Best Historical Novel (3° place): Bee Among The Clover by Fae Sutherland & Marguerite Labbe
It was an hard fight against myself to convince me to read this book. When first I saw it released I had almost an immediately compulsive need to click the buy button, but then I wavered, and made a pro and and cons list: pro, it's an historical, I know the authors and liked what I read by them, it's a new epublishers and I like to try new things; cons, for sure there will be a rape. 3 against 1 and my compulsive clicking stopped. I was in the right mood to read about rape? and even if I managed to go through it, what about the obvious menages? Yes since the story is about two men who find themself enslaved by the same lord, and so this lord should be consider in the total... And so I admit, I didn't buy it since someone told me: why haven't you read it? And I felt guilty, since I hadn't given to a book, and to the authors, a chance they deserve, given that it's not simple to write an historical with a rape... late (and very missed) Kathleen E. Woodiwiss and her The Wolf and the Dove still bear the weight after 25 years.
Roman is a bed slave for a northern English thane (actually the authors never mention English or England, but I need to place him, and don't know enough of English ancient history). Roman, as the name let guess, was the young son of a Roman citizen who made a huge mistake some years before and now is a lifetime slave; it's quite interesting to read how the proud but careless young roman turned in an apparently willing pet for his master. Maybe it helps that Wulfgar (yes, same name as the main character of The Wolf and the Dove) is not a truly villain... oh, yes, he is merciless and he first forced Roman, and now Aron, into slavery; not only that, he used them without remorse, in bed and out of it, parading them as beautiful pets, his treasures, as he calls them. But we have not to forget that Wulfgar is a warlord of a pre-medieval period, it can't be a gentleman, he has to be pitiless and strong. And clever.
Cleverness is something that Wulfgar knows well, on the contrary of young Aron. Aron is the son of a crofter who didn't pay what he was due to the thane; when Wulfgar comes to ask reasons, Aron challenges Wulfgar's champion and loses. Wulfgar gives Aron two options: burn down his father's home or being Wulfgar's thrall for an year, serving him in anything he wishes... and here is where Wulfgar is clever and Aron not, since Aron doesn't ask to Wulfgar what he meant in details and accepts to be a thrall. And so Aron finds himself forced to share Wulfgar's bed. His only aid is Roman, who can only mitigate the discomfort, but not prevent the rape, since of rape, even if we don't read it, we are speaking: doesn't matter that Wulfgar was not a bad character, doesn't matter that he is true to his history setting, it's a rape, but well, what else can you expected? The unlikely expedient that Mrs Woodiwiss used 25 years ago (who read the book knows it); no, sorry, even if I'm a romantic at heart, that was an expedient that clashed with all the historical reason, and I loved it, but it was not realistic.
And so also Aron faces his sad fate, but he does it in a very different way than Roman; he didn't surrender like him. Roman is a cultured man, he is strong but he is also very proud, and culture and proudness together would have killed him if he hadn't found a way to shield himself from the reality: Roman killed his proud self to not kill himself. Aron is as proud as Roman, but he is less cultured; I don't want to say that he is not intelligent, only that he is not so fine like Roman, and maybe even less careful, and so he fights against Wulfgar, and yes, maybe Wulfgar feels guilty for what he did to Roman, and so he treats Aron in a different way, he doesn't try to break him, but allows him to take his proud, even if he steals him the possess of his body.
Anyway there is a love story, and the love story is between two men, Aron and Roman, and Wulfgar is not part of it. When the love is still absent, there is in some way a threesome, with Wulfgar in the role of the puppeteer and Aron that is still driven by his body and by his newfound desire for a man, Roman. When love comes between them, both for Aron than for Roman, having Wulfgar between them becomes almost intolerable, but they still can't do nothing to prevent it. With their bodies... but with their minds it's all another question, and yes, even if in a world that is only for lovers, they find a way to be faithful to each other, even if with their bodies they still have to play the role of Wulfgar's pets.
The story is very long, I can't possible write all it left me, but is enough to say that the book, and the authors, convinces me that they deserve the chance I gave them; I'm happy to have read it, maybe since it reminded me so much a genre I was very fond of, the savage romance.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=55_149&products_id=1724
Amazon Kindle: Bee Among the Clover
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle
Cover Art by Anne Cain