24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A You-Are-There Experience, March 12, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This book is a time machine that whooshes you back to fifteenth-century England to provide an insider's access to the mysterious events that still surround the 1485 usurpation of Richard III. Novelists have the advantage over historians when it comes to explaining the many contradictory decisions Richard made, as they are able to create fictional characters to narrate those events about which the actual historical record is silent. Enter novelist Vanora Bennett who has created a very believable character in Isabel Claver, a silk woman of the London mercery, through whose eyes the story is told. Lover of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III), daughter of a London guildsman who supported the Yorkist cause, sister of Jane Shore (mistress of Edward IV and then of other nobles), and dressmaker to the Princess Elizabeth, Isabel is uniquely positioned to know the secrets of various characters in the real-life drama that was Yorkist and Lancastrian England. Bennett's research for the story is solid. Though Isabel Claver is a fictional character, she is based on a number of actual women in the London silk trade who went by the name of Isabel. Other figures who appear in the story were actual persons, including Alice Claver, silk trader and mother-in-law of the imaginary Isabel; Thomas Lynom, King's solicitor and eventual husband of the shamed Jane Shore; and Will Caxton, who established the first printing press in London. It is just plain fun to see Caxton in the role of Isabel's friend and confidante. The many threads of the Ricardian story hang together believably in this novel, while holding the reader's interest in the aspirations of the women of the London silk trade as well. Bennett also creates a mood in the novel that hangs with you even when you aren't reading the book, creating that little tug that keeps pulling you back to it. I found it hard to put down. For high school students who catch the Wars of the Roses bug, this book would certainly be a pleasurable way of getting to know the many figures in the saga, but parents and teachers should know in advance that descriptions of sexual liaisons are included in the book, though not lurid. With that caveat, I can conclude by heartily endorsing this book as one that will give you the you-are-there experience we so enjoy in the genre of historical fiction.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Is it not clear that silk adorns everything? It is the ultimate measure of wealth!", March 1, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Vanora Bennett's fascinating historical novel, "Figures in Silk," opens in mid-fifteenth century England. After a long dynastic civil war between the House of York and the House of Lancaster, peace finally appears to be at hand and Edward Plantagenet of York is now King of England. His right-hand man is his youngest brother, Richard of Gloucester. The handsome, charismatic Edward is finally restoring order to a land ravaged by years of continuous warfare. And, as life begins to improve, business once again thrives, especially amongst the merchants of London.
One such merchant, John Lambert, a silk trader, has two daughters - the stunningly beautiful Jane, and the lovely but plainer Isabel, who possesses the brains in the family. Lambert arranges marriages for both young women. Isabel is to marry the gawky, boorish Thomas Claver to cement relationships between Lambert and the wealthy widow Alice Claver, a respected silkwoman known as a "force of nature" in the business. Jane, with her white blonde hair and emerald eyes, is to wed shy Will Shore.
About one hundred years earlier, the "Black Death" killed 30-40% of England's population, almost 2 million men, women and children. With the population so low, there were not enough people to work the land. As a result, many girls, who would never find husbands, were encouraged to train in the guilds. Thus, women such as Alice Claver had an opportunity to apprentice at a trade and rise in the business world. She became a silkwoman, "a spinster of silk," and a success - independent in her own right - in the 15th century!!.
Isabel, for all her intelligence, is miserable because she is a romantic at heart and had imagined a marriage based on love, not on business. Jane is more practical and doesn't mind her arranged marriage. Isabel's and Jane's fortunes are to change, with their new civil status, much more than they ever dreamed.
King Edward, as a boon to John Lambert, attends the new brides' joint wedding feast. Lambert, a strong supporter of the Yorkist cause, in bad times and good, had loaned Edward money when he was impoverished and in exile. To Edward, these deeds merit his attendance. The king also is not adverse to demonstrating to Londoners how he values loyalty. It is here that Edward IV sees Jane Lambert Shore for the first time. She will soon become his "merry mistress" for the rest of his life. Isabel also has a chance meeting of her own, with a dark and brooding stranger. Unbeknownst to her, he is Richard, Duke of Gloucester. She is asked to call him "Dickon," and is not to learn his true identity until years later, They too begin an affair which will last his lifetime.
Widowed shortly after her marriage, Isabel asks her mother-in-law to allow her to apprentice in the silk trade rather than return to her father's house and be married-off again. Isabel begins at the bottom of the ladder, ruining her once lovely white hands. She works with the poorest girls whose job it is to throw and twist silk and turn seams from dawn to dusk. She learns to love the glorious, exotic fabric from Italy, Persia, Spain, and places far beyond.
While Jane spends her life at court with the king, Isabel becomes adept at her job, and within a few years immerses herself, with Alice Claver and various associates, in the ruthless battle for the world's silk trade. Originally, through Jane's court connections, later through her own, Isabel has access to the king and is able to petition him on matters of business. She will eventually attempt to subvert the Venetian silk monopoly. She wants to establish silk making as an English trade. The English merchants bitterly resent the Italians, who control the trade secrets of weaving silk and are able to charge what they like. This anti-Italian bitterness is fueled by the Lombards, who reside in London and act as both silk cloth salesmen and bankers to London mercers. One Italian who is able to pass on the secrets of the trade is Geoffredo D'Amico, a man who figures largely in the novel's plot.
As an historical novel about Edward IV's court with it's political intrigues, sexual lasciviousness, etc., I would judge this a mediocre book. This same history, of Edward, Elizabeth Woodville, etc., has been written about as fiction over and over again, and better. In the author's favor, however, Edward's story only serves as a backdrop for more interesting plots and subplots. Vanora Bennett's take on Richard III is a bit more original. However, what makes "Figures in Silk " so interesting is the author's account of the silk trade in all its wonderful detail. Her descriptions of the weaving of silk, fabric design, the making of braids, ribbons, girdles, and trimmings, are absolutely absorbing - really fascinating - as is her take on the business side of politics between the Lombards and the Londoner's. Recommended, especially for historical fiction fans.
Jana Perskie
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absorbing read from a different perspective, April 14, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. I found the style easy to read and very descriptive without being distracting and overly dull. There were many different plot twists and turns and you really weren't sure how it was going to end up until the last page -- I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. on Easter to finish it.
Historically, I was interested to read the author's background information. Most of the characters (Jane Shore, Alice Claver, "Anne" (Alice Pratt), etc) are actually part of the historical record. Isabel appears to be a composite of several women of that period and where the author is able to take the most license.
I also appreciated the fact that this was not a thinly disguised bodice ripper like so many of the new historical fiction books dealing with the Tudor era. I did find the descriptions of Isabel's relationship with the Duke to be a bit tedious after awhile but overall, it was a very worthwhile read and has me interested in reading more about the War of the Roses. I'm also now interested in reading Vanora Bennett's first novel and hope it as enjoyable as this one was.
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