The alchemist’s daughter by Mary Lawrence

Bianca Goddard is estranged from her father, an alchemist who was imprisoned in The Tower because of a plot against Henry VIII. In her new home in Southwark, she helps others with medicinals. When her friend Jolyn comes to her complaining of stomach pains, Bianca provides her with a tonic after which she immediately dies. Her friend was poisoned and suspicion falls to Bianca. Now she must try to prove her innocence, but who wanted to harm Jolyn?

This is the first book in a series of historical mysteries surrounding Bianca Goddard. It’s set in Tudor England in the 16th century, but the events are completely fictional. There is hardly any link to real history. The book does try to paint a picture of the hard life in the Southwark district, especially for a woman alone.

The mystery surrounding Jolyn’s death is engaging enough. There is her living at Barke house, a former house of ill repute, and her relationship with a new mysterious benefactor. But I would have liked a bit more complexity in the matter.

Lawrence tells the story from different perspectives but I found some rather short or odd. Bianca is a complex main character, and her relationship with John, a long-time friend who is in love with her, was interesting to read about. You can feel that this is still the first book in the series and we need to get to know them better.

So this felt more like an introductory book and although it was an easy read, I don’t immediately feel the urge to read further in the series.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Have you read this series?

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Jane Seymour, the haunted queen by Alison Weir

At eighteen, Jane Seymour decides not to take her vows as a nun after all. After a family scandal, she leaves her home Wulfhall to become a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine. But the king is in love with Anne Boleyn and wants to start a reformation. When Anne fails to provide the king with an heir, Jane catches Henry’s eye.

Jane Seymour is by far my least favourite of Henry VIII’s wives. She was queen for such a short time and although that period was very turbulent (Aftermath of Anne’s execution, dissolution of the monasteries, Pilgrimage of the grace…) she achieved very little herself. Apart from reconciling Lady Mary with her father, which is also a heavy storyline in this book. A bit too heavy perhaps :).

This is why a lot of authors seem to always start her story when Jane’s eldest brother Edward marries his first wife Catherine. The scandal surrounding Catherine is juicy, which makes for a nice opening. It was the case with Suzannah Dunn’s ‘The may bride’ (which I read before starting this book blog) and it’s also the opening chapter of ‘The haunted queen’.

The problem in the middle of the book is that you have to go through Catherine’s story first and then Anne’s again. And Anne does come off very badly here, while Jane and Catherine almost seem like saints. Jane’s story is so intertwined with her two predecessors that the book felt a bit repetitive compared to the previous ones.

The most fascinating thing was Jane’s view of Anne’s fall. I’ve always realized that many courtiers turned against her, but in this story the opposition is so powerful that she didn’t stand a chance. And this made me think again about her cruel downfall. The title of the book ‘the haunted queen‘ refers to Jane blaming herself about Anne’s death. I’m not sure what to think about that. She must have felt sorry for her, but she also gains the title of queen because of it and her family rises to unseen power.

I’ve always thought that Jane herself was aiming at the power to advance her family and to influence Henry (at least about Mary/Catherine and about religion as is suggested in this book) more than we tend to think nowadays. I don’t think of her as an innocent pawn used by her family. I just believe that Henry learnt his lesson with an out-spoken queen with Anne and that he couldn’t have the same amount of politic views from Jane. And that because of that and her short reign, Jane had to keep quiet more than she wanted. There is also so little of her written correspondence that has survived, that it’s impossible for us to really get hold of her character and views.

Things only get really interesting when Jane becomes queen. Weir writes several pregnancies into the story, while we are only sure of her last one. I understand why, but for me it didn’t fit with the pious Jane portrayed in this book. It also makes Jane become queen ‘by accident’ (because she was already with child, she was a good choice for Henry), which I don’t think is the case.

Weir opts for a docile sweet Jane, who, while having her opinions, loves the king and doesn’t want to anger him. That’s why we also see a sweet concerned Henry this time, with fierce angry outbursts at the same time. Henry is more balanced in this book than in the previous two and I liked that.

