JoAnn was kind enough to accommodate for those of us traveling during Spring Break week so that we met a week later than our normal date. The Lady of the Rivers' main character, Jacquetta, is originally from France, so JoAnn treated us to some flavorful quiche: ham/cheese and spinach/cheese. They were both sampled and both deemed delicious, along with the salad which was tasty au naturel or with the plethora of dressing choices she offered. The pièce de résistance was the baked brie and strawberry cream cheese bread along with fresh fruit to satisfy our sweet tooth!
Synopsis:
Jacquetta is of the House of Luxembourg in France and at the age of 17 she is married to the Duke of Bedford, an Englishman. Her life as his wife is most unconventional. The duke only wants Jacquetta to scry (foretell) for him, and in doing so, she must remain a virgin, so their marriage is never consummated. After the duke dies, Jacquetta and the duke's squire, Richard, admit their love for one another and begin a love affair filled with joie de vivre which leads to a marriage blessed with 14 children through the years. During that time they find themselves deeply embroiled in the ongoing war and many battles fought to retain lands and King Henry's throne in both England and France. Despite their many separations and uncertain finances or loyalties during all those years, the couple remain steadfastly in love. It is a love story of a squire and his maiden while history leaves its mark with battle scars cut across the English landscape.
Comments:
Having previously read "The White Queen" where Jacquetta is one of the main characters, this book had a strong feeling of déjà vu at times. However, we did find a portion of her personality to be quite changed from restrained humility when she was a younger wife to a force majeure by the time her daughter was queen. Jacquetta learned to use her inherited sixth sense born of the house of Melusina, some magic, and herbal knowledge to her benefit much more frequently and freely in her later years.
The health of King Henry as he lay in a coma-like state, made us question whether he had suffered a stroke or had a psychotic break-down. When he came out of the deep sleep after 18 months, he was child-like, fragile, and easily startled. He never quite recovered and remained a puppet king with his wife, Margaret, a veritable tour de force. It bothered us that the queen was so demanding of Jacquetta and callous to her needs and desires. Jacquetta's life as the queen's lady-in-waiting meant leaving her newborns to be cared and raised by the nursery maid while she lived wherever the queen was staying at the time. We also noted the change in Margaret's personality as she became power-hungry, defiant, and vengeful in the quest to ensure her son's placement on the throne in the midst of the coup d'état.
En masse, we agreed that the underlying message in this book was highlighting the repressment and role of women during the 15th century, where they are denied carte blanche. We gathered a pot-pourri of quotes to support this idea:
p. 29 - "Men command the world that they know," she says. "Everything that men know, they make their own. Everything that they learn, they claim for themselves. They are like the alchemists who look for the laws that govern the world, and then want to own them and keep them secret. Everything they discover, they hug to themselves; they shape knowledge into their own selfish image. What is left to us women but the realms of the unknown?"
p. 118 - "Any woman who dares to make her own destiny will always put herself in danger..."
p. 140 - "The law of men always puts women in a bad place!"
p. 290 - "Though their own wives may run their lands when they [lords] are away, their own wives are given no title and draw no fees. They don't like to think of women in power, women as leaders. The ability of women is not acknowledged; indeed, it is concealed. Wise women pretend that all they are doing is running a household when they command a great estate..."
p. 347 - "When a man wants a mystery, it is generally better to leave him mystified. Nobody loves a clever woman."
Most Memorable Quote:
Jacquetta to Queen Margaret: "Your Grace, every woman is a mad ugly bad old witch, somewhere in her heart. The task of my life is to conceal this. The task of every woman is to deny this." p. 342
We thought this quote was funny, and true!
FAB Rating:
**** (4 out of 5 stars)
As usual, Philippa Gregory has written a historically accurate novel while drawing us into the personal life of Jacquetta, whose savoir-faire managed to keep her involved with the English royal court while remaining in good graces with the people of London. We anticipate that her next novel revealing the inner life of the daughters of the Earl of Warwick will be another crème de la crème in the historical fiction genre.
Personal note: I sincerely hope that my attempt to include a sufficient amount of relevant French phrases in this review was not a faux pas. If so, this may be the coup de grâce to bring about a new blog writer...C'est la vie! Au revoir, madames!!
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