There is a mystery: four children tortured and murdered; there is a community of Jews who are blamed, some of whom are lynched absent of any evidence, and the rest driven from their homes and businesses; there is the very intelligent and crafty king: Henry II, who is not pleased about this treatment of his Jews, mostly because they are shut up in protective custody and the income he derives from their taxes is sorely missed. And there are the three people called from Italy (a female physician, a Jewish investigator, and a Saracen bodyguard and servant) by Henry to sort this business out.
There is also a romance, a mature but very lively romance between Adelia (the physician) and another major character… but I won’t give too much away.
What I especially liked about this novel was the way it brought Henry II to life. He was a progressive thinker and instituted many excellent changes to the legal system, among other advances, but he is remembered primarily as the king who got into a tussle with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a conflict that ended when some over eager knights of Henry’s solved the problem (or so they thought) by killing Becket in his cathedral. There have been movies about Henry — his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine and the fights about who would follow him as king (The Lion in Winter, among others) and of course Becket (play and a film version which has recently been restored and re-released –). I saw Becket at a very young age, because of course it was de rigeur viewing for Catholic school kids in the 60s (along with The Singing Nun), as it is strongly pro-church and rah rah Becket.
I seem to have been led astray. Let me summarize: the novel is excellent, and I am happy to send it, along with the also excellent City of Shadows, to Karen W.
Congrats Karen W – I have to say I am a little envious but will have to go and buy the books myself now as my curiousity about them has well and truly been piqued.
**I apologise if this appears numerous times, my computer is chucking a hissy-fit presently**
These books sound really, really good!! Hope you enjoy them Karen.
Congrats, Karen W. Enjoy the books. They sound very good. A trip to the book store may be in order!!
Hmmm. It sounds like I may need to check out the Mistress one. I’m always interested in reading about female physicians in a historical setting.
And congratulations, Karen. :-)
Karen! Address!
Congrats Karen.
Speaking of books…
Rosina, a while ago you mentioned that you read “The Traveler” and that you might post about it. Did I miss the post? I am interested in reading you thoughts about it. Thx.
She wrote Fizempress’ Law in 1980 as Diana Norman. After hearing and not understanding the conflict between Henry II and Becket for years, finally I understood it. She has 3 people in current times do a bad deed and then get ensorcelled into time traveling back to Henry’s time and LEARN THEIR LESSONS. Excellent novel.
Congratulations, Karen! Rosina, thanks for introducing me to Diana Norman, I hadn’t come across her before and have been eagerly devouring our local library’s stash of her books. I will certainly investigate these new ones – they sound fascinating.
I just e-mailed you with my address, Rosina. I’m absolutely thrilled to be the winner and so look forward to reading both of the books! They sound like the kind of stories I love. Thanks to everybody for the nice congratulations messages too. My birthday is soon, and this is a great gift! :-) Many thanks!