Customer Reviews

Courtesan

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In spite of the fact that this book was the first novel of the queen of sappy historical romance novels this is a pretty good book. Historically, it's not totally accurate, but hey, it is fiction.

This is the story of a King of France, Henri, and his long time mistress, Diane. Now, when I say long time, I mean like almost 30 years long time. This kid was in love with this woman when she was governess. Did I mention the 16 year age difference? I had the misfortune to read a historical non-fiction book about their situation called "The Serpent and the Moon" which is written by a descendent of Diane, and of Henri's wife Catherine de Medici. I say misfortune because it was one boring book, but it did provide many historical facts. Such as, the relationship between Henry and Diane probably did not become sexual until he was almost twenty, not when he was 14 or 15 and she was 31 or 32, as in this book.

That's the major problem with this novel actually; it glorifies a relationship that really just reminded me of the whole Mary Kay Laterno scandal. So that part of the novel was fairly icky and a little creepy. The one thing I really dislikes about this book (aside from the sap) was that the first 100 pages are totally devoted to Diane lusting after almost pubescent boys because her marriage was loveless. I mean, get some control lady! He's your daughter's age! It makes much more sense that the sexual aspect of their relationship developed later on. If you want a good argument for that read "The Serpent and the Moon" but don't say I didn't warn you.

But other than that this is solid historical fiction that is, at times, quite mesmerizing. The relationships of those involved are often nowhere near as interesting as the politics and court life of the time, which is a welcome relief from the endless sappy speeches of Henri and Diane. Catherine is a fascinating, if always maligned character, and the backdrop of renaissance France is perfectly done. As a novel, this is definitely something I would read again. I really liked it for all its flaws, and it made me want to read more of Ms. Haeger's work, even though I didn't really like "The secret wife of King George IV" all that much. This is a far better, more developed novel with a setting and backdrop that is fascinating and puts you right in the thick of things.

If you can cut through the minimal sap and the marginal pedophilia in this book you'll probably love it. Four point five stars.

Not one to care about any royalty beyond the English throne or the Scottish clan chief, I was enthralled by the story of Diane de Poitiers and Henri II of France. Diane Haeger vividly brings to life a time frought with intrigue, treason, uncertainty, treachery - as well as love and hard-won happiness. Diane is an amazing woman and to have the devotion of a man like Henri, she must have been even more than history could say. Diane and Henri share a passion I sometimes believe only exists in books, and Ms. Haeger gives theirs heart-wrenching, awe-inspiring tangibility. I was impressed with her attention to detail and meticulous research - what I want to know is...what did she discover about these fascinating people, Diane and Henri, that she didn't share with her readers? Fabulous reading - what a treasure!

I am a historical fiction junkie - I particularly enjoy novels set in the Medieval and Rennaissance period. I have always been fascinated by Diane de Poitiers and made sure to visit Chenonceaux when I was in France. Thus, I was very excited to come across this novel.

This novel does a great job painting a picture of court life - particularly of the debauchery during the raine of Francois I. Diane Haeyer's characterization of Anne d'Heilly, Duchesse d'Etampes seems quite accurate compared to non-fiction I have read from the period. The author's descriptions of Catherine de Medici also seem faithful and rooted in fact (except for I do not think it is true that Diane de Poitiers wore the same dress as Catherine to Catherine's coronation). I also think that it is possible that Queen Catherine and Montmorency conspired to interest the King in Lady Fleming to unseat Catherine.

That said, these are my main issues:
(1) The author's thesis is that Diane de France is the child of Henri II and Diane de Poitiers, and not the child of another woman. The author's explanation for why Diane de Poitiers would pretend not to be the mother of Diane de France does not make sense. From what I know of the time, it was not uncommon for royal mistresses to have children and if anything, it seems that Diane's position would be strengthened by having a child with Henri at a time when Catherine de Medici was considered to be barren. I'm not saying that it is impossible that Diane de France is Diane and Henri's child (why name the child Diane, for example - it seems like Henri would be rubbing his liaison with Philippa Duca in Diane de Poitiers face in choosing that name) but I feel like a better reason is needed to take the minority position as to Diane de France's parentage.
(2) The author is overly sympathetic to Diane. She tries to paint her as this unassuming, not greedy person who did not ask for the power and riches that Henri lavished upon her. This does not seem true to me. After all, to be favourite was a coveted position. Furthermore, Henri and Diane were very cruel to Catherine de Medici.
(3) There is no evidence that Diane and Henri had a sexual relationship when Henri was 14 and Diane 33. And even if it was true, the author presents it as sweetly romantic, when really, it is disgusting. At the time, of course, girls at 14 were routinely married to men in their 30s or older (case in point, Elisabeth de Valois, who was married to Phillip II of Spain after the treaty of Cateau Cambresis) but it was not common for the reverse to be true. Further, if they really were involved at such a young age, it seems to undermine the author's depiction of Diane as not greedy for power or riches. Instead, the more likely conclusion is that Diane took advantage of Henri to forward her own personal interests.

