I picked this up in a used bookstore in Duvall--a historical fiction following the lives of the Orlean family in the 15th century during the 100 Years War with a heavy focus on Charles, Duke of Orleans who was held captive in England and was also a poet.

The story of how the book was almost NOT translated into English was very amazing. Hella Haasse is famous in Europe--and the book was originally published in 1949. An American postal worker and translator died while working to get this book translated. The translation was discovered among his belongings and finally published in the 80s.

If you like historical fiction and are a fan of Dunnett or Follett check this one out. ( )

I can see why this is considered a classic in historical fiction writing. It follows the life of Charles, Duc of Orleans. It begins with the story of his parents and takes the reader through the last decades of the Hundred Years War and his capture after the battle of Agincourt. His life was so tragic. This novel did to me what I believe an excellent piece of writing should: engage my complete attention and sympathies, and then leave me with the desire to learn more about the characters. I am almost sorry it is finished! Except that I am on to my next reading adventure. ( )

I’ve always been interested in the period of the Hundred Years' War, the battle between France and England that inspired many stellar moments in Literature and Theatre. This book by Hella S.Haasse immediately attracted my attention (partly due to its beautiful cover) and it came highly recommended by esteemed Goodreads friends and many members of our community. Now, upon finishing this opus, I can say that I enjoyed it -at parts- but there were certain issues that prevent me from classifying it among the best Historical Fiction I’ve ever read.

The plethora of characters is certain to astonish you in the most positive way. One of the things that excite me in Historical Fiction is that most of us avid fans of the genre are accustomed to lists and lists of family names, dates and facts without being intimidated. When the authors understand this, they do not refrain from offering us a wealth of information. Haasse certainly follows this route. The reader comes across many historical figures that marked the era. Charles VI, le Bien-Aimé, le Fol, one of the most tragic and tormented monarchs in European History. Philip the Bold, Isabeau of Bavaria, Isabella of Valois, Jean the Fearless, and of course Charles d’Orléans, his mother Valentina Visconti and none other than Jeanne d’Arc, La Pucelle d'Orléans. A colourful cast of characters that will please even the most demanding readers.

The writing is rich and well-composed, the dialogue very faithful (presumably) of the era in which the story takes place. The letters, the hymns to the Virgin Mary for the protection of the country and the ballads embellish the narration and give a Chretien de Troyes flair. However, at this point, my main issue with the book is evident. It slowly starts reading as a History lecture rather than Historical Fiction. Now, I am an avid seeker of historical accuracy- sometimes, to the extreme- but I want an inspired kind of historical accuracy, a healthy combination between artistic license and facts. Here, Haasse loses momentum, and in my opinion, the novel becomes much slower and needlessly verbose after the halfway mark. There were instances when I was bored, genuinely bored and tired. I didn't want to skip pages (a personal faux-pas when I’m reading anything History-related) and therefore, my irritation grew. I felt I was reading dry, lifeless sentences. Paragraphs out of a university textbook.There was very little emotion, very little development.

Perhaps, it wasn’t Haasse’s writing, but the focus on Charles d’Orléans who is a rather dull character. Once the spotlight fell on him, I lost interest, plain and simple. I didn’t care how many times he would get married or about his endless interactions while in exile. In my opinion, he was a bad choice for a protagonist. A second issue had to do with the women of the story. I loved the rivalry between Valentine and Isabeau, it reminded me of the first cold interactions between Catelyn Stark and Cersei Lannister. Once this enmity is off the narrative, the remaining female characters are there only to look demurely away and at men or to give birth to heirs. Jeanne d’Arc was a great introduction in the story, but the author didn’t do her justice.

The book was published in 1949 and it shows. The lack of any important function for the majority of the female characters is dated, and I must be more of a child of my times than I thought. I am used to enjoy stories with strong, powerful women in power, not defined on their relationships with men but on their own abilities and, thankfully, there is a plethora of variety in the current Historical Fiction genre. There is a tricky issue when we encounter novels based on well-known historical facts. We all know the closure. Therefore, the journey must be exciting to make you care.In this case, the journey went wrong, although my expectations were high. Most likely, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have read it after Rutherfurd's masterpiece, the comparison was unavoidable.

