Customer Reviews

The Queen's Lover: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After reading Vanora Bennett's Figures in Silk, I was looking forward to reading another novel by the same author. I noticed right away that her style of writing had changed slightly. The book told the story of Catherine de Valois (mother of Henry VI), from the time she was a young girl to the coronation of her son, in multiple points-of-view...sometimes it was Catherine's thoughts; sometimes Christine's, Owain, Henry V, and a few others. The POVs changed frequently within the same chapters, but it was easy to keep track of. The novel itself was divided into separate books, which allowed the narration to suddenly jump in time, location and tone. I don't think it made any difference to the storyline, but it did add depth to the various characters.

I found the description of Catherine's childhood to be extremely disturbing. I can't imagine royal children starving, or being so severely neglected. Christine was such a big part of Catherine's life, and a great influence on Owain, yet the mention of her death was not what I was expecting for a character of that importance. There were other odd moments in the book; for instance, Dame Butler was emphasized as a beloved servant, but then she makes a snotty remark about young Harry acting like a baby. The abuse that Warwick was able to get away with was also very upsetting. I don't understand why someone would be allowed to beat a future King like that. I can't believe after Catherine's own miserable childhood, she could let anything bad happen to her own son. It's no wonder King Henry VI was known to go mad as an adult.

I loved Part Seven with Jehanne of Arc. It helped me figure out where I was on the timeline...it was very difficult to remember what the date was at any point in the novel. However, by that point in the book, I was under the impression that Catherine was more concerned with her love affair with Owain than the well-being of her son, Harry. If I was suppose to think she was a strong female, I never did. I can't summon up respect for someone that selfish, and Catherine always seemed incapable of helping herself -- even towards the end of the novel. The Cardinal was actually more of a favorite.

Overall, the story was entertaining, but the Historical Postscript left out the detail of Catherine's death. After reading a novel based on her life, it would have been nice to know how she died. I think I prefered the writing style of Figures in Silk, but I would recommend this novel to anyone interested in historical fiction from this time period.

Bennett chose a great subject to write about this time: Queen Catherine and Owen Tudor, the founder of the English Tudor line of royalty.

Catherine, a royal princess of France who married King Henry V, later married (at least, history tells us she probably did) one of her husband's Welsh servants causing a huge scandal. Their descendants would go on to assume the throne of England.

Where the novel goes astray is in what I like to call the "detours." Bennett's detours are at times completely unbelievable. Young French princesses did not, as a general rule, dress up as a servant and sneak away from their abodes to an entirely different town (days worth of travel away) just to meet up secretly with friends.

Nor did young French princesses have the latitude or privacy to engage in illicit liaisons with commoners.

These kinds of things simply did not happen and to portray them as such detracts from the credibility of the author.

Aside from that, Bennett does keep a plot moving along at a good clip, her dialog is quite good and she does include an author's note (something very much appreciated by historical fiction readers).

So should you read this? If you enjoyed Bennett's previous novels or if you'd just like to read more about Catherine and Owen, I'd say go ahead. If you're picky with credibility, this one might frustrate you a bit.

I admit to some excitement on seeing this title by Vanora Benett because there is so much romanticism and speculation surrounding Catherine de Valois and Owain Tudor. Even after I'd read some of the less than spectacular reviews on this site, I was still hopeful that perhaps some of the magic of this tale would find its way into the story and I'd come away satisfied. Oh well, one can dream, can't one?

I won't spend much energy recounting the story of Catherine and her Welsh lover who spawned a line of kings known to everyone. Unfortunately, Bennett herself spends too much time doing just that when it comes to Catherine's early years, and the escapades that even a neglected princess undertakes are unbelievable. I found myself just wishing she would get on with the tale; while I knew there was a need for build up to the relationships of Catherine's adult life, it just seemed so unnecessary to spend so much time inventing a youth that seemed so improbable. Though there are sparks of enjoyment along the way, it was next to impossible for me to maintain interest since so much of the story relied on happenstance and circumstances which were unlikely to exist. In fact, so disillusioned was I with the first 150+ pages, I found myself skimming ahead to hit the high points and finally just putting the book aside. Those who do not mind their historical fiction being on the less factual side will probably not find as much fault with the storytelling as I did, but those who feel historical fiction based on real people should rely more fully on fact will be disappointed. I know I was.