Despite these shortcomings, I enjoyed the novel and I would read another Diane Haeger book (as long as the title isn't embarassing! I read on my commute).

THE BOOK IS RICH IN CHARACTER ILLUSTRATION. YOU COME TO UNDERSTAND THE LIFE IN COURT AND VIEW HOW ONE WOMAN, OF NOBLE BIRTH, MAKES THE BEST OF A SITUATION TO ALLOW FOR HERSELF AND HER FAMILY. THOUGH AN EPIC, YOU FOLLOW THE CHANGES BY HAEGER'S VIVID PROSE AND HATE TO SEE THE END OF THE BOOK!!

Diane Haeger wrote this novel of Diane de Poitiers in 1992, and until 2005, we were mercifully spared Princess Michael of Kent's supposed "biographical" book about Diane, "The Serpent and The Moon". But the similarities are many.

This book is a guilty pleasure for those who enjoy historical fiction. This is not particularly good historical fiction, but Haeger does manage to keep the reader turning the page. The descriptions of the sumptuous life of Renaissance France are lavish and well written. Haeger's frequent grammatical mishaps spoil some of the seriousness of the plot: she uses the linguistic 'palate' when she means artistic 'palette'; a character does not 'fair' well, when she means 'fare' well; characters 'peeled' with laughter when she means 'pealed'; a Court 'teaming' with intrigue when she means 'teeming'; 'imminent' royals when she means 'eminent'; and there are a dismaying number of these malaprops in the novel. They inject a note of silliness into many of the book's passages.

Ms. Haeger shares Princess Michael's later extreme bias in favor of Diane de Poitiers and contempt for Catherine de Medici. The character development of Diane is unrelentingly saintly, eventually becoming cloying and outright sappy. Catherine is usually described as wearing an evil smile, thinking evil thoughts, etc. And most sadly, both authors refer to Catherine in cruel terms: "fat little Catherine", Catherine's "fat little fingers" "fat little face and bulging eyes," her "fat little body" sitting on brocaded chairs. Catherine was clearly not as beautiful as Diane, to judge from their portraits, but she was also one of the more capable rulers in French history. The catty cruelty spoils the author's character development of Catherine, one of the most complex and remarkable women of the Renaissance.

King Francois I, father of Diane's adoring lover Henry I, fares no better. He is portrayed as a heartless adolescent satyr, while his lifelong mistress Anne d'Heilly is portrayed as nothing less than a vicious and uncouth streetwalker. (She was said to be one of the most educated and politically skilled women at this Court.) Henry is an eternally angry man, with an obsessive preoccupation with Diane. While there is a kernel of historical truth in all these characterizations, Haeger makes them all so one-sided that there is little room for the complexities of personality that we know they had.

Enjoy this novel, historical fiction fans. I did, all its faults notwithstanding. It is enjoyable and entertaining, but not a keeper. Definitely a book of very light reading, to be donated to the next library book fair.

I agree with the reviewer from Texas who stated that this was one of the best books she had ever read. That it is a first novel is remarkable: not only does Haeger have a depth of understanding of the period, rare in many authors of romance fiction, but she is truly able to make her characters come alive.

"Courtesan" is the story of Diane de Poitiers and Henri II of France. Their romance began when Henri was a young prince and Diane the "older woman" beloved by Henri's father, King Francis I. It continued through Henri's marriage to the plain, and later infamous, Catherine de Medici, and was a scandal throughout France and beyond. The author skillfully recreated the world of 16th century France, especially the world of the royal court. All of the characters, both real and fictional, are presented with their flaws and virtues. While Diane is clearly the heroine of this fictional treatment, Haeger allows us to see the pain and humilation the love affair inflicted on Queen Catherine as well.

I think the publisher did "Courtesan" a disservice by calling it an historical romance, as I think it would be more accurate to call it an historical novel. Many romance readers do not like stories that involve adultery, especially when there is no chance that the couple can wed. This book also does not contain scenes of explicit lovemaking which many romance readers require in their novels. By calling it a romance, the publisher, perhaps unknowingly, limited the readership to women, as few men pick up books clearly labeled as "romances." Every man whom I have talked into reading this book has been impressed by the scholarship shown by the author, and charmed by Diane. With the exception of "The Return," Ms Haeger's later books do not IMO show the same depth as this remarkable first novel. Ms Haeger's last two books, about Maria Fitzherbert and the woman loved by General William T. Sherman, are workman-like biographical novels, but they simply do not grip the reader in the same way as "Courtesan."

I am an avid reader of all of Haeger's historical fiction and have enjoyed all of them, this one no exception! I get so wrapped up in the characters that I'm sad when I near the end of the book. One of my favorite things about her books is that you can research the characters and see paintings of what the actual people looked like and buy more books about them.

