to shove off more impressive. I found myself wanting her to find her happiness.
I thought this book did a great job of telling the Boleyn story without focusing on Anne, although the portrayal of Anne was pretty good - she was that classic neglected little sister who overcompensated, and it became the death of her. I also liked the portrayal of Henry VIII, as Harper was able to subtly negotiate his transformation from hearty young man on top of the world, to panicked king focused on dynastic succession at any cost. All in all, I thought the characters were well done, the story was well-told, and if there were any glaring historical inaccuracies, I was too caught up in the book to notice.
I definitely recommend this book.
Over the last couple of days, I've been devouring books like...well, like a college graduate who's only read somewhat dry prose for the last six months. Browsing the new book section at the library, I came across The Last Wife of Henry VIII: A Novel by Carolly Erickson. It looked intriguing (who writes about Catherine Parr, anyway? Answer: practically no one), so I picked it up.
This book was not disappointing in the least. I breezed through it in several hours: the story and Erickson's writing style are captivating. It was such a pleasure to read such truly "readable" prose that I was sorry when the story had to come to an end.
As for a summary, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Catherine Parr is often described as the wife that was the most loyal and kind to Henry VIII when he was stricken with gout, old age, and heavily overweight. Erickson does a wonderful job of combining historical reality with invented characters to give the reader an idea of how it must have been like for Catherine--to me, it was completely believable, which makes all the difference in a historical novel (please see my review of The Memoirs of Helen of Troy for an idea of what makes a historical novel crappy). The story begins with Catherine as a young girl and ends at her death. Her progression from semi-noblewoman to Queen of England and stepmother to Elizabeth I is extremely compelling.
I enjoyed this book so much that I picked up The Hidden Diary of Marie-Antoinette: A Novel, also by Erickson, today, which I finished in about two hours. This one was a little less readable, as it is truly in diary format (which hampers the narrative a bit), but Erickson has done a remarkable job of marrying fact and fiction to tell a moving story. It is not often that a book makes me sniffle, but the end of this one did. The idea of facing revolution, upheaval, and a rather cruel death is portrayed in very humanistic fashion here. Marie-Antoinette, who is so often written as a caricature of a woman, is easily relatable in this book (much like Catherine Parr).
The book itself could have been approached on a deeper, more moralistic level, but it works the way it is because the reader really feels like this is a diary of a person, not a philosophical treatise on the hypocrisy of the French Revolution--but that point does come across rather well.
I love historical novels because it's so easy to lose the human spirit in dry historical fact (which I'm guilty of writing myself). Erickson is a wonderful writer who has obviously done her research, and let it capture her imagination as her books have captured mine. I'm really looking forward to reading more from her in the future.