The Queen's Lover is a historical fiction novel set in France and England, centering on Catherine de Valois, the fifteenth century French Princess and great grandmother of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty. The novel begins with Catherine's tumultuous childhood as a "poor little rich girl," living unloved and neglected in the shadows of her shrewish, promiscuous mother, Queen Isabeau of Bavaria and her mad father King Charles VI of France. As a royal princess, Katherine is a valuable commodity and she views a possible marriage to English King Henry V as a means of escape from the political chaos plaguing France as well as the lack of family harmony due to her father's mental illness and her mother's inability to get along with her siblings.

Nearly half the novel details the degeneration of France as a consequence of King Charles' madness and Queen Isabeau's unpleasant temperament. I think this section should have been cut down a bit, as I found it to be somewhat dull at times. (However, it does form an interesting foreshadowing of the instability that England would experience during the reign of Catherine and Henry V's son, King Henry VI, due to his own battles with mental illness.) The novel initially appeared well researched to me (although I am not sure whether there was any historical foundation for the portrayal of Katherine and her brother Charles as neglected and half starved children). Unfortunately, Bennett is unable to sustain a believable portrayal of Catherine de Valois.

In the novel, there are four scenes/events in particular that were not believable and seriously damaged the credibility of the novel. I will detail them below but in this paragraph, I would like to say that the scenes/events are incongruous with medieval behavior and almost made me stop reading the novel, as I am a reader who prefers factually based historical fiction. Unfortunately, Vanora Bennett author's note is inadequate, briefly summarizing the remainder of Owain Tudor's and Katherine's lives without clarifying which sections of the novel were left to her imagination or pointing out which sections of the novel were controversial and laying out the supporting evidence for her story. She also does not include a bibliography.

The four scenes that struck me as particularly outrageous are enumerated as follows:

[CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!]

First, the novel presents Catherine and Owain Tudor as knowing each other as teenagers (possible but unlikely) and having a sexual relationship (highly improbable).

Second, the novel presents Catherine and Henry V as consummating their relationship prior to the finalization of marriage negotiations with Queen Isabeau's encouragemeent. This would never ever happen, particularly given Katherine's value on the marriage market.

Third, the novel portrays Catherine as supporting Joan of Arc (unlikely, as supporting Joan of Arc runs counter to Katherine's son's interests) and visiting Joan in the tower in Rouen to bring her clothing in order to avoid her execution for heresy (highly unlikely).

Fourth, the novel portrays Catherine and Owain Tudor as having a clandestine sexual relationship outside of marriage (possible but unlikely) and as marrying after Isabeau lies to the the English court and states that Owain and Katherine had secretly married (highly unlikely).

[END OF SPOILERS]

Overall this is a three star novel. Some points were better than three stars, others were one star. It is unfortunate that the novel was not better, as Catherine and Owain's relationship was both interesting and important to the course of English history. Bennett clearly did a lot of research but she seems to have forgotten her historical bearings.

I love historical fiction, and I chose this book because I know almost nothing about the Tudors before Henry VIII. Unfortunately, as other reviewers have noted, there are too many outlandish ideas presented to make the story credible. I don't expect absolute historical accuracy - this is fictionalized - but I do expect believable descriptions. As a Princess, Catherine had far too much freedom (even within such a dysfunctional family) and I found it farfetched that she would have any opportunity to be alone with the young Owain Tudor, even as a girl. Even more outrageous was that she would be allowed to have sex with Henry V before they were even betrothed, before negotiations had truly begun. And lastly, it was ridiculous to think that the Earl of Warwick would be allowed to physically abuse the child-king Henry VI when he was the only living heir to the throne. These inconsistencies often jarred me out of the fantasy a good story should weave.