Although the story is fairly intriguing, I have been distracted unfavorably by the author's commission of blatant errors in word usage and spelling. For instance: She has King Francois saying, "How shall We fair..." when she should have used the word fare. On several occasions she states that the King or other characters "lay their heads" when she should have written laid -- the past tense of lay meaning to put or place, while lay is the past tense of to lie. She has her protagonist holding her horse's "reigns" rather than reins. She has the palace guards lurking "discretely" in the distance instead of discreetly. She makes references to the King's mistress's "cheshire grin" when her story takes place in the early sixteenth century, long preceding Lewis Carroll's invention of the Cheshire Cat when he wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" in the nineteenth century! Those sorts of errors may not matter to general readers who can become lost in content, but, in my (perhaps overly critical) case they prevent me from truly enjoying the story as well as from taking it seriously. I should think that somewhere along the publishing procedure someone might have noticed such obvious errors and suggested to the author that she correct them!

Which is really a shame, because I found this bit of history fascinating and I'm now scrambling to find what will hopefully be more satisfying reads on the period. Haeger's novel is about the relationship between the future Henri II of France and Diane de Poitiers that began shortly after his return as a troubled young teen from imprisonment in Spain. Despite the twenty some year differences in their ages, Henri is enthralled with the widowed Diane and notwithstanding the anger of his father Francois and his marriage to Catherine de Medici the relationship remains strong throughout the rest of their lives and once Henri becomes King, Diane becomes a powerful woman - literally the power behind the throne.

That's pretty much the basic outline, most of what follows is known history and recapped enough in the other reviews I'm not going to rehash it again. It's a story begging to be told with all the things I love to find in a piece of historical fiction - a woman who is able to hold onto a King's love despite treachery, betrayal, passion, intrigues and schemes - what's not to love? Unfortunately the author let herself get mired in the romance and was never able to get herself out of it. All we hear is Diane's perfection in all things, her great beauty (if I heard about her alabaster skin one more time.....), Henri's unwavering adoration (it does get nauseating after a while), and gag me (!) those first love scenes at Chenonceau.

So, if you want to read a historical romance about a younger man and an older woman and don't mind a sloooooow paced start this might be the book for you. For me, this was a teaser that was ultimately unsatisfying and has left me hungry for something more on the topic. Surely there is more to Diane's ability to hold Henri to her for so many years besdies her goodness and purity. Until C.W. Gortner's book comes out next year I'm hoping The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici will do the trick. 3/5 stars.

Courtesan by Diane Haegar is about one of the most controversial and incredible love stories of the C16, that of King Henri of France (son of Francis- the contemporary of Henry VIII) and Diane de Poitors, his mistress and beloved of over 30 years.

Henri first met Diane in his middle teen years, when Diane was in her early thirties and whilst she was the governess of the royal children. As a substitute mother in a way, Diane helped to mould Henri and provided an ear and a shoulder whenever he needed someone to talk to, especially with the death of his brother the Dauphin. Henri's main problem was that supposedly his father never cared much for him (he was his mothers' favourite) and so he had to constantly live with the scorn and humiliation that his father would come up with, moreso when his mother died. The story follows the joint and separate lives of these two people, through their own individual choices and mistakes, their children and marriages, their trials and tribulations and ultimately to the final and heartbreaking separation.

What was scandalous about this relationship is that the couple genuinely loved one another (a shocking and unheard of revelation for that time period), and Henri was mostly faithful to Diane till his dying day (Diane supposedly had to force Henri to make love to his wife and provide heirs to the throne). Relying on her opinion and her help when he finally became King (a position in this book he never really wanted, and one that he was never really meant to have- think Arthur and Henry VIII), Diane was Queen in all but name, helping to run and make the decisions of government and signing royal decrees- Henri and Diane even had their own joint signature "henridiane".

Although not entirely historically accurate, it is easy to overlook this as the writing is descriptive, the plot flows at a nice and even pace and the characters are well developed. The language remains true to the period whilst being readable at the same time. My one annoyance with this book was its "Mills & Boons" aspect- the love story felt more like lust than love at times (in terms of the sappy dialogue- which was definately over-the-top at times) and I found that I wanted to be sick at the sorts of stuff these two "kids" were saying to one another. In comparison though, the political events of the time (and aspect of the book) was enough of a side story to keep me turning the pages in anticipation of what lay ahead.

Having said all that though, the love story really did transform from being adolescent lust to a timeless tale of devotion as the story progressed and I found that by the end of the book I was an emotional mess, having suffered through the ups and downs with the characters that became friends. As the book literally covers a span of near 35 years, I felt the author did a good job of "growing up" the characters- Henri went from being a typical teenage boy to a mature and decent man whilst Diane went from being a "girl" in the throes of her first love to a proud and inspiring woman.

Although at times a bit dry and dull, this book definately has what any reader of historical fiction is looking for and I will definately be reading this superb book again and chasing up the author's other works.

4.5 stars.