Customer Reviews

The Love Knot

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In 1140, everyone suffers from the bloody Civil War between the supporters of King Stephen and those of the Empress Mathilda. The countryside is filled with heinous crimes, as Oliver Pascal will soon learn when he comes across the raped and battered body of a friend, Lady Amice, who soon dies. Oliver escorts Amice's ten-year old son Richard and her maid Catrin to a relative, Earl Robert in Bristol

Catrin tries to protect Richard, who she sees as more of a son than a burden. She also feels obligated to Oliver for rescuing them even though she loathes the concept of depending on any male. Still she begins to fall in love with him and he reciprocates those feelings. As Oliver tries to regain his lost lands, he marries Catrin, not knowing that their relationship stands in jeopardy due to external forces having a different agenda.

THE LOVE KNOT is a well written according-to-the-book, medieval romance. Sub-genre fans will enjoy the interesting story line that places honor and love in peril though the swing between present and past vernacular is a bit disconcerting. The lead characters are wonderful champions and Robert adds much depth to the tale. Elizabeth Chadwick writes a fine tale that her fans will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

I wouldn't say that "The Love Knot" is the best of Elizabeth Chadwick's books that I've read (that will always be "Daughter's of the Grail") but it is second best, and thus, being written by Elizabeth Chadwick, it is very good indeed.

This takes place during the English Civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda (with her son Henry Plantagenet) and follows supporters of Matilda's cause over a period of about 14 years. Oliver is a man just home from the Crusades, where he made a pilgrimage in honor of his young wife who died in childbirth. Once home he finds that King Stephen has stolen his family lands, and signs on with the Empress Matilda so he can get them back. On a journey to Bristol to get orders he comes across a burned down country-house where he grew up, with one almost dead woman he grew up with, her young son, and his nurse. The nurses' name is Catrin.

Catrin and the dead woman's son (who happens to be the bastard son of the old king) Richard, are taken by Oliver to Bristol. Naturally, we have a love connection between Oliver and Catrin, both of whom are raw and damaged by the deaths of their spouses. Catrin also starts to learn the trade of a midwife, and thus we are taught a great deal about childbirth and healing in the middle ages (it wasn't pretty.) Reading this part of the book will make you glad that you we born in the 20th (or 21st) century and have access to modern medical care and good birth control!

Then something happens in Catrin's life which changes everything, allegiances, love and both her and Oliver's lives. But still they are bound by the love knot that Ethyl, the midwife who raised Oliver and taught Catrin, made for them.

As always, if it's by Elizabeth Chadwick you are guaranteed a good read. This is one of her more romantic and less biographical novels, comparable best probably to "The Marsh King's Daughter." If you like romance, medical history, action adventure and good twisted plot you'll like this book. I do agree at time the characters are a little stereotypical, but it's not enough to detract from the overall novel.

Five stars.

Pro's - the description of the surrounding is good, makes you feel like you are in medieval times.
Con's - the behavior of the characters, practically 21st century (when the heroine leaves her 3 year old twins and 10 year old daughter at home, she first finds someone to watch over them...)

Characters are VERY flat. Almost politically correct. Which is a shame as there was real potential there...

Even Chadwick's second best novels are a cut above much of the historical fiction genre.This is one of her earlier books and more of a historical romance than true historical fiction, the main characters being fictional. This is the second time I've read the book, in between I had read SKP's When Christ and His Saints Slept about England's civil war. Having a better understanding of that complicated period made this novel much more enjoyable than the first time.

I don't understand a previous reviewer's comment about Wicca, I didn't get that in the book at all -- all I read was that Catrin became an experienced midwife and herbalist. All in all a very nice story, Catrin was stubborn to a fault, Oliver steadfast and honorable, a truly evil villain and a surprise return from the past of someone long thought dead.

While most historical romances make the Middle Ages almost TOO perfect, I liked the fact that the Love Knot didn't. It portrayed a knight that wasn't always shining and a lady who wasn't always dressed her very best and making great heartfelt choices. The hearth knight was a poor knight, who didn't have his own castle to live in. I really felt I was dropped in the Middle Ages without all the glamour, just the plain truth. They reminded me of everyday people. Thank you Ms. Chadwick!

This was the second book of Ms. Chadwick's that I had the pleasure to read, and it surpassed the first one by far. The characters had the depth that is sometimes lacking in historical novels, everything was brought vividly to life, from the danger of childbirth in the middle ages to the romance between the characters.

An excellent curl up in your favourite armchair book.

I enjoyed this, tho I found it a bit predictable. It was an entertaining tale involving the war of Stephen and Matilda, midwifery, superstitions, and knights. Oh, and let's not forget romance. The main character is Catrin who has been widowed for three years (or so she thinks) and after being caught in the middle of the Stephen and Matilda war in England, 1140, she barely escapes with her life from an evil band of raping, pillaging merceneries. She meets and falls in love with a knight that is fighting on the Empress's side. Not willing to be dependent on a man and not satisfied sitting in a castle listening to gossip, Catrin learns the healing arts and midwife trade. Just when she is about to marry her knight, Oliver, she runs into her presumed dead husband, Louis. Louis had staged his death previously and now holds Oliver's life in his hands, as Louis is fighting for Stephen and has captured Oliver and his men. While the country is divided between Stephen and Matilda, Catrin's heart is divided between her long lost husband and the fond memories he comes with and her new love for Oliver.