I don’t regret having read the novel, not in the least. I learned quite a lot of new facts about this turbulent era in European History and I came to know what seems to be an iconic book of the genre. The research is exhausting, the effort tremendous and beautiful. However, it will not enter my pantheon of Historical Fiction examples, it will not be memorable in my collection. And as I always try to be honest to myself, 3 stars is the most I can give.
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This took me a while to get into, and it took me a while to work out why. I don't read a huge amount of historical fiction, but I do have some favourites: Dorothy Dunnett and Patrick O'Brian. But these are tales of adventure and romance set against vivid historical back-drops, incorporating historical figures and events, but primarily concerned with their own plots and characters. This is historical fiction that reads like non-fiction, more like a work of journalism that recreates scenes and events than a novel. It is a novel, of course, a superb one, and it is fictional, but its primary concern is an historical figure and the historical events he was part of. History may contain plots, but it isn't A plot. History is big, sprawling, rambling, unsentimental and only has shape in retrospect. In A Dark Wood Wandering is a rigorous examination of a person and his milieu, and an extraordinary feat of sympathetic imagination.

1494, Charles d'Orleans is christened in Paris. His father, after whom he is named, is brother to the king, and the king is suffering from spells of madness. The elder Charles is being drawn into a divisive conflict with the powerful and influential Duke of Burgundy, who is pursuing his own interests in the north of France, while Orleans tries to guide the king closer to the interest of France. Courtly and political intrigue and maneuver and counter-maneuvre consume the rivals. Lies and rumours drive Orleans' wife from Paris and the conflict slowly turns deadly.

Young Charles grows up blissfully until a terrible act thrusts him into adulthood too soon and lays a heavy burden of vengeance and blood feud on his youthful shoulders. Utterly unsuited to his leadership role, Charles is intelligent and dutiful, but lacks the edge of political and physical ruthlessness he needs to be truly effective. He cannot break free of the powerful personalities that control him and out-maneuver him. His sensitive poet's soul, which he denies, suffers horribly through tragedy and loss and dire efforts to retain his honour and fulfill his duty.

The cost of duty, the merciless demands placed on the powerful, the disintegration of a once-great country and the appalling suffering that ensues. This is far from the playful textual and semiotic literary games of Name Of the Rose. This is a serious, unflinching novel, that gradually accumulates an emotional and intellectual weight until by the final few hundred pages it is nearly impossible to stop reading. ( )

Many years ago I went through a stage when I read every historical novel I could get my hands on, from [b:Gone With The Wind|18405|Gone With the Wind|Margaret Mitchell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328025229s/18405.jpg|3358283] through all of [a:Cecilia Holland|2516113|Renee M. Charles|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s fine tales. For years since I have avoided them until I ran across a review of Hella Haasse's In A Dark Wood Wandering, Originally written in Dutch in 1949 - it was wildly popular in Holland - it was not completely translated into English until 1989. Most of the work had been completed years earlier, but the death of the translator and subsequent burial of the manuscript in a closet for years prevented its publication.

The epic story takes place in France at the time of the Hundred Years War, beginning with the reign of the mad king Charles VI. In wonderful detail the story reveals what life was like during the 14th and 15th centuries in the courts of Europe. Haasse follows the life of Charles, Duke of Orleans, through palace intrigues and the long battle for power between the duchies of Burgundy, Bourbon, Orleans and the king.

Unfortunately for France, Charles VI suffered from periods that came and went of insanity with cycles of increasing severity during which he would not recognize his kin. He would dance around, attack and occasionally kill people, generally making a nuisance of himself.

Because he still had periods of lucidity when all appeared normal, and because he eventually could recognize the onset of his periods of madness and learned to warn his courtiers, the power of the monarch fell only intermittently to his Council, dominated by his brother Louis, Duke of Orleans, and his uncle, the Duke of Burgundy, a powerful duchy that derived much of its wealth and power from its ties to England.

Louis of Orleans, and later his son Charles (the poet and our story's hero,) after Louis was murdered by the Duke of Burgundy, sought to achieve a more nationalistic role for France and to sever the connections and claims of the King of England. This chauvinistic fervor was the source of much power for Joan of Arc, born about 1412.

Of course, the English wanted most of France too, and Haasse's description of the Battle at Agincourt, brief though it is, gives a real flavor of what it must have been like to be a French knight, his horse mired in mud up to the knees, unable to move, so tightly were the knights lined up in traditional formation, as the peasant English archers inexorably marched down on them, slaughtering as they went, in a battle that redefined warfare.

edited 11/26/09 ( )