Customer Reviews

A Crowning Mercy: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I heard about this book years ago. Cornwell mentioned on a fan website that he once wrote a romance novel under the pen name Susannah Kells to win a bet made over some Jameson with his mates when he was a journalist in Northern Ireland.

I located a copy and found it a most credible example of the genre.

It has all the proper elements of a historical romance, a heroine who feels alienated from her family, forbidden romance, the presence of titled families, physical danger, secret pasts and great fortunes plus a few unique twists of its own. Romance novelists usually don't write about how the point beats the edge in a sword fight.

The original liner notes said that the author, like the heroine, was raised among members of a very strict religious sect that she rebelled against as an adult. That is true, as Cornwell himself was adopted shortly after birth into an offshoot of 18th century Methodism that called themselves the Peculiar people. As I read A Crowning Mercy, I got the distinct impression this was a more personal books than the author's other works. For that reason alone it is a must read for the true Cornwell fan.

Fleeing from her strict Puritan household and an odious arranged marriage, a young woman seeks her fortune in 17th century London and falls in love with a charming aristocrat. As the fragile peace between the Puritan Roundheads and Royalist aristocracy crumbles, however, it becomes apparent that this young woman is not at all what she seems.

Beautifully written, this novel set during the English Civil War has everything: a heroine with a mysterious past, an engaging hero, an intricate plot, and some truly loathsome villains.

Its companion novel, "The Fallen Angels," is every bit as good.

Cornwell manages to integrate history into the web of his fiction in very managed, intricate stages. The isolation of the Oxford Regency cast against the fanatical characters of Puritan England and civil war is a marvelous painting; Lady Margaret Lazender, Samuel Scammell, Faithful Unto Death Hervey and Vavasour Devorax are all characters who come alive (or dead, as the case may be) in credible ways. A delightful dose of fictionalized history, however, I found the water scenes too biblical and forced in allusion as the character of Dorcas was "reborn" in the novel. As with all other Cornwell, very graphic descriptions of the fetid side of imprisonment and torture befitting the seventeenth century.

I will continue to read and purchase this writer as his insight within specific historic periods is a continuing delight to me.

Romance, adventure and a bit of mystery thrown in too. Set in 1640's England, Bernard and Judy Cornwell give the reader a good feel for the puritan era sweeping through London and of the English rebellion. A story of faith in God and in love. It stays exciting 'til the very last page.

Bernard Cornwell is known for his historical military fiction so it is not surprising to find this book set in the time of the English Civil War. What is surprising is that the military aspects are secondary. It is an adventure story but it is first and foremost a love story. It is also well done.

Dorcas Slythe is the unloved and ill treated daughter of a Puritan family. She is a beautiful girl and Puritans, as a class, tend to be distrustful of beauty but one gets the impression that it is not only for her beauty that Dorcas is ill used. There is something else going on.

When her father dies, Dorcas learns that she is the subject of a mysterious Covenant. She realizes that there is some money involved but she doesn't really understand very much about it except that her family is eager to marry her off to an oaf. She wants none of it. She is in love with a boy from a nearby castle and resolves to run away and try to learn about this covenant.

During the course of her adventures, she gets embroiled in the Civil War and finds love. She also finds loss, betrayal and adventure in spades. It is hard to know who to trust in this one. It's a good book and worth reading.

I wasn't sure what to expect, as I had never read Cornwell before -- although I understand this is not his usual forte -- battles and bloodshed. This was a very quick and entertaining read, with surprises coming around every corner, and a VERY BIG surpise at the end. I thought I had guessed it 3/4 of the way through the book, but the author kept throwing herrings in there and I was beginning to think I guessed wrong, and you don't know for sure until the very last page.

The hero and heroine were very sweet, true love at first sight and the villains were truly evil and despicable. The author keeps things authentic and pulls no punches, you will know what it was like to see someone killed (yes the blood gets everywhere) and to be in a 17th century prison cell (it's not pretty).

