Book Rec
I know personally that there are some of you on my f-list are interested in Tudor/Elizabethan England - and there's probably some of you who are that I am not aware of. I also know plenty of you are fans of various versions of Phantom of the Opera and the novel Phantom by Susan Kay.
There is a wonderful book by Susan Kay, her first book in fact (which she spent 15 years writing/researching) about Queen Elizabeth I. From the story of her birth until later in her reign, near her death. It's entitled Legacy and it's beautifully written. It also takes a focus on the men in her life - and yes, there were plenty, for being the "virgin" queen. Tom Seymour, Robert Dudley, William Cecil, and even the young Earl of Essex, Robert Devereaux were all at some point ensnared by her and damned by her. Cecil got it a bit easy, though, I'd say. Either way. The description is amazing, the character unforgettable, the dialogue perfect, and the it's almost historically accurate. There's only a couple of minor alterations. One man's title was given to him a bit early so as to not change his title too many times during the book (it would be changed three times if she hadn't - a bit confusing) - and one man and his son were combined into a single character, though not a large one.
It all has a sort of erotic, macabre romance about it that keeps "historically accurate" from equaling "boring" for the not-so history inclined. It delves not only into Elizabeth, but just about every character of significance - including all six of Henry's wives.
A couple warnings to dish out, though nothing insane: a fairly brief, but decently graphic encounter between a fourteen year old Elizabeth and her stepmother's thirty-five year old husband included, if that should actually offend anyone. (No, not her father. Henry died leaving his sixth wife, Katherine Parr, to marry Tom Seymour - who is indeed the man in question) Obviously, there's a few pedophilic comments regarding Elizabeth having an aura about her that should belong to a woman three times her age. Unwilling coquettishness, the very splitting image of her mother sometimes to the point even her father is fairly entranced for a thirty second period. But, he was also going insane at the time, so we'll give him a break.
I've fallen in love with the descriptions. It's absolutely...guh. It's beautiful, in its own way. I'll try and give a non-spoilery excerpt. Well, at least non-spoilery if you know history.
For a brief explanation, Robert Dudley, at the age of 17, marries a young, pretty, naive girl that's spoiled rotten, by the name of Amy. Elizabeth is obviously none too pleased and has fun teaching her a few lessons before this. Not five minutes after what I write below, young Robin has already started to doubt his choice of bride.
The wedding night practices at the time were interesting to say the least. The bride is taken into a the bridal chamber by a group of already-married women. They proceed to taunt her, give her advice, strip her naked, stick her in bed, and continue to gossip about until the groom arrives. He arrives with a good amount of the drunken guests.They sit around, hustling about rudely, bless the wedding bed, yada yada yada. Then they leave after both bride and groom have settled unclothed in bed.
"He came at length, wrapped in a long statin robe, and it seemed to Amy as though he had brought the entire of the court on his heels, a host of vulgar, drunken wedding guests who milled around the bed, laughing and shrieking like grotesque devils from the mouth of hell.
But there was one who did not prance or shriek or sing rude innuendoes, one who was stone-cold sober and whose slender presence terrified her more than all the rest.
She shut her eyes and did not open them again until the noisy multitude had jostled itself out of the room. What she saw then made her shrink into the shelter of Robin's warm nakedness.
Elizabeth was standing alone beside the bed. One hand rested lightly on the bedpost and the other on the curtain, so that her sweeping Boleyn sleeves unfurled like an angel's wings. Candlelight made a red-gold halo of her hair and softened the sharp contours of her face to a gleam of extraordinary beauty. Beneath her hand, Amy felt Robin's body stir and stiffen.
No one spoke. Elizabeth laughed suddenly and swept the curtain across the bed, shutting them together in a little brocaded prison. They did not hear her leave the room, but they knew instinctively the moment she was gone; it was as though something beyond this world had withdrawn to its own sphere.
