The Fool's Tale: A Novel [Paperback]

Nicole Galland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2006

Wales, 1198. A time of treachery, passion, and uncertainty. King Maelgwyn ap Cadwallon, known as Noble, struggles to protect his small kingdom from foes outside and inside his borders. Pressured into a marriage of political convenience, he takes as his bride the young, headstrong Isabel Mortimer, niece of his powerful English nemesis.

Through strength of character, Isabel wins her husband's grudging respect, but finds the Welsh court backward and barbaric, and is soon engaged in a battle of wills against Gwirion, the king's oldest, oddest, and most trusted friend. Before long, however, Gwirion and Isabel's mutual animosity is abruptly transformed, and the king finds himself as threatened by loved ones as by the enemies who menace his crown.

A masterful novel by a gifted storyteller, The Fool's Tale combines vivid historical fiction, compelling political intrigue, and passionate romance to create an intimate drama of three individuals bound -- and undone -- by love and loyalty.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Screenwriter Galland debuts impressively with a steamy historical romance about a medieval Welsh queen's love affair with the king's best friend—his profane, hyperactive royal fool. The year is 1198, and King Maelgwyn (mercifully nicknamed Noble) of Maelienydd has wed the young Englishwoman Isabel Mortimer in hopes of neutralizing her uncle Roger, a powerful baron with designs on Noble's small kingdom. But almost from their wedding night, the political marriage of Isabel and Noble is a disaster: she is headstrong and tomboyish, "far from his ideal"; he is temperamental, tyrannical and unwilling to give up "nonconjugal fornication." Even worse for Isabel is his unfathomable relationship with the fool Gwirion, whose outrageous pranks and lewd public performances humiliate her. But when Noble goes off to fight Roger Mortimer, a siege on the castle by an opportunistic Welsh prince forces Isabel and Gwirion to confront each other, and to finally acknowledge their traitorous passion. Galland creates memorable characters—particularly Gwirion—who sound authentically regal yet earthy. She strikingly captures the murky Welsh setting and even murkier politics. The novel is occasionally short on plot, but readers will relish the energetic emotional back-and-forth of the protagonists' ceaseless trysting.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

It is Wales, in the year 1198, and King Maelgwyn ap Cadwallon, better known to his people as Noble, is fighting to keep his kingdom from falling to the English. To create an alliance, Noble weds Isabel Mortimer, the niece of the English baron Roger Mortimer, who years earlier killed Noble's father. Isabel has no easy time of it as Noble flaunts his mistresses in her face and allows Gwirion, Noble's oldest friend, to ridicule her without reproach. Gwirion, of unknown birth, holds the highest honor in Noble's court but has no real power. His sole purpose is to amuse the king, who gives him the affectionate title of "fool." But as threats of war from the English consume Noble, Gwirion and Isabel come to a truce, and their new relationship may also threaten Noble's crown. Galland's first novel is an entertaining saga adeptly weaving together political intrigue and deceit, love that both unifies and divides, loyalty that teeters on treason, and the desire for freedom, which comes with a hefty price. Carolyn Kubisz
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 526 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (January 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060721510
• ISBN-13: 978-0060721510
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,208,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just 'Historical Romance', January 4, 2005

By 

J. Haynes "bookoholic" (MV, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fool's Tale: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a great novel about relationships, that just happens to be set in 12th century Wales. It is full of historical details that give a real feel to the time and place, but the importance is on the interaction between some really fun characters! I don't think it should be called a Historical Romance, it is not your typical 'Bodice Ripper'. The emphasis is not on the sex. You get to know the characters, and both love & hate them early on, and then they evolve and change, and suprise you. You then get to a point where you cannot put the book down, you need to know what happens next, and you think you might know, but you could be wrong....!

It's a really fun read, it is very sarcastic & witty at times, but also very entertaining to someone who really does like Historical Fiction, the research is there. I recomend it highly!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting, smart and involving novel, January 4, 2005

By 

Skeptical Reader (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fool's Tale: A Novel (Hardcover)

I don't generally read historical romances, so was doubtful when I picked up a pre-publication copy. But this is such a good novel -- filled with fascinating, complex characters; intricate plotting, and a good dollop of suspense and surprise -- that I wish there was a whole new genre term to describe it... something like, "Historical Literary Fiction," or "Libidinous Non-Contemporary Narrative Art." Anyway, it's a terrific read, and will make everybody -- those who read lots of historical fiction, and those who turn up their noses at it -- wonder about what they've been missing. Read it the next time you want to be kept up late, trying to find out what happens next.

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This book shows promise., April 14, 2005

By 

M. Wallace "lutewoman" (Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fool's Tale: A Novel (Hardcover)

I didn't like this book very much at first, but oddly, I finished it. I read the whole thing partly because 100 pages in, I was pretty bored so I glanced at the last few pages. I was surprised and relieved at where the book was headed, so I continued reading. The other reason I finished it is because despite its large flaws, this book is strangely compelling.

First, the problems. The scene where Noble explains to Isabel that Welsh men don't hit their wives. It wasn't bad in and of itself, but it was lifted almost directly from Sharon Kay Penman's "Here Be Dragons." I actually know quite a bit about medieval Welsh law, and though historical fiction authors seem to insist otherwise, this was in fact not the only interesting point of their legal system.

I found myself often wondering why she chose to make this historical fiction instead of just fiction. The customs she described seemed to be there only so she could drop some Welsh phrases. They weren't well integrated or even particularly important. Most infuriatingly, the author played too fast and loose with history, even for the genre. She invented two of the three main characters, admits it was impossible for one to exist, and completely changed the few historical events depicted. There's also no reason to think that the real Noble was anything like he was in the book, though there was a Welsh king of the same name in the 6th century with a similar personality. In reality, the book's Noble died a year before "The Fool's Tale" even begins. Why didn't she just make up the king's name, too, and put a fictional character in place of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth and stop trying for historical fiction? Having twisted shards of history didn't help the book, they were just distracting.

She crammed in too many political plots to properly focus on the characters, and focused on the characters too much to make the political plots seem like anything but an excuse to make the book longer. The cat-and-mouse game once the affair starts went on waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.

All my complaints aside, however, this book was not a disaster. When she hits a good scene, it's really good. She has a knack for dialogue, and I thought the actions of many characters (especially Gwirion) were realistic and sympathetic. She can really get into the psychology of a character without being too heavy-handed about it, though some of them got very tiresome. Isabel and Noble, I'm looking at you. At any rate, I enjoyed the court scene in which Gwirion is called upon to investigate the plantiff's claim, and, among other things, the beginning and end are really very good. This book isn't awful, it's simply a 500 page book that should've been 300 pages and was crammed into an innappropriate mold.