Four stars instead of five because I thought the search for the witches teat in front of the court was a bit over the top, while the love scenes between Toby and Campion were almost chaste in comparison. Note, although just over 500 pages, this is a small paperback and read very quickly. A pleasant way to spend your Sunday afternoon.

I had originally bought this book back in 1986, reading up through Chapter 3 and raved about it to an acquaintance so much that she asked to borrow it, and I reluctantly complied. Soon after, she moved away. Needless to say, I never got it back. By that time, I had forgotten the book's title and all I could remember was the main character's name, Campion, and part of the author's name, "Susannah." So, for the next 22 years, I searched for this book that I had so longed to finish reading, but was never able to find. Then a few weeks ago, I came across it accidently through a book club, where someone informed me of a book written by Bernard Cornwell which had a character named Campion. Sure enough, "A Crowning Mercy" turned out to be the book, and "Susannah" Kells was the author's pseudonym! I immediately ordered it through Amazon and finished it in three days. At the end, I was overcome with emotion at what I had been missing all those years.

It is truly a rich and magnificent story, full of dashing adventure and dark intrigue, memorable well-developed characters, and laced with an endearing romance that drives Campion's quest forward. It had the right amount of everything for an historical adventure novel: family estrangement and betrayal, mystery, gripping plot twists and turns, cliffhangers, an enduring love relationship, a courageous heroine, and an overwhelming, surprise ending. This book should become a classic and should be made into a movie as well---it reads as if you're watching it on screen. When I finally put it down, I cried and cried out of sheer joy and utter fulfillment. I knew it was going to be a great book!

I am a huge Cornwell fan, having read most of his other works. I started reading this one while on vacation in England, not knowing that it was set in some of the very same places I would be visiting. Undoubtedly, that added consderably to my enjoyment, although I know I would have liked it, anyway. It reminded me of the old Perils of Pauline, because the heroine went from one nearly inescapable predicament to another whle trying to be reunited with her one true love. This is the only Cornwell book I have strongly encouraged my wife to read. He remains one of my favorite authors.

I loved this book....a real page turner! It was well written, fast paced and believable, cover to cover. This book was not about war or romance but about people's lives. My first Bernard Cornwell book. I will definitely look for more.

I thought I had read all Bernard Cornwell's prolific output, so was pleasantly surprised to find this in a newsagent in a remote mining town at a time I had forgot to put in my usual Amazon order. What a strange, (but not unpleasant) concoction! Cornwell gives full and explicit vent to his distaste for religious loonies- one can almost hear the cackle of the author as his hero drives a dagger through the mouth of the hippocritic Puritan Preacher's mouth and pins his head to a table, to die slowly and horribly. I doubt such scenes are de rigeur for the normal reader of Mills & Boons, but there is a bit of bodice ripping- in fact, the beautiful, orphaned, destitute (but secretly filthy rich) heroine gets her bodice ripped at least twice, that I can remember. Unfortunately for the readership, it ain't ripped by the usual dashing, handsome, square-jawed, sneering but decent Lord and Master.
As a send up of Histerical Romance, this isn't at all bad. I would have liked a bit (a lot) more sex, but then, I am a man. The rest of the formula is sent up outrageously- the plot telegraphs it's punches from a hundred pages back- anyone who could not figure that the clown with the idiot name was Campion's long lost, but secretly loving and dutiful father, within a page of him appearing needs a walking stick; the good stuff all happens under azure English summer skies, the bad stuff when it's pissing with miserable rain.
The late, great, George McDonald Fraser made almost as much money from funny movie scripts as he did from the unsurpassable Flashman series, yet only saw one of his novels turned into an OK, but not great, film. Cornwell has seen his best books transformed into a brilliant TV series, but in this book gives more than a hint of a dark comedic genius. This is Monty Python territory. Imagine this novel as the script for 'Royal Flash', with the same actors and director.