Catrin makes a difficult choice and it turns out to be the wrong one. Will she be able to correct her mistake and find happiness with the right man? The drama enfolds in between battles for the crown. Readers not only get a romantic tale and an intriguing love triangle, but details about the long Empress Matilda vs Stephen feud.

Four stars instead of five because there were some areas where it seemed to drag on more than it should and it was a bit predictable. As always tho, Chadwick writes with much attention to detail and adds just enough true history to awe, but not bore.

Continuing on my endevours to read all of Elizabeth Chadwick's novels this year, the October selection was The Love Knot. Set during the years of the Civil War between Stephan and Matilda, rival claimants for the English crown, what had once been a thriving, peaceful land is quickly disintegrating into chaos. Now there are roving bands of mercenaries and troops, wandering the land and laying waste to any small manors or lands, and leaving misery behind.

For one knight, Sir Oliver Pascal, newly returned from making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, it's a heartbreaking return. In a ruined estate, he finds a woman who has been badly abused and dying from miscarriage. Worst still, he knows her - she was Amice, the sister of his wife, and the mother of one of Old King Henry's many illegitimate children. Dying, she begs him to take her son Richard to one of the few noblemen still loyal to the Old King's daughter, Matilda. Saddened, Oliver agrees to take the boy, along with Richard's nurse, the lovely Catrin.

Catrin has seen her own measure of misery. She was left widowed and alone when her husband drowned in an accident. A fortunate encounter with Amice has given her a home for a time, but now this is gone, knowing that young Richard won't be needing her once he enters a noble household. She doesn't have many choices open to her, without a wealthy family or husband to help. When the small party reaches the port city of Bristol, they are all welcomed into the household of Earl Robert. Sir Oliver will return to his duties as one of the Earl's knights, Richard will train to be a warrior, and Catrin becomes one of the Countess's waiting women. It's stability for now, but Catrin soon finds the closed up world of the women not to her liking, filled mostly with backbiting and gossip.

But all of that will change for her when she meets Ethel. Ethel is the local midwife, an aging woman with plenty of good common sense, and a vast knowledge of herbal medicine. She and Catrin soon become friends, and Catrin starts to learn to be a midwife, and quickly becomes a very good one. Too, a budding romance is quickly growing between her and Sir Oliver, even though she knows that he is a landless knight and unlikely to provide her with a life of wealth or ease. And Oliver has seen plenty of heartache in his life, especially when his beloved wife Emma died in childbirth, a memory that sent him off to seek oblivion in war, and now is fearful that love will be just as disappointing as before. But the pair do learn to trust one another, and tentatively agree to marry just as Oliver is about to leave for battle on behalf of Empress Matilda.

But the story is about to take a dreadful turn that will test Oliver and Catrin's love for each other. Oliver turns up missing after a battle, and Catrin sets off to find him, determined to ransom him and bring him back with her. What she didn't count on was finding out that her husband - the one that she had thought had drowned - is very much alive, and not about to let her leave him, dangling a devilish deal in front of her that will put her convictions and loyalty to the test...

One of the things that I like so much about Elizabeth Chadwick's writing is that not only can she create a believable world for her characters, but also make those characters be people whom you can actually care about. In the hands of a lesser writer, Oliver would have been a two-dimensional sort, think of Tom Cruise in armor, say, and Catrin would have had some sort of psychic ability to let her 'heal' people without benefit of actual knowledge. Instead, thankfully, Ms. Chadwick makes them very human, with all of the emotional baggage that entails. Both of them are people who have doubts - just look at Oliver's fears of losing a woman he loves to the dangers of pregnancy and birth - or at Catrin's having to choose between two men that she does care about, with all of the moral dilemmas that it brings.

And that's another fine point with Ms. Chadwick's style that I enjoy very much. Usually in most historical novels, especially those where the relationship is the central point of the story, religion is either ignored, or the reader is treated to some sort of 'hidden' forbidden variety of paganism. This tends to be really rife when a character is a healer of some sort, with every sort of half-baked idea of modern witchcraft pasted on top for good measure. But Ms. Chadwick is smart enough not to insult her readers with this sort of twaddle. She manages to get inside of her character's heads, and keeps them firmly in the time and place that they inhabit.

Finally, her stories are terrific blends of historical figures that actually lived, fictional characters that feel like real people, and all sorts of little details about medieval life and lore. Her knowledge of the times feels right, and she knows what happens when and skillfully blends it into her stories. Despite the cover, don't be mistaken that these are those historical romances that get churned out regularly - these are straight up historical novels, with enough action and adventure with a healthy dollop of romance to keep anyone entertained.

Four very strong stars for this one. Happily recommended.

Absolute best book ever written!! So much depth and plot tied together. I strongly recommend it.

I won't go into detail about the plot since other reviewers have already done a good job with the recap. As always, Elizabeth Chadwick does a great job illustrating the early turbulent period in the English history. However, where I felt let down was the underlying plot relating to Oliver and Catrin. Maybe it was the author's attempt to not be lumped into the history romance category, but I felt the sudden resurrection of the long-dead husband was a red herring thrown in to create a non-existent conflict. For Catrin, who otherwise is strong and intelligent, to make such a stupid choice based on adolescent feelings was out of character. Also, regardless of his being her husband, it felt wrong to have her succumb to his seduction so immediately after years of absence, especially coming on the heels of her supposed devotion to Oliver. The rich history setting made up somewhat for this misstep.