Also, the title and blurb are misleading and I almost felt cheated. Though this is billed as a love story, fully a third of the novel describes Catherine's life at the French Court as a child. Catherine and Owain spend most of the book apart, and do not even become a couple until the last few pages! The blurb describes her as "being terrified" of marrying the rough soldier and enemy, Henry V, yet the story has her conniving to bring it about so she can escape her horrid family. This would have been better described as just a fictionalized account of her life, with a more appropriate title. The brief epilogue explains how the Tudor dynasty actually began (with Catherine's grandson, Henry VII) but we do not see how they got there.

However, despite the many flaws in the book, I cannot deny that it was a real page turner which is why I gave it three stars. I finished most of the book in day, eager to see the fallout from the various political machinations and conniving of the royal families. This could have been an outstanding novel if the author had focused more on Catherine and Owain as a couple, and kept the ideas more grounded in reality.

Until now Bennett has chosen as her principal characters people living on the fringes of royal courts and affected by royal whims and policies. In this third novel, she has built a book around a heroine who is herself royal, albeit one who is no more in control of her fate than most of the non-royal characters who surround her. Indeed, as Catherine de Valois muses early on in this enjoyable read, the burden of having royal blood (a theme which recurs throughout the book) leaves her with fewer choices and more obligations than those whose freedom to decide on their own future she envies, such as her preceptress, Christine de Pizan, and young Welsh envoy Owain Tudor.

Bennett takes the true tale of Catherine and Tudor -- one of the classic 'all lost for love' tales -- and builds a plot around it. In her version, Catherine and Tudor meet before Catherine's marriage to Henry V, in a Paris that the long-standing feuds among noblemen of the 'blood royal' has already devastated but which retains enough of its former glories to enchant Owain, who finds in Paris people to accept him for who he is and look past his Welsh nationality. Bennett deftly handles the complexities of the political infighting within France at the time, focusing more on the efforts of a young and naive Catherine to pull together her very dysfunctional family. (Some of the most outrageous details of the Valois family do seem completely accurate, based on the histories of the era I've read.) It is only in the wake of the defeat at Azincourt and the return of her young brother Charles, the dauphin, to court that she realizes the extent to which that will never be possible. Bennett portrays her turn toward her country's enemy, Henry V, as a natural response born out of her revulsion at what she perceives to be the bloodthirsty and impious behavior of Charles as well as a rejection by Owain.

While the wildest elements of the plots -- Catherine's childhood, her affair with Tudor -- are well-documented parts of history (the Tudor dynasty would be founded by their grandson), Bennett lets down her narrative at some points along the way by introducing more implausible and smaller plot details. She sets off with Christine de Pisan on an expedition (yes, she was neglected by the court, but I'm pretty sure the absence of a princess would have been remarked on...) and there is a really weird scene between her and Henry V in a tent when their marriage is being negotiated that could and should have been left by the wayside. Still, she's good at imagining intriguing "what could have been" scenarios that don't do violence to history: it's certainly plausible that Catherine and Christine de Pisan had some kind of relationship, based on what is known of both; similarly, so little about Owen Tudor's early years is known that his presence in Paris at strategic points in the novel is plausible. (It's not known when Owen met Catherine; it could have been after she became queen, or perhaps not until she was widowed.) The kind of tug-of-war that Bennett portrays between Catherine's awareness of her royal blood and its significance and her yearning for something more was convincing; she had seen her elder sister married twice for reasons of state, and dying young and unhappily. Bennett builds on that upbringing to lay the groundwork for Catherine's reckless behavior as a royal widow -- having an illicit affair and several children with a Welshman who at that point wasn't even a knight.

This is far from a flawless book however, and I'm beginning to suspect that Bennett may never live up to her debut novel, the standout Portrait of an Unknown Woman: A Novel. Occasionally, Bennett gives in to temptation and gives us hints of things to come in introducing characters who will play key roles in the Wars of the Roses, which don't begin until years after Catherine is dead (but which will cost Owen his head). The book ends with Catherine dreaming of an idyllic England and France, ruled by her son as a philosopher king, even as Bennett has shown that he has inherited some of the Capetian tint of schizophrenia. Bennett has the same stylistic 'tics', long, complex sentences combined with sentence fragments, that have annoyed readers in the past. Still, I found the characters of Owain and Christine intriguing and Bennett's portrayal of the havoc wreaked on a lawless France by the battle for that crown was fascinating. Rated 3.5 stars and rounded up.

