Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman

This is the place in Canterbury Cathedral where Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by four knights who believed or claimed to believe that they were acting on the orders of Henry II. Becket’s martyrdom is the climactic event to which much of Time and Chance, sequel to When Christ and His Saints Slept, leads up. Sharon Kay Penman is known for her fidelity to the historical record, and while this has won her an appreciative international audience, it is an approach that brings its own difficulties. The murder of Becket was a turning point in English history, one of the most dramatic events of the Middle Ages. The trail of events which caused it amount to an ongoing squabble between Church and Crown, frequently petty, episodic, rambling and full of arcane legal and theological detail. It’s very hard to make compelling fiction out of this kind of material and so it’s understandable that Time and Chance doesn’t always succeed.

The Captive Queen by Alison Weir

September 1151. The Loire Valley. The future Henry II and his father, Geoffrey of Anjou, are heading back north after a visit to the French court and decide to strip off for a swim on the way.

Laughing, they splashed each other vigorously, then wrestled in the rippling water.

Reading this, I wasn’t comfortable with where the scene was going.

Henry was surprised to find his father’s muscles iron-hard – not bad for an old man of thirty-eight, he thought. He had glimpsed too Geoffrey’s impressive manhood.

Now I really don’t like where this is going. Glance nervously at the next page to read:

Their horseplay abandoned

THANK GOD.

What made me suspect that an innocent swim might turn into something a little less innocent?

The previous 21 pages.

A tale of two queens: When Christ and His Saints Slept, by Sharon Kay Penman

Photo by John Cunliffe for Abigails Ateliers. All rights reserved.

When I was a little girl I had a chart showing the Kings and Queens of England on my bedroom wall. I was especially interested in the Queens of England – that is, the ones who had ruled in their own right, not the consorts. But there weren’t too many of those. Prior to Mary I (if you don’t count Lady Jane Grey), there was only one – Matilda.

So I was disappointed to learn that Matilda had never really reigned. On his death her father, Henry I, who had lost his only legitimate son in the wreck of the White Ship, left the crown to her. But her cousin Stephen seized the throne, beginning a civil war of nearly twenty years (1135-1154), a period of misrule, bloodshed and suffering when, as the Peterborough Chronicle put it, ‘Christ and all his saints slept.’

The New Year’s Day Post: 2010 Challenges

My own Royal Mistress Challenge is already underway.  If you know of any royal mistress or favourite books which meet the terms of the challenge, or if you would like me to link to your review of any of the books mentioned, do leave a comment or drop me an email.  The next book I will be reading for this challenge is Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Time of Singing – based on the true story of Ida de Tosney, mistress to Henry II.

Which fits in nicely with Historical Tapestry’s The Alphabet in Historical Fiction Challenge, which has now reached the letter C.

This is another challenge I’m very much enjoying.  I plan to break the rules a little for the letter D!

The idea of this challenge is to read and review 12 historical novels in 2010, one per month.  It can overlap with other challenges (I wouldn’t sign up to a challenge that didn’t!) so The Time of Singing will count.  Other books which may count towards this challenge are:

2. Henry Esmond by Thackeray.  Classic historical set in the time of Queen Anne – been planning to read this for ages and haven’t got round to it.

3. The Captive Queen by Alison Weir.  One of the many Eleanor of Aquitaine-themed novels to be released in 2010.  I enjoyed Weir’s Innocent Traitor and definitely want to take a look at this.

4. The Queen’s Pawn by Christy English.  Another Eleanor book, this one also features Princess Alais, alleged to have been a mistress of Henry II – so this is another Royal Mistress Challenge book.

5. To Defy A King by Elizabeth Chadwick.  The story of Mahelt, daughter of William Marshal.  This book (released May 2010) has the most gorgeous cover:

6. The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham.  The Wars of the Roses from the point of view of Katherine Woodville, sister of Edward IV’s Queen.

8. The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner.  Looking forward to this as The Last Queen made my Best of 2009.

9, 10, 11. Sharon Kay Penman’s 12th century trilogy: While Christ and His Saints Slept, Time and Chance and The Devil’s Brood.

12. Sarah A. Hoyt, No Will but His: A Novel of Catherine Howard.

The goal is to read, watch or listen to at least three Bronte-related items.  The ones I have in mind are:

1. Emma Brown by Clare Boylan.  Charlotte Bronte’s unfinished novel Emma is a fascinating fragment – I’d be most curious to see how Clare Boylan finished it off.

2. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.  The story of Mr Rochester’s first wife, Bertha. Been meaning to read this one for ages.

3. 1944 film of Jane Eyre.

I’m joining Our Mutual Read at level 1 – read 4 books, at least two written between 1837-1901.  The other two may be neo-Victorian or non-fiction.

I love Victorian novels and try to read some every year, so probably all mine will be Victorian.  The ones I have in mind are:

1. Pendennis by Thackeray.  Got halfway through this in 2009 and really hope to get to the finish post in 2010!  Once I’ve finished this I want to go on to The Newcomes.

