Customer Reviews

Bond of Blood

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I loved all of Roberta Gellis' early books,especially the Roselynde series. Bond of Blood was an intricately woven story about Leah of Pembroke and Cain, Lord Radnor, the clubfooted son of the harsh Duke of Gaunt.Leah was a terrified 15 year old when forced into this match by her parents for political reasons. She was terrified of him but determined to obey her station in life. She gradually saw the softness and hurt that he kept hidden under a mask of brutality and she used every feminine wile at her fingertips to make him completely hers. Set against the backdrop of a fuedal England at war with itself, filled with historical details, a book to get lost in and transported to another time. janieku@msn.com

Bond of Blood was Roberta Gellis' second published book, first printed in hardcover by Doubleday in 1965. At that time there wasn't a historical romance genre. There was, however, a demand for fat historical novels with the emphasis on history which is what she wrote. However, Gellis also did some things that set her apart from many of the historical novelists writing then or since-- she tried to make the attitudes of the people she wrote about consistent with the period. You won't find her characters spouting off about equality for serfs or other attitudes that won't appear in the aristocracy for centuries to come. She does not concentrate deliberately on the unpleasant, but she does not hesitate to be a little more graphic about bodily functions that the average book written in the time.

This then is the story of a man who did not quite fit his time--personal circumstances have rendered him both hardier and more sensitive than many of his peers--and a woman (a girl really, she is 15 at the time of their betrothal) who struggles to work out what her place is in society and her marriage.

One of the things I found fascinating about my rereading of this book was the reactions of the two main characters seem psychologically realistic. Both of them were essentially abused children--although no one at the time would have considered their parents' actions to be "abuse"-- who developed various coping mechanisms for dealing with their situations.

A good early effort by an author who grew to be one of my favorite writers.

this book. Unfortunately, because of the number of years since I last read it (about 10) I have forgotten the character's names. Although the hero of the story has accepted a match with the lady, he suspects her father of treachery and even as he comes to love her, wonders whose side she is really on. His wife, deeply in love with the only man to ever treat her kindly, tries to find a way to tell him she is loyal to him alone, without making him think she is treacherous by denying the bond of blood between her and her father. Both of them must deal with the medieval belief that a birth defect is a stigma of evil as he was born with a club foot. How the two manage to surmount these and other of life's pitfalls makes for one of Gellis's most intriging novels.

This is the first book that I ever read by Roberta Gellis, and it made me a life-long admirer of her writing. Her characters are lifelike and true to the historical era in which the story takes place. The story of Cain and Leah and how they make a life and find love in an arranged marriage is moving and interesting, set as it is in the backgroud of the turmoil created by the weakness of King Stephen of England. I totally and heartily recommend this book to lovers and history and historical novels.