As for Jane’s death, Weir makes some interesting suggestions that she can back up by research. But even then, this book left me feeling a bit wry. Jane is the grey mouse among the other women. And this book didn’t really manage to change that. Curious about what would be the hardest story for me to write: that of Anne Of Cleves.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

What’s your favourite book about Jane Seymour? Do you like her?

Heartstone by S.J. Sansom

Matthew Shardlake is instructed by Queen Catherine Parr to help one of her old friends with a case before the corrupt Court of Wards. There are reasons to believe that the Hobbey family is trying to make money out of the lands of their orphaned warden Hugh Curteys. Matthew and Barak head for Hoyland priory, not far from Portsmouth where the English army is preparing for an invasion of the French. The ships The Great Harry and The Mary Rose are already anchored there. Moreover, Hoyland is not far from where Ellen Fettiplace grew up and where something happened 19 years ago that made her afraid to leave the Bedlam hospital.

In this fifth book, Matthew finds England at war with France. In addition, he is also somewhat at war with himself it seems. He investigates two cases of people who don’t want to be helped and this drags him into secrets and dangerous political games.

This is the thickest book of the series so far. There are a lot of subplots besides the two mysteries, of which the invasion of France is the biggest. If you know the fate of The Mary Rose then you know where we are heading towards.

Some readers enjoy the books of this series that stay in London better. I loved Sovereign immensely when we went to York and met the king up close. Heartstone also takes Matthew and Barak out and about. They befriend a group of archers and war is never far away. So, this comes very close to Sovereign and might be my second favourite Shardlake so far.

Although the mysteries are a little less fleshed out, I would never have guessed the truth in the Curtseys case myself. The pace of the book is a little slower than usual, but I found this historical setting working out very well. There is a lot going on in this book. And Matthew and Jack both remain complex main characters.

And yes here and there it’s perhaps a little less realistic. Matthew walks into a lot of drama with his eyes open. But this remains such a good series. And ‘this’Heartstone’ is definitely as strong as revelation. On to the next one, ‘Lamentation’.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

What’s your favourite Shardlake novel? And do you recommend some other historical mystery series?

Anne Boleyn: a king’s obsession by Alison Weir

The young Anne Boleyn is given the opportunity to serve at the court of Margaret of Austria in Flanders, where she learns the game of courtly love. A few years later she travels to the French court to serve first Queen Mary and then Queen Claude. When she returns to England, she catches the eye of Henry Percy, Duke of Northumberland. But Cardinal Wolsey puts a stop to that marriage and not much later Anne receives attention from King Henry VIII himself.

I read Weir’s book about Catherine of Aragon more than a year ago and now I finally started the book about Anne. The most difficult book of the six, because there are so many bad books about Anne Boleyn. She’s either a marriage breaker and a whore or an innocent pawn used by her family. In my view, she’s neither and I’ve never before read about ‘my Anne’. Could Weir do just that?

Weir takes her time to tell Anne’s story and starts at the court of Malines. I liked that approach, as well as her time in France. This is a period in Anne’s life that made quite an impact on her character and it’s often overlooked in other novels.

Regarding Anne’s characterization I must admit that Weir makes a creditable attempt. Anne is an intelligent woman who at one point consciously chooses the position of queen, even though she is not necessarily in love with Henry. She goes for power, to elevate her family and have an influence on the king’s religious views. She’s a protestant and inspires Henry for his reformation, but she isn’t strongly Lutheran and does not want to go as far with the dissolution as Cromwell. Which is an interesting approach and makes her more humane. Anne cares about her family and in this story, it aren’t her parents who force her into this position.

However, this is not my Anne. Alison Weir doesn’t like the Boleyns. If you compare Anne’s character to that of Catherine in the previous book, the latter becomes almost a saint while Anne is flawed, egocentric at times, a mother who doesn’t care about her daughter and who wishes people dead. This Anne isn’t the usual whore that I read about in other books. So it’s a less problematic interpretation than the one for example presented by Gregory. But it isn’t a positive representation either.

The book has a good pace. Only in the middle did I find the enmity between Anne and Wolsey in the great matter dragging on. I understand that in real life this was also a strive of years. But Wolsey is so tiring sometimes :). The ending is very cleverly done. The trial is short but well done, Anne’s time in The Tower and her execution are dramatic, but handled with great respect. I understand Weir’s point with the final sentences and found it very gripping.

