The Book of Eleanor: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine (Paperback)

by Pamela Kaufman (Author) "We departed London on the Winchester Royal Road riding ten abreast, a royal guard in smart scarlet, helmets and swords glittering in the low winter..." (more)
Key Phrases: Ghe Book, Abbot Suger, Abbot Bernard (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Medieval chronicler Kaufman (Shield of Three Lions; Banners of Gold) turns her attention to the eponymous Eleanor of Aquitaine in this earnest first-person account of life, power and passion in 12th-century Europe. The novel opens in 1174 with the kidnapping of 52-year-old Eleanor by the men of her second husband, Henry II. Wanting to keep Eleanor's sons from the throne, Henry sentences her to imprisonment in the drafty Welsh tower of Old Sarum for 17 years, where she uses her time to pen the autobiographical account forming the body of the book. When she was 15, the beautiful, spirited daughter of the duke of Aquitaine fell in love with her kinsman, Baron Rancon, but had to forsake him to marry the religiously obsessed and sexually repressed King Louis VII of France for political gain. After she was granted an annulment finally approved by the pope, Eleanor planned to wed Rancon, but she was kidnapped and forced into marriage once again by the ambitious, redheaded Henry II, duke of Normandy and soon-to-be king of England. Henry and Eleanor, both natural leaders, are an explosive pair, but Eleanor will not give up Rancon, defying Henry until the end. Kaufman peppers her narrative with snatches from troubadour songs and interjections like "God's eyes!" but the tale lacks atmospheric richness. However, her presentation of one of history's larger-than-life heroines as an early feminist will engage and entertain readers with an interest in the life stories of powerful women. (Mar.)Forecast: Kaufman's novel lacks the verve of Rosalind Miles's Guenevere trilogy, but the perennial appeal of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the general popularity of feminist-inflected historical fiction should assure respectable sales.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Though one might question the need for another novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine, this version by Kaufman makes even such well-traveled territory fresh. Narrator Eleanor recalls her life and her family in fascinating detail, with stories of everyone from her grandfather, the first troubadour, to her many children a who's who of the heads of Europe. Among the characters are Eleanor's two husbands, Louis VII and Henry II; Thomas … Becket; the nasty Bernard of Clairvaux; and the cunning but somehow lovable Abbot Suger of Saint Denis. There is a Crusade, and there are battles. There is also a romance, which, in the true spirit of courtly love, involves neither of Eleanor's husbands. Above all, though, there is Eleanor, with a wit and spirit so fierce that she is able to stand beside and even above the most powerful men in the Western world during a time when women are considered by the Church to be a biological afterthought. As in her previous medieval novels (Banners of Gold, Shield of Three Lions), Kaufman renders the details with perfection the sounds, sights, and (often unpleasant) smells. For all historical fiction collections. [Sharon Kay Penman also retells the story of Eleanor and Henry in Time and Chance, the second volume in her historical trilogy. Ed.] Wendy Bethel, Southwest P.L., Columbus, OH
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (March 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609808095
• ISBN-13: 978-0609808092
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #346,400 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An ambitious project badly executed, August 25, 2002

By	New World Smurf "new_world_smurf" (Richmond, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Eleanor (Hardcover)

It is noted on the endpapers that it took Pamela Kaufman fifteen years to reasearch and complete "The Book of Eleanor." Judging by the book I read, the manuscript must have spent fourteen and a half of those years in a drawer someplace.

Eleanor of Aquitaine has always been an attractive subject for those interested in medieval history--in a time when women counted only as brood mares, she managed to gain enormous power not only as the wife to two kings and mother to two more, but as duchess of Aquitaine and countess of Poitou in her own right. When her story is presented well (and, like other reviewers, I will also cite Sharon Kay Penman's novels as examples), she is trememdously fascinating. In the hands of Pamela Kaufman, however, she is a shrill, imperious self-centered harpy. If that wasn't bad enough, Kaufman throws in a completely--and admittedly--fictional love affair between Eleanor and her Aquitanian captain and asks the reader to believe that this man fathered three of Eleanor's children, including the future Richard Lionheart. Also, Kaufman's Eleanor is dragged kicking and screaming into her second marriage to Henry of England, while history strongly indicates Eleanor wanted the marriage and probably had a hand in arranging it. Add in other enormous historical liberties and just plain bad writing (Kaufman is inordinately fond of exclamation points and crudity for crudity's sake) and you have what could have been a very original novel become an exercise in tedium. There are many excellent books, both fiction and non-fiction, about Eleanor of Aquitaine. "The Book of Eleanor" is not one of them.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars --Sadly disappointing--, May 18, 2003

By	Judith Miller (Bluemont, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Book of Eleanor (Hardcover)

THE BOOK OF ELEANOR is fairly entertaining as a story of fiction. It actually reminded me of a rather steamy historical romance with little basis in truth. I think that the author took too many liberties with her subject. History has given us quite a bit of information about Queen Eleanor, but the author ignored some important facts and chose to weave a story where Eleanor had a lover who supposedly fathered several of her children. I also had a problem with the way the character of Thomas a Becket was written. The author made him into a nasty and despicable person.