Roberta Gellis is the supreme empress of historical fiction in my opinion. She has achieved the perfect balance of accurate history and fascinating fiction in a divine union, all presented with a style that is smoothly paced and profoundly authentic. Gellis has never (and I've been a devoted reader of her work for more than 30 years) down-played the shocking reality of the times she sets her novels in, and in this day of candy-coated, mass-appeal romantic fiction, she stands alone.
Gellis is a brilliant, prolific and diverse writer, with masterpieces set in a wide span of time: she has, in her long career, covered Greek mythology, European history from the 1100s to the regency, mystery and suspense in the middle ages, and the future as co-author in the science fiction/fantasy genre, with equal measures of imagination and accuracy.
Bond of Blood is the first Gellis novel I read, and it remains my favorite, not so much because it is pleasing or entertaining, but because it literally pulls you into another world: the jagged, brutal, unjust world of dark-age monarchy, when living conditions were horrific and the balance of power entirely in the hands of the wealthy---males for the most part. Gellis is incapable of anachronism, and the effect is that the words on the page become a world the reader is immersed into.
The title refers to an essential political survival strategy of the dark ages---the deep loyalties that were built entirely on clan relations. Either by birth, by fostering, by marriage, or a combination of these, wealth, power and even survival were established and expanded.
In Bond of Blood, the main characters are each from families, or clans, that are wealthy and powerful. Both clans have sordid histories of brutality and dishonor in the pursuit of power and wealth. Cain, Lord Radnor, is a huge man, war-weary, hard-hearted and physically deformed. Leah, daughter of a powerful but corrupt nobleman, is very young and naive, extremely sheltered, subject to a father who is matched in cruelty only by his selfishness and darkly devious mind.
The story begins with the formal betrothal of Cain and Leah. The marriage has been arranged to suit the respective fathers, both deeply suspicious of one another and supremely greedy, and both harsh and unforgiving towards their offspring. The time is shortly after the Norman Conquest, under the anarchical rule of Stephen of Blois.
The social environment Gellis creates for her hero and heroine is deeply shocking and offensive to our modern-day sensibilities, as it should be. This was a day when livestock was considered of more value than certain human beings, and the average life expectancy was no more than four decades.
Cain, bitter, isolated, distrustful, is not eager for marriage. He has suffered his entire life with the pain, both physical and emotional, of being deformed. In an age of superstition and ignorance, any deformity or abnormality signifies evil, or punishment meted out by an angry, vengeful god for some unrecognized sin, and Cain is secretly terrified that he may truly be something foul and demonic. Cain, so named, we are told, for fratricide, as his "perfect" twin sibling died at birth, is bewildered when his betrothed, Leah, treats him with respect and affection, although this is only what she has been carefully trained by her mother to do. A woman's only hope of survival under the absolute power of a man, she has been instructed, is meekness, compliance and obedience.
The ensuing chapters unfold the tale of their love. Surrounded by violence, political intrigue, deception and betrayal, they somehow contrive to build a private haven of gentleness, trust and affection. Leah possesses a unique, ingenuous wisdom and practicality that are quaintly amusing in the telling. Her methods of coping with impossible situations serve to endear her to her hardened husband, and to the reader as well. Despite the distaste we modern readers experience at the indescribable injustice of that era, we nonetheless come to appreciate the subtle strategies employed by the heroine to not only endure, but to conquer her recalcitrant and inflexible husband and her chaotic, dangerous environment. Cain, enveloped by Leah's gentle nature and her determination to love him regardless of his defensive attitude and distrustful heart, warms and softens to her alone.
As always with Gellis, the lives of the fictional characters are authentically and cleverly interwoven with those of real historical figures and events, and the result is both breathtaking and fascinating.

Note: For the most part, Gellis centers her historical fiction around the wealthy, powerful aristocracy of the day. A notable exception is her novel The Rope Dancer, set in the same era, but whose characters are minor gentry and common folk, giving a vastly different, but absolutely fascinating picture.

I have this book and the sequel Knights Honor. Gellis has a wonderful way of including accurate historical detail without detracting from the main story. This is one of my favorite books that she wrote because she is very clever about creating female characters that think and are believable. There are a few scenes deserving of a warning. There are some scenes that today would be classified as spousal abuse but where commonplace then. The relationships are complex but intense. The feudal system is clearly detailed. I enjoy the Roselynde Chronicles more because I love developing characters but this is also a great read.

I am a longtime fan of Roberta Gellis, and I think this is her best work. I had to purchase a back up copy, it is one worth re-reading.

Even after 20 years this is still one of my favorite books. The characters are compelling, the romance is deep and satisfying, and the amount of history just right for the serious historical reader.

No one does it better. Her heroes are realistic but so are her heroines and their love grows from curiosity (the female) and lust (male) to one of mutual respect and sharing. It has been some 20 years since I first (and second and third) read this and I still find this book the measure in which all other romance books are judged.

The intrigues and complexities of this novel have fascinated me for quite a few years. Originally, I had to read it 2-3 times too catch all the plots and sub-plots. I now read it once a year because I love the romance, the characters and the history of the novel. I've never enjoyed books in which the heroine is the "most beautiful" and the hero is the "most handsome". I find their imperfections make them more realistic, and therefore more romantic. A once-a-year must read!!!!