For fans of historical fiction, this book will be interesting exploration of medieval Europe and merging of France and England through royal marriage into one force. Princess Catherine is a daughter of King of France and his German born bride. Her father is suffering from mental illness, and her mother is a perfect example of exaggerated selfishness and self-indulgance. Unlikely to assume the throne, she and her youngest brother Charles are almost forgotten part of royal family.

England has King Henry V ruling the country. He is a born warrior, eager to assume more nations into his rule that will ensure more revenue for his English empire. It is through marriage with Catherine and their join offspring he wants to rule Europe and expand its boundaries. Catherine is obedient and within a year she produces the heir (Henry VI) to British throne that will eventually assume title of King of France and England. However, within a couple of years of their marriage, King Henry V is dead and Catherine, limited in her fluency in Engilish and with no friends surrounding her in her new court is forced to plan safe upbringing of her son, the future King.

Cruelty towards women and lack of sensitivity towards children in middle ages is eye opening to any reader unfamilair with this historical time period. Separation between the young King Henry VI from his mother at his tender age of five is not a suprising contrinuting factor to his emotional instability and maddness during his adult years. But what is compelling is the fact that a Queen Dowager of England and France manages to marry Welshman (Owain Tudor) of lower birth than hers, assumes quiet life in the English coutryside and bears him many children until only six years later she dies in childbirth. It is their grandson who becomes successor to Henry VI which in itself is amazing, aside from the fact that Tudor dynasty continues to grow and thrive for centuries to come.

It is only in the later chapters of this book that historical fiction turns more into historical romance with somewhat sappy appeal. This is also my first book I read by Vanora Bennett. She has put a lot of effort in research for this book. I liked the postscript of the book that explains what happens to Catherine de Valois and her later offspring with her new spouse Owain Tudor.

I bought this novel in England, where it is perhaps more appropriately named 'Blood Royal'. Catherine's references to her royal blood throughout the novel portrayed the crucial reason why she didn't embrace her love for Owain Tudor much earlier on than she did. In fact I loved how Ms Bennett contrasted the French view of the monarchy to the English one; the idea that the French paid a lot more attention to the tradition and ceremony surrounding their King and his almost sacred bloodline.

I have rather mixed feelings about this novel, as it started off brilliantly and ended in the same way, but I found that the middle section dragged on. In the beginning we had the forbidden love of young Catherine, Princess of France, and Owain Tudor, the Welsh 'nobody' serving the English court. Knowing that these two were to marry and produce such a famous line of English monarchs made reading about their early encounters gripping. This was definitely the best part of the novel. I also loved Ms Bennett's inclusion of Christine de Pizan, as through her the reader was painted a portrait of Paris at that point in history.

However, once Henry V died and Catherine was left a widow in a foreign country, I found the chapters became rather stilted. I understand that the author wished to portray Owain's hesitancy in declaring love for Catherine and vice versa but I would have been quite happy if she were to have skipped through these years quicker than she did. I even became bored by the relationship between Catherine and her son, as it was almost like reading a monthly log of events in their household.

However, towards the end of the novel when they travelled to France for Henry VI's coronation, and Catherine and Owain began to express themselves to each other once again, things gradually kicked up a notch and I was emersed once again. I loved the conclusion, where Ms Bennett gave an idea for how they got married; it made me laugh, and become very happy for the pair.

All in all I was only disappointed by the middle section of this novel, and would have given it a much higher rating if not for that.

The Queen's Lover: A Novel is a long read. In fact, I felt that it took much longer to tell the story that it should have. That makes the story boring. Even more disconcerting is the fact that the writer moves between making her heroine a pawn or a strong individual. She can't seem to make up her mind about the character that is the most important to the plot and the story. This adds confusion to a novel that already lacks clarity.

Though it does give a good deal of historical information, I found the storyline to overall be slow and cumbersome. Did not keep my attention.