I approached this book with a great deal of enthusiasm because Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of my favorite historical subjects and had a very unique life. As a teenager she was married to King Louis VII of France and later divorced him and married Henry Anjou who became King Henry II of England. She was also the mother of King Richard the Lionhearted and the very unpopular King John who was forced to sign the Magna Carta.

Eleanor's life was so full and interesting that it was completely unnecessary to fabricate stories about her. I know this is a novel, but the author did not do justice to Eleanor or her life.

One of the few things that I liked about this book was the jacket illustration of Queen Eleanor.

29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Romantic Fantasy, September 26, 2002

By	Richard R. Carlton (Ada, MI United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Book of Eleanor (Hardcover)

Filled with romantic poetry from the famous "courts of love" of ancient Aquitaine and Poitiers, Pamela Kaufman's Book of Eleanor has incredible shelf appeal.....the reviews are spectacular; Washington Post says it;s "absolutely splendid;" the Sun-Times "superbly written;" and the Kansas City Star goes so far as to have it rivaling Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Wow!.....at least that's what I thought when I got my copy. This one is written for fans of romance, not for historical novel afficionados. Let me explain the strong points of Kaufman's writing, which are probably best said by the review from the Detroit Free Press on the back of the dust jacket, where the publishers have excerpted the phrase "amusing historical novel." That's the most accurate of all the reviews, with the emphasis on amusing and a focus on the romantic speculation that has surrounded the relationship between Eleanor and the troubadour Bernard of Ventadour.

Kaufman fans the flames of ancient speculation and creates a romance novel where Ventadour evolves into not only the legendary songsmith that he may well have been, but also a warrior knight every bit the equal of Richard the Lionhearted (who Kaufman makes not only the student of the troubadour, but also his son!) So it's obvious that Kaufman crafts her novel around the legend that there was a romantic relationship between Eleanor and Ventadour. This is the primary nugget of the entire tale that weaves itself into the first 30 of the 31 chapters. The lovers engage in hidden assignations where half of Eleanor's famous "devil's brood" of infant kings-to-be are conceived along with the political revolutions that will in the end foil Henry II's empire building. Throughout their own marriages, constant warfare, and long separations the love persists (in the tradition of the 20th century romance novel) until at long last Henry is dead, Richard is King, and the lovers are reunited in unexpected bliss for their final years together. The fact that too many primary sources appear candid enough to speak to the chivalric love between the two while at the same time stating that it was unlikely that there was any physical relationship, places this novel well outside the realm of historical novels and solidly into the romance category.

What I found horrifying was the way Kaufman turns all the primary male characters in Eleanor's life into demons, with the exception of Ventadour (of course). I realize this may be a requirement of the romance novel formula, but it is very clear that Henry II did not brazenly rape Eleanor to make her his wife and future Queen. Alison Weir (who is a meticulous researcher) in her book on Eleanor says only "Eleanor sent envoys to Henry, asking him to come at once and marry her; this was not necessarily a proposal, ....for it is possible that the couple had already agreed to marry." And even in this speculation she cites the well respected Gervase of Canterbury, among other primary sources. And I must admit that I have major problems with St. Thomas a Becket being demonized as well. This historical facts are extremely well documented that he was not martyred at the high altar at Canterbury. Anyone who has been there is well aware of the exact spot just inside the Martyrs Door where the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury dedicated a new altar within the last decade. And anyone with an elementary knowledge of forensics knows that vermin will leave a body after it cools, exactly as the contemporary accounts describe the lice and other creatures exiting the Saint's hair shirt and braises the evening of the murder. But Kaufman's greatest sin is the way she turns Thomas into a spiritual monster with no one to defend him at his hour of need. It is well documented by eye witnesses that Edward Grim attempted to defend Becket and nearly lost his arm as a result.

Eleanor is one of my favorite characters and I consider myself a serious fan of her life. However, there were great men associated with her and they were not all demons all the time. It pains me to see a story constructed at the expense of rejecting a considerable body of historical fact. The legend of Eleanor continues to grow rapidly today. Kaufman's book needs to be considered an interesting aberration, not a part of the legend, for it contains too much that is false.