Fires of Winter [Paperback]

Roberta Gellis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Melusine of Ulle, daughter of Scottish nobility, is given in marriage to Bruno of Jernaeve, who secures her land for his sovereign, King David. Born enemies, the pair has an inauspicious beginning when Melusine attempts to kill her new husband on their wedding night. But what makes this more than just a story of two people's rocky relationship is Gellis's wonderful style. Alternating chapters are written from the perspective of husband and wife, the work is historically accurate, and the narrative is sensitive and insightful. For Gellis fans, the fact that some characters appeared in Tapestry of Dreams makes this work all the richer.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Jove Books; First Edition edition (September 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515091618
• ISBN-13: 978-0515091618
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,060,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roberta Gellis has a varied educational background--a master's degree in biochemistry and another in medieval literature--and working history--10 years as a research chemist, many years as a free-lance editor of scientific manuscripts, and more than 40 years as a writer. She is married--to the same man for over 60 years (no mean feat in these days) and lives in Lafayette, Indiana, with her husband Charles and a lively Scottish terrier called Zoe. She has one child, Mark, who teaches Rhetoric (a fancy name for expository writing) at Kettering University in Michigan. Mark is married to Sandra and they have a lovely daughter, Elizabeth.

Gellis has been a successful writer of historical fiction, publishing over 25 meticulously researched historical novels since 1964. The best known of these are The Roselynde Chronicles (ROSELYNDE, ALINOR, JOANNA, GILLIANE, RHIANNON, and SYBELLE). The series has been reprinted many times since its first appearance in 1979, most recently in 2006. Gellis has also been the recipient of many awards, including the Silver and Gold Medal Porgy for historical novels from West Coast Review of Books, the Golden Certificate and Golden Pen from Affaire de Coeur, The Romantic Times Award for Best Novel in the Medieval Period (more than once) and Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy, as well as Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Acheivement Award.

More recently Gellis has ventured into other genres, starting with mythological fantasy (DAZZLING BRIGHTNESS, SHIMMERING SPLENDOR, ENCHANTED FIRE, BULL GOD, and THRICE BOUND). Most recently she has written historical fantasy, with a series of book coauthored by Mercedes Lackey set in Elizabethan times (THIS SCEPTER'D ISLE, ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, BY SLANDEROUS TONGUES, and AND LESS THAN KIND). Before that she was writing historical mysteries, a four-book series set in London and Oxford in 1139 (A MORTAL BANE, A PERSONAL DEVIL, BONE OF CONTENTION and CHAINS OF FOLLY) and one set in the Italian Renaissance in Ferrara (LUCREZIA BORGIA and the MOTHER OF POISONS).

Since Gellis is one of the early addicts to electronic readers---she purchased a RocketeBook way back in 1999---it is no surprise that she was eager to get her own out of print historical romances into electronic format. Cerridwen Press (http://www.cerridwenpress.com) has published the Heiress Series (THE ENGLISH HEIRESS, THE CORNISH HEIRESS, THE KENT HEIRESS, FORTUNE'S BRIDE, and A WOMAN'S ESTATE) as well as the Royal Dynasty Series (don't ask me about that, there isn't a royal or a dynasty in any of the four books---it was a notion of a long-ago agent) SIREN SONG, WINTER SONG, FIRE SONG, and A SILVER MIRROR. Cerridwen offers a variety of formats, one of which can be read by the Kindle and for those too firmly addicted to paper, the books are also available in a very nice Trade edition (but those are rather expensive).

I'm sorry I don't have any amusing anecdotes to relate, as recommended by the Profile, but a writer's life is really very quiet. Sometimes my neighbors ask my husband what has happened to me because they haven't seen me in such a long time. Depending on his humor of the moment, sometimes Charles tells them that I can't come outside because he keeps me chained to my computer---but that isn't true. He lets me get up once in a while.

