Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem

The Publisher Says: Eighteen-year-old Constance is not interested in marriage or in being a "young lady." But for a young woman coming of age in the early 1800s, that's just about all that's available to her. When her parents arrange her a marriage with a man more than twice her age, she's powerless to resist. Stance couldn't possibly find her newfound husband less appealing, but what can she do?

Here's what:
Four months into the marriage, she can slip out of their bed in the middle of the night, and she can put on his clothes. She can look in the mirror and like what she sees. She can sneak out of the house before dawn and visit the baker's scrawny son, who has just been drafted into the army, and offer to take his place. Vive l'Empereur!

Hot on Stance's tail all the while is her younger brother Pieter, determined to bring Stance back home to Ghent where she belongs. (The battlefield is no place for a young lady, after all.)

Ironhead, or, Once A Young Lady is the riotous and powerful story of a fierce renegade, and the silly men who try to bring her down.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I can only say that Stance makes a perfectly good male character...selfish, unthinking, insensitive to the feelings of others...and a generally unpleasant person to read about for those reasons.
I suspect this is not the author's intent. I can't prove that. I was reading along and suddenly had the thought that I wasn't clear why Stance was female to begin with. Does this selfish, thoughtless teenager who's only focused on how ro get what she wants actually need to be female? The message that sounds like it sends to me is "only boys get to do, say, think, and act exactly as they please." I don't like that message.

The translation read very well, in that I was never bored...just squicked out...and I particularly enjyed the oddly specific details of how that era's firearms worked. Not a book I'd give to my granddaugher but fine for adults.… (more)

This book is loosely based on the first 15 years of Marguerite van Male's life, heiress to the County of Flanders and wife of Phillip, Prince of France. Whilst the book gives a wonderful insight into medieval life, I found that I never developed any empathy towards young Marguerite. I found her stubborn, rude and undisciplined, and her constant screaming tantrums totally irritating. The ending was unbelievable and ended abruptly so I hope the authors plan to write a sequel, although I have no intention of reading it.… (more)