Which brings me to what I disliked in this story:

• First and foremost: Mary Boleyn. I had forgotten that this also bothered me in the previous book. Her relationship with Henry is hushed up at court and I find this an odd choice. Also, the idea that she would be raped twice by a king is beyond me. Poor Mary. Sexual abuse was definitely a thing back then, and I can imagine that Mary may not have wanted the attention of both kings at all. But this is some 21st century writing that I just couldn’t cope with.
• Also, the characters of George Boleyn and Jane Parker didn’t feel right. George Boleyn is the ultimate villain. I believe she does this so she can make Anne human while at the same time she is still able to put the blame for some things on the Boleyns. Especially the Catherine Of Aragon theory is far-fetched.
• Anne’s meeting with Leonardo Da Vinci. It’s very improbable (even though they were contemporaries) and adds nothing to Anne’s characterization. What is it with authors who like to drop famous names into their stories as an extra?
• Anne’s sixth finger. I don’t agree with Weir’s argument as to why she puts it in the story.
• Thomas Boleyn is extremely passive in this book and a bit of a useless man. We know he was a skilled diplomate who was highly respected by the king. This puts all the initiative for power in Anne and George’s shoes. And this just doesn’t feel right.

Lastly, there is Henry. And I still don’t know if I like his portrayal or not. Henry’s character is completely different than in book one and that was a relief because I disliked him there. Henry is the one who is chasing Anne like a madman in this book. And I believe that’s very close to reality. Weir also doesn’t let him make a sudden change, for example, after the fall of his horse. A choice I very much respect, because I don’t believe the ‘wifekiller’ was made in one day. Henry’s character changed over the years.

But all this makes for a Henry who remains very much in the background during Anne’s downfall, with Cromwell somewhere in between… (I had liked more interaction between Anne and Cromwell). It’s not really clear after reading this book who Weir blames for Anne’s trial and death. I’m very curious to see how Henry will evolve in the next books.

The conclusion is that however I disliked a few choices, I still enjoyed this book. More than I thought I would. I don’t expect from any fictitious novel to represent the events fully true to the sources. There’s always room for interpretation and I respect Weir’s choices, but don’t have to agree ;). The next book is about my least favourite of Henry’s queens: Jane Seymour.

This is book 11/20 for ‘20 books of summer‘

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

What’s your favourite book about any of Henry’s queens?

The heretic wind by Judith Arnopp

Mary Tudor sees how her father gradually casts aside her mother Catherine of Aragon because she cannot give him a son. His eye falls on Anne Boleyn and Mary herself is later forced to take care of her daughter Elizabeth. Nevertheless, she will become Queen of England and during the last week of her life she tells her story to a young maid.

This was my first book by Judith Arnopp and also the very first time that Mary Tudor is at the centre of a book I read. Much more is written about Elizabeth. Arnopp writes in first person tense and only from the perspective of Mary, both the young version and the queen who tells her story a few days before her death. So the narrative style wasn’t quite my thing and especially the added value of the older perspective completely escaped me. It kept the pace out of the story for me at times.

Mary Tudor has undoubtedly had a miserable life. She’s portrayed here as a proud princess with great loyalty to her mother, Spain and the Catholic Church. With a weak immunity and a stubborn character. She loves her sister Elizabeth and brother Edward, but cannot always reconcile this with her ambitions to make England Catholic again. In itself, this is a good characterisation, but I had problems with just about every other character.

To begin with, her whole life from childhood to death is told in about 300 pages. Stepmother after stepmother is briefly reviewed and nothing is portrayed with any depth. Some things are omitted, others are said in just one sentence.

From page two onwards, Anne Boleyn is already portrayed as an adulterous witch. And I understand that Mary may not have liked her, but she was a child at the time and this lifelong hatred of Anne seems a bit harsh. Jane Seymour is a saint. Anne of Cleves is hardly worth mentioning. Catherine Parr is a nice one according to Mary, but too weak because she is in love with Thomas Seymour.