Roberta Gellis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Read, August 25, 2004

By 

MD (Springvale, Maine) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fires of Winter (Paperback)

This book should be read after Tapestry of Dreams. Gellis has given us a rich plot full of history without droning on like a text book, created colorful characters of great emotional depth, and a romance that curls the toes. It's a solid read unlike most romance novels, and not something to be skimmed through in an afternoon.

MD

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Do not be misled by this dreadful cover, it is not a bodice ripping romance, November 29, 2008

By 

Misfit (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fires of Winter (Paperback)

Although it's not tops in the historical genre either. Fires of Winter continues the story Gellis began in A Tapestry of Dreams, and tells the story of Lady Audris' illegitimate half brother Bruno. Despite his dubious parentage, Bruno uses his skills with swords and horses to make his way, eventually leading to service at the court of King Stephen (who has usurped the English crown from his cousin Matilda). Melusine of Ulle is from Cumbria in the North and when the last of her family dies fighting against King Stephen she is brought to court as a lady in waiting to Queen Maude. For who knows what reason (I never got it), Stephen decides to knight Bruno and marry him to Melusine, who is half mad with grief over the loss of her family and home, and when she recognizes her new husband as the man who took her from Ulle she attempts to kill him while he's sleeping. Eventually the two manage to build a strong marriage and relationship amidst the backdrop of England's Civil War between Stephen and Matilda.

I guess that sounds good enough of a basis for your usual historical romance and as much as I do enjoy reading Gellis this book has some problems. Told in the first person point of view of Bruno and Melusine in alternating chapters, the story tends to overlap and backtrack way too much. As for the romance, so much of Bruno's service to Stephen keeps him on the battlefield and not sparring and making up with Melusine, so I suspect romance readers will be bored to tears. As for those who enjoy a bit more history (as I do) in their historical romances, the choice of such a complicated period in English history is not the best choice and came off to this reader as quite dry and not very interesting. I'd recommend Penman's When Christ and His Saints Slept. The only real highlights of the book are the few times Bruno and Melusine are together, although they did get a bit corny and outdated at times, ROFL the constant references by Bruno to his "standing man" Sir Jehad (and no I'm not going to explain what that means, if I did I'd get censored). Three stars, only recommended for die-hard Gellis fans.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Winter's fires, January 21, 2007

By 

Kelly (Fantasy Literature) (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fires of Winter (Paperback)

This novel is a sequel of sorts to _Tapestry of Dreams_, and what a worthy successor it is! Roberta Gellis dishes up, yet again, an intelligent and believable romance set amid a vivid historical background. _Fires of Winter_ follows Bruno of Jernaeve, illegitimate brother of _Tapestry_'s heroine, as he learns to love Melusine of Ulle, the bride he initially married for political reasons only.

It actually took me two attempts to finish this novel. The first time, I couldn't get past the first sex scene. It's painful. Not in the "bad writing" sense but in the "oh my God, ouch!" sense. I'm not sure if it's technically rape; it's more of a tragic misunderstanding, and not the horribly misogynistic "But I thought she was a prostitute so it was ok to rape her!" sort of misunderstanding that pervades this genre. Bruno thinks Melusine is sullen but resigned when in fact she's not exactly in her right mind. But I'll give this to Bruno; he stops as soon as he realizes what's really going on.

Anyway, I picked the book up again a few months later, and was able to get through the cringing and into the heart of the love story. Bruno and Melusine's love unfolds slowly and beautifully over the course of several years as the two gradually come to trust and then love each other. It's rough going at first, but when love creeps in, there is tear-jerking sweetness--and sizzling hotness!

The title is apt. During the course of the story, Melusine and Bruno tend to find their tenderest moments in the depths of winter, when the ongoing war has loosened its hold for a brief time, and the life of the court brings them together.

The only quibbles I have with the novel are the aforementioned wedding night scene (which might be troubling for some) and the fact that the alternating-POV chapters are occasionally confusing. I had to do a little mental juggling sometimes because often Bruno's chapter will pick up, chronologically, somewhere in the middle of Melusine's chapter or vice versa, so that the story covers the same time period twice.