2. Little Dorrit by Dickens.  Again, got halfway through and stalled.  Really want to finish it.

3. Dombey and Son by Dickens.  Yes, same story!  Have to get this out the library and try again.

4. Something French.  Could be Au Bonheur des Dames by Zola, or Le pere Goriot by Balzac, or Une vieille maitresse by Jules Amedee Barbey d’Aurevilly.  Or something completely different.

As a writer of time travel stories, I couldn’t miss this one out!  I’m going to try to read three:

1. Hangin’ out with Cici by Francine Pascal.  1970s girl goes back to the 1940s and meets her mother.

2. The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier.

3. At the moment I’m thinking Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon.  Might change my mind.  Recommendations welcome!

And last but not least:

I’m going for the highest level – King.  I have to read nine books from 500-1500, at least two from each challenge genre: medieval literature, history and historical fiction.

Ambitious, but I’m not worried.  My new writing project is set in the thirteenth century so I’ll be reading a good deal of medieval stuff this year.  These are my thoughts on the challenge genres:

1. Historical fiction – probably the easiest as plenty of the historical novels I am planning on reading this year are medievals.

2. History - right now I have Eleanor of Aquitaine, Lord and Lady out from the library, as well as an art history book, The Medieval Art of Love, by Michael Camille.  Looking out for Magna Carta and the England of King John, edited by Janet S. Loengard, which comes out in June.

3. Medieval literature – I currently have an edition of The Book of the Knight of the Tower, a 1372 conduct book, out from the library.  I expect to be reading several of the twelfth and thirteenth century chroniclers at some point.

My Challenge Philosophy

I don’t think it matters whether I complete these challenges or not.  For me the point is simply to discover new books and if I finish just one book I wouldn’t otherwise have tried, I’ll be satisfied.  I like to make things easy on myself so a sub-challenge for me will be: how many challenges can one book count for?

I’m going to be organising my challenge posts through the categories listed in the sidebar.  There is a Challenges category and each challenge will have its own sub-category.  And of course, plenty of posts will be in more than one category.  So what I’m saying is, the category list will probably be the easiest place to find them.

The Challenges that Got Away

There are so many wonderful challenges and I’d like to sign up for them all, but I have to be realistic.  These were the ones which got away:

I love this idea but the lowest level is five Tudor-related books and I don’t think I’ll be reading that many this year, although I have in other years.

Love the idea of this one too – the idea is to read at least three books of 450 pages or more – and I may yet sign up for it as the challenge doesn’t begin until February and several of the books I have in mind for this year are long ones.  Wish I’d known about it in 2009 when I was reading all the Susan Howatch sagas and Wilkie Collins tomes!

This challenge ends today!  But I will be using the suggestion list to inspire my 2010 reading and viewing.

And for anyone who’s still got an appetite, Historical Tapestry have a great roundup of 2010 historical fiction challenges.

What Else I’ll Be Reading in 2010

1. Some classics other than Victorian books, preferably eighteenth century.  I like eighteenth century Gothic fiction and try to read some every year – in 2009 I read Ann Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest.  I read Clarissa by Samuel Richardson a couple of years ago and I’d quite like to read Pamela this year.  Does anyone know of an eighteenth century or Gothic fiction challenge?
2. Some French-language books – contemporary as well as classics.  Last year I read books by Zola and Colette.
3. Some twentieth-century classics.  Wide Sargasso Sea would fall into this category.  I also like reading vintage detective stories – have read most of Dorothy L. Sayers and would like to branch out a bit.
4. Some YA fiction.  Last year it was Stephenie Meyer and Meg Cabot.
5. Children’s fiction – especially classics I missed growing up. I’m reading The Box of Delights by John Masefield at the moment.
6. Some contemporary genre fiction – thrillers, crime, women’s fiction.  I’ve never read any Michael Crichton – this might be the year for it.  I’ve also got some Penny Vincenzis on the TBR pile.
7. Some literary fiction – either in French or English. In 2009 I read The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch with a book group.

January Readalongs

I’ve signed up for two readalongs.

This starts with The Hobbit in January.  I’ve read and re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings many many times so looking forward very much to the discussion.

The Literary Stew and Bookheaper are hosting a group read of The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden next week.  I’ve got this one from the library but I’m still in the middle of The Box of Delights so I might have to break off to read this.  It’ll be a refreshing change to read a summery book after all the snow and Christmassy stuff!

Miss Moppet tours the Houses of Parliament: part three

Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament

St Stephen’s Hall is on the site of St Stephen’s Chapel, where the royal family worshipped when they were staying at Westminster. In 1550 it was converted to a debating chamber for the House of Commons, who sat facing each other in the choir stalls. This rather makeshift arrangement obviously suited them, as three more chambers and 450 years later they are still doing exactly the same thing.

As the guide was talking I was standing quite close to the statues in the niches on the right hand side of the archway as pictured here, and suddenly I realised who I was looking at: King John.  Above him you can see Queen Berengaria of Navarre.  On the left hand side are Eleanor of Aquitaine and above her, Henry II.

Next: Queen Victoria’s colour coded modesty curtain, and a glimpse of Magna Carta.  Oh, and the separation of the judiciary and the legislature