Elizabeth is a vain master manipulator. Edward is an innocent child who has nothing to say during his reign. Jane Grey is Dudley’s puppet queen. Philip II of Spain an uninterested man who’s barely worth two pages. The book is simply full of ‘last century clichés’. There is no nuance at all. As a result, I did not find Mary a sympathetic main character. Even though Arnopp wants to focus very hard on all the dramas in her life. And I certainly feel sorry for her. But this is life at the Tudor court from a caricature and I found that a pity.

I don’t know if I’ll read another book by Arnopp. Mainly because of the narrative style and the characters. But it was certainly not a bad book. It’s a good introduction to Mary’s life. But also not more than that.

This is book 5/20 for ‘20 books of summer‘.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Have you read anything by Arnopp? Do you know other books that feature Mary Tudor’s reign?

Heresy by S.J. Parris

As a teenager Giordano Bruno has to leave his Italian convent because he reads forbidden books and believes that the earth revolves around the sun. He eventually ends up at the English court of the protestant queen Elizabeth I. One day he is sent by spymaster Francis Walsingham to Oxford University in search for hidden Catholics who might be plotting an attack on the queen. Bruno himself is secretly looking for a certain forbidden book that might be hidden in the Oxford library. But then the university is rocked by some horrific murders. And Bruno finds himself charged with the murder investigation.

Heresy is the first book in a historical mystery series around the character of Giordano Bruno. We meet Bruno when he has to leave his monastery because he was reading Erasmus on the toilet. The Inquisition is looking for him and after years of wandering around he ends up in England. There he meets his old friend Philip Sidney, a cousin of Robert Dudley and friend of Francis Walsingham. Although still a Catholic, Bruno receives much praise as a philosopher and is thus sent to Oxford to debate the universe.

Secretly, Sidney and Bruno are also looking for hidden Catholics and Bruno himself hopes to discover a particular book in the library. On his first evening, he meets Rector Underhill and his lovely daughter Sophia, but when one of the doctors is mauled by a wild dog during the night, the university turns out to be hiding a lot of secrets.

In many ways, this book is reminiscent of the Shardlake series by C.J. Sansom. Like Shardlake, Bruno is a man between two religions and he ends up in a closed community to solve a series of murders, just like Matthew in the first Shardlake book ‘Dissolution’. But the comparison stops there, because Parris has her own style. Maybe all a bit less sublime than Sansom, but she knows how to build a good story. I like that the book takes its time to set to story and when you finally end up in the middle of the action, the book is finished in no time.

Heresy contains many different characters who are all neither good nor bad. You are constantly put on the wrong track and have no idea who is and who isn’t a secret Catholic. Only the story of Sophia is too cliché for my taste. Certainly not a perfect book, but a good start to this series set in the later Tudor era under Elizabeth I.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Have you read this series yet?

Revelation by C.J. Sansom

1543. In the court of the aging Henry VIII the catholic fraction is again winning sympathy with the king. Gardiner and bishop Bonner are arresting protestants in the streets of London and Cranmer is worrying about his position. In the meantime, the king is looking for a sixth wife. He’s courting Lady Latimer, a friend of the Seymours who was recently widowed.

Matthew Shardlake receives a new case from the court of requests about a boy named Adam Kite who seems to have become mad. People talk he is possessed by the devil but Matthew and his friend Guy don’t believe so. When suddenly one of his fellow lawyers and comrades is brutally murdered, Shardlake and Barak once again are hunting a killer commissioned by Cranmer and the Seymours.

It’s no secret that I love this series. Revelation is the fourth book and in this story the topic of religion is explored. At the end of Henry VIII’s reign protestants and catholics were fighting for power. Bonner is burning protestant heretics, while at the same time the king is hunting a new wife with protestant sympathies… You can feel the unrest in the streets of London through the pages. It’s a great setting.

Shardlake again has two different cases to solve. We have the case of Adam Kite, a protestant boy who is talking about God and constantly praying. Because people believe him mad, he’s placed in the Bedlam hospital for the insane. A few days later, one of Matthew’s lawyer friends is cruelly killed in a fountain. Matthew promises his widow he will find the killer but before he knows he’s at court standing before the archbishop Cranmer and the brothers Seymour. There have been other killings and one of them is linked to Catherine Parr.

There are a few other secondary plot lines such as the relationship between Barak and Tamasin, the friendship between Matthew and Guy and Matthew’s own religious conscience which is once again tested. I did like the different stories, but the resolution around Adam Kite felt too fast and artificial. It seems Sansom especially wanted to introduce Ellen, one of the other inhabitants from the Bedlam hospital, as a character for the coming books. I also believe we will see more of Edward and Thomas Seymour.

Revolution has the disadvantage that it comes after Sovereign, which is still my favourite book from this series. But it is once again a great mystery novel in a phenomenal historical setting. I always like books that feature Catherine Parr, she was so much more than a nursemaid. Highly recommended series, but I suggest you start with the first one ‘Dissolution’.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Have you read this series? If yes, what’s your favourite?

The city of tears by Kate Mosse

Minou Joubert and her family are living in Puivert after the dramatic events of 10 years ago. They take care of Huguenot refugees as the religious wars are still raging across France. When they receive an invitation to the marriage of the Huguenot prince Henri Of Navarra to the catholic Marguerite of Valois, Minou and Piet leave for Paris with their children Martha and Jean-Jacques. In the meantime, their arch enemy bishop Vidal is looking for documents of Piet’s mother in Amsterdam.

The city of tears opens ten years after the events of ‘The burning chambers‘. Minou is now the lady of Puivert and Piet, injured from yet another battle, is harboring refugees in their village. But a royal marriage promises peace and Piet and Minou are invited to Paris. When their five-year-old daughter Martha vanishes on the 22nd of August 1572 and blood is shed in the streets Paris, the family flees to Amsterdam.

Mosse takes you to the bloody events of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. One of the most dark chapters in the history of France. It’s the first time I read about it from another perspective than Catherine De Medici and the royal family (as was the case in ‘The devil’s queen‘ and ‘Queen Jezebel‘). Afterwards, we arrive in Amsterdam during the Eighty Year’s War with Spain. Amsterdam is still a catholic city but protestants are crying in the streets for change. I love how Mosse takes me to the 16th century but without the traditional focus on The Tudors. This is also fascinating European history, but often overlooked.

It’s again a very smartly crafted novel. It blends the lives of two families with real historical events. This of course means that sometimes there are some coincidences to make it work, but that didn’t bother me. As in ‘The burning chambers’, a part of the plot surrounds around the parentage of one of the main characters. Another plot centers around Vidal and his son Louis looking for relics around France. But I still preferred the historical context and the storylines that focused on Minou and her relationship with her husband, children and other relatives.

I believe I enjoyed this book even more than ‘The burning chambers’, as the characters were already familiar to me and the historical setting was even more gripping. I’m really curious to see how the next book will play out as we already got two prologues set almost 300 years later in South-Africa. But as this sequel isn’t out yet, I’ll first start with her other trilogy set in France of which ‘Labyrinth‘ is the first part.

This is book 6 for #20booksofsummer.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Have you read anything by Kate Mosse? What’s your favourite historical novel set in France?

The burning chambers by Kate Mosse

Minou Joubert receives a strange anonymous letter in her father’s bookshop in Carcasonne. ‘She knows that you live’, it says. A few moments later, she helps the Huguenot Piet Reydon flee the city after he was falsely accused of a murder and the theft of a holy relic. When she and her brother are sent to Toulouse, she meets Piet again. But in Toulouse the strive between Catholics and Huguenots is coming to a climax. And it seems that the lady of Puivert, Blanche, is looking for Minou. But why?

I’ve never been really interested in Mosse’s books because I thought they were more Dan Brown themed books with people looking for the Holy Grail. But still I’ve heard a lot of good things about ‘The burning chambers‘ (which is the first part in a trilogy) and the setting during the Huguenot wars in France drew me in. And now, I’m regretting I didn’t try her books sooner.

I expected entertainment and a historical mystery and that’s more or less what you get. The book opens in Carcasonne where both Piet and Minou have a mystery to solve. Minou receives a strange letter after her father has never recovered from a journey earlier this year. Piet reconnects with an old friend, now a renowned bishop, but he gets himself unwillingly accused of a murder. With Minou’s help, he can flee back to Toulouse where he’s one of the leaders of the Huguenot resistance.

