Hilda Lewis (1896–1974)

This is not a bad book, but one would do well to acquaint themselves with the facts of the narrator's life - easily solved by a quick read on Wikipedia if nothing else - because the prose here can get quite lavish with lots of speculation and getting into the heads of Catherine and Charles II.

I will admit sometimes the prose could drag on, and personally I think an actual biography of this queen would be a better read, but this novel was not without its merits and there are those who enjoy show more historical fiction more than actual biographies. C'est la vie. show less

This is a fairly old (1960s) (semi-auto)biographical novel about the life of Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror. I wasn't sure at first if I cared for the author's slightly distant literary style of chronicling events, but decided that I did like it after all, and that in fact this is a very well written historical novel. William and Matilda's marriage was by any reasonable Medieval yardstick a very successful one, but cracks appear over their children (a timeless story) and show more in particular William's perpetual distrust of his oldest son, Robert, to whom he refuses to relinquish any of his power as the latter grