Sybelle [Import] [Hardcover]

Roberta Gellis (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Chivers Press (1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0859975754
• ISBN-13: 978-0859975759
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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 Culmination of a great series!, February 8, 2003

By 

Jean Cooper "eleanordew" (Charlottesville) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sybelle (The Roselynde Chronicles, Book 6) (Paperback)

I judge a book by the number of times I re-read it -- and I think I must have read each book in the Roselynde Chronicles about a hundred times. Every time that I think I've choosen my favorite of all the books, I pause and think, "But what about that scene in "Alinor," or "Joanna," or "Gilliane?" This series is an incredibly accurate historical overview of the period from the reign of Richard the Lion-heart through the beginning of the reign of Henry III. At the same time, it presents a rousing good story, with engaging characters and a great plot.

In this book, Sybelle is the daughter of Joanna and Geoffrey, and the granddaughter of Alinor of Roselynde. Sybelle is 16, and her parents and grandparents are urging her to choose a husband. This is no light decision - Sybelle will someday become the Lady of Roselynde, and her husband will have the responsibility of protecting and governing the lands with her.

The plot develops not only the very personal story of Sybelle's courtship and marriage, but also presents us with the grand sweep of English history - across Wales and western England, from Llewellyn, the Prince of Gwynned (Wales), to a rebellious Richard, earl of Pembroke, to the young Henry III of England - and presents it all from both a personal and a political viewpoint.

I cannot say that I enjoyed this book more than the other 5 books in the Roselynde Chronicles. But I will say that I have enjoyed it and the other books with frequent re-readings over the past 20 or more years, and that I will continue to enjoy it with frequent re-readings in the future.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book Six and Last of the Roselynde Chronicles 3.5 stars, November 3, 2007

By 

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

This review is from: Sybelle (The Roselynde Chronicles, Book 6) (Paperback)

This final entry by Gellis in her Roselynde Chronicles is the story of Sybelle, Geoffrey and Joanna's daughter, and Alinor's granddaughter and heiress to the Roselynde lands and legacy. Now sixteen, it is time for her to marry and she sets her sights on the older Walter de Clare who along with the Earl of Pembroke (William Marshal's son) is in rebellion against Henry III. Pembroke's widowed sister in law Marie sets her sights on Walter as well and her evil manipulations threaten to interfere with Sybelle's and Walter's marriage and happiness.

While this was an entertaining enough read it didn't have me glued to the very end like the first three in the series did. I hate to say it, but the chemistry between the pair just didn't sing to me, and there was one love scene where they um ah "did it" without really doing it that was just a little weird, and then not much of anything on the wedding night. However, I did enjoy the way the author brought back the memory of Simon, Alinor's first husband on Sybelle's wedding day. That was a nice touch.

As always, Gellis provides lots of historical detail on the period and political intrigues of the times, but in this book you will find more of that and less of any real romance. Three stars for the love story between Sybelle and Walter and four stars for Gellis' superb historical details. 3.5 stars.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Quality Gellis Writing and Familiar Characters, June 22, 2006

By 

Gardening in Upstate NY (New York State) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sybelle (The Roselynde Chronicles, Book 6) (Paperback)

For Gellis fans, this is familiar attention to detail and a story line that has some unexpected twists and turns. We are reintroduced to Sybelle, Geoffrey and Joanna's daughter, Alinor's granddaughter, who is to be the heir to Roselynde. The family is shopping for a husband and helpmate for her and has in mind a friend of Simon's. Walter is enchanted with Sybelle but unsure of the requirement that he be tolerate women with power in their own right and expectations of being treated as vocal equals...and the requirement to be a faithful husband. He is shown to grow and overcome his more prosaic notions and Sybelle also becomes a more tolerant and wiser character as she matures quickly in the face of adversity and civil war. Political intrigues abound as does the trechery of another women who wants Walter. A good read with complexities.