When Minou and her brother Aimeric travel to Toulouse to live with their catholic uncle and aunt, they find themselves trapped in a city full of religious unrest. Already some Huguenots have been killed in other cities in the Midi and also in Toulouse blood will flow. Here, Minou and Piet will meet again and they’ll dependent on each other to make it out of the city alive.

I could relate quickly with Minou, as she is a young and intelligent woman trying to make sense of the world. It took me some more time to connect with Piet but the pair of them make for great main characters. At the same time, there are a lot of side characters that I enjoyed reading about. Such as Minou’s younger sister Alis, the kind madame Noubel, Minou’s troubled aunt Madame Boussay and her cold sister-in-law.

Mosse brings the historical context of the Huguenots to life flawlessly. You feel the tension growing stronger on the streets of Toulouse. Mosse also tries to incorporate the court politics of Catherine De Medici in the story, but if you don’t know about the real history that might be more difficult to follow. In some way, this all reminded me of the excellent darkness to light trilogy of Golden Keyes Parsons, although that one is set in a different century.

The next book, City of Tears, will bring Piet and Minou to Paris during the st. bartholomew’s day massacre and I’m looking forward to see how their story will continue.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Catherine Of Aragon, the true queen by Alison Weir

Catalina Of Aragon is the youngest daughter of the Catholic kings, Isabella and Ferdinand, and destined to become queen of England. After a rough sea voyage she arrives in Engeland to marry prince Arthur, heir to the throne. But Arthur is shy and sickly. After only four months of marriage Catalina, now Catherine, becomes a widow. At the court of Henry VII, she sets her eyes on Arthur’s younger brother, the charismatic Henry, to become queen once more.

I must admit I had some doubts when starting ‘the true queen’. In the past I enjoyed some of Alison Weir’s books, but I also disliked her two novels about Queen Elizabeth (‘The lady Elizabeth’ and ‘The marriage game’). But I decided to give this series a try.

Catherine Of Aragon is the first of Henry VIII’s wives and a lot is known about her life. She’s a thankful subject to start off this series. And I believe Weir did a relatively great job. This book is 600 pages long and includes much detail. You can follow Catherine’s story from her first marriage to king Arthur, the years of poverty she had to endure afterwards at the court of Henry VII to her marriage with Henry VIII. A happy marriage at first but of course we all know that after some miscarriages Henry moves away from Catherine when he meets Anne Boleyn.

Having read about Catherine many times before, Weir could still hold my interest about these events. She respects the timeline until the moment that I was waiting on the Mary Boleyn affair. But that didn’t come. Weir’s Catherine is stubborn, devout, caring and naive. She dotes on Henry. But this implicates that she doesn’t know about him having affairs. Even when things start to get worse, Henry is still the loving husband. No one tells Catherine of his many affairs. And this bothered me. Because it just seems impossible that Catherine didn’t know. Especially not with Mary Boleyn who possibly bore him two children. But there were others.

This brings us to the characterization of Henry VIII. I didn’t like his portrayal in this novel. At the age of ten Catherine already finds him attractive (which is bit of perverse, don’t you think?). And from the moment they marry, he can’t do anything wrong. This also makes characters as Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell and especially Anne Boleyn the villains. Reading from Catherine’s point of view, I can understand that Anne is demonized. But that Henry was just a meek man wrongly advised by the people around him (and thus a victim himself) goes a bit too far for me.

I’m really curious to see whether this is just the Henry from Catherine’s point of view and that we’ll get a different Henry in each book. If not, I’m not sure how Weir will make from this Henry a wife killer…

This book also gives an insight in Catherine’s relationships with the Spanish ambassadors, her ladies-in-waiting and her daughter Mary whom she loves dearly. Yes, it is a long book with a lot of detail, but that didn’t put me off. I enjoyed this book more than expected. And I’m looking forward to read Weir’s story about Anne Boleyn, hopefully finding a different Henry there.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Have you read this series? Which one is your favourite so far?