The room was very quiet after the noisy crowd. Robin lay rigid beneath the sheet, staring at the dividing curtain, and Amy sensed some fierce emotion had him in its grip. Before she could speak, he had wrenched the curtain aside with a violent jerk and strode naked into the room. By the hearth he paused to pour a goblet of wine and she watched him throw it down his throat as though it were water."
Alright and so because it entertains me so, I have to give you this brief little part from when she's little. She carries around a decapitated doll in honor of her mother, that entertains me.
At midnight at the age of eight she goes with nine-year-old Robert Dudley to the hallway in which Katherine Howard (Henry's fifth wife) was carried off to her death on her way to beg for her life from Henry who was in prayer in the chapel. Elizabeth says it's haunted; Robin says he doesn't believe her. She's testing his bravery. Robin's little brother Guildford tags along and whines because it's dark and scary.
"Elizabeth turned away impatiantly to set down her candle and beside it the little doll she carried beneath her arm. After a moment she made the sign of the cross above the flame and began to speak softly in Latin. They could not catch what she said, but she looked so uncannily like a witch repeating the words of an incantation that Guildford began to sob in good earnest.
'I want to go back, I want to go back. Come with me, Robin.'
'I can't leave her here by herself,' said Robin sharply. 'She's only a girl. Look--take my candle and go back if you want to--but don't let the guards see you.'
Guildford fled silently down the corridor and after a moment Robin went over to her and touched her arm.
'What are you doing?' he asked uneasily. 'What did you say just then?'
She picked up the candle and looked at him through the dancing yellow flame.
'I said I would never marry.'
He laughed outright. 'Why did you say that?'
Turning, she glanced once more down the empty gallery and shivered.
'Because I meant it.'
'Oh,' he said uncomfortably and picked up the doll, turning it over in surprise. 'Why do you play with this?' he asked slowly. 'It's broken!'
'It's not broken!' she said strangely and took it from him.
'Of course it is,' he insisted. 'It's got no--' The word died on his lips as he saw her face. As he watched she took the doll and the candle and began to walk away down the gallery.
He was forced to run after her, to avoid being left in the dark."
Alright, alright. I'm quite done. Both excerpts are equivelent to a quarter of a fairly small page, so you're not being forced into reading much. Really, you're not. You'll be amused.
There is a wonderful book by Susan Kay, her first book in fact (which she spent 15 years writing/researching) about Queen Elizabeth I. From the story of her birth until later in her reign, near her death. It's entitled Legacy and it's beautifully written. It also takes a focus on the men in her life - and yes, there were plenty, for being the "virgin" queen. Tom Seymour, Robert Dudley, William Cecil, and even the young Earl of Essex, Robert Devereaux were all at some point ensnared by her and damned by her. Cecil got it a bit easy, though, I'd say. Either way. The description is amazing, the character unforgettable, the dialogue perfect, and the it's almost historically accurate. There's only a couple of minor alterations. One man's title was given to him a bit early so as to not change his title too many times during the book (it would be changed three times if she hadn't - a bit confusing) - and one man and his son were combined into a single character, though not a large one.
It all has a sort of erotic, macabre romance about it that keeps "historically accurate" from equaling "boring" for the not-so history inclined. It delves not only into Elizabeth, but just about every character of significance - including all six of Henry's wives.
A couple warnings to dish out, though nothing insane: a fairly brief, but decently graphic encounter between a fourteen year old Elizabeth and her stepmother's thirty-five year old husband included, if that should actually offend anyone. (No, not her father. Henry died leaving his sixth wife, Katherine Parr, to marry Tom Seymour - who is indeed the man in question) Obviously, there's a few pedophilic comments regarding Elizabeth having an aura about her that should belong to a woman three times her age. Unwilling coquettishness, the very splitting image of her mother sometimes to the point even her father is fairly entranced for a thirty second period. But, he was also going insane at the time, so we'll give him a break.
I've fallen in love with the descriptions. It's absolutely...guh. It's beautiful, in its own way. I'll try and give a non-spoilery excerpt. Well, at least non-spoilery if you know history.
For a brief explanation, Robert Dudley, at the age of 17, marries a young, pretty, naive girl that's spoiled rotten, by the name of Amy. Elizabeth is obviously none too pleased and has fun teaching her a few lessons before this. Not five minutes after what I write below, young Robin has already started to doubt his choice of bride.
The wedding night practices at the time were interesting to say the least. The bride is taken into a the bridal chamber by a group of already-married women. They proceed to taunt her, give her advice, strip her naked, stick her in bed, and continue to gossip about until the groom arrives. He arrives with a good amount of the drunken guests.They sit around, hustling about rudely, bless the wedding bed, yada yada yada. Then they leave after both bride and groom have settled unclothed in bed.
"He came at length, wrapped in a long statin robe, and it seemed to Amy as though he had brought the entire of the court on his heels, a host of vulgar, drunken wedding guests who milled around the bed, laughing and shrieking like grotesque devils from the mouth of hell.
But there was one who did not prance or shriek or sing rude innuendoes, one who was stone-cold sober and whose slender presence terrified her more than all the rest.
She shut her eyes and did not open them again until the noisy multitude had jostled itself out of the room. What she saw then made her shrink into the shelter of Robin's warm nakedness.
Elizabeth was standing alone beside the bed. One hand rested lightly on the bedpost and the other on the curtain, so that her sweeping Boleyn sleeves unfurled like an angel's wings. Candlelight made a red-gold halo of her hair and softened the sharp contours of her face to a gleam of extraordinary beauty. Beneath her hand, Amy felt Robin's body stir and stiffen.
No one spoke. Elizabeth laughed suddenly and swept the curtain across the bed, shutting them together in a little brocaded prison. They did not hear her leave the room, but they knew instinctively the moment she was gone; it was as though something beyond this world had withdrawn to its own sphere.
The room was very quiet after the noisy crowd. Robin lay rigid beneath the sheet, staring at the dividing curtain, and Amy sensed some fierce emotion had him in its grip. Before she could speak, he had wrenched the curtain aside with a violent jerk and strode naked into the room. By the hearth he paused to pour a goblet of wine and she watched him throw it down his throat as though it were water."
Alright and so because it entertains me so, I have to give you this brief little part from when she's little. She carries around a decapitated doll in honor of her mother, that entertains me.
At midnight at the age of eight she goes with nine-year-old Robert Dudley to the hallway in which Katherine Howard (Henry's fifth wife) was carried off to her death on her way to beg for her life from Henry who was in prayer in the chapel. Elizabeth says it's haunted; Robin says he doesn't believe her. She's testing his bravery. Robin's little brother Guildford tags along and whines because it's dark and scary.
"Elizabeth turned away impatiantly to set down her candle and beside it the little doll she carried beneath her arm. After a moment she made the sign of the cross above the flame and began to speak softly in Latin. They could not catch what she said, but she looked so uncannily like a witch repeating the words of an incantation that Guildford began to sob in good earnest.
'I want to go back, I want to go back. Come with me, Robin.'
'I can't leave her here by herself,' said Robin sharply. 'She's only a girl. Look--take my candle and go back if you want to--but don't let the guards see you.'
Guildford fled silently down the corridor and after a moment Robin went over to her and touched her arm.
'What are you doing?' he asked uneasily. 'What did you say just then?'
She picked up the candle and looked at him through the dancing yellow flame.
'I said I would never marry.'
He laughed outright. 'Why did you say that?'
Turning, she glanced once more down the empty gallery and shivered.
'Because I meant it.'
'Oh,' he said uncomfortably and picked up the doll, turning it over in surprise. 'Why do you play with this?' he asked slowly. 'It's broken!'
'It's not broken!' she said strangely and took it from him.
'Of course it is,' he insisted. 'It's got no--' The word died on his lips as he saw her face. As he watched she took the doll and the candle and began to walk away down the gallery.
He was forced to run after her, to avoid being left in the dark."
Alright, alright. I'm quite done. Both excerpts are equivelent to a quarter of a fairly small page, so you're not being forced into reading much. Really, you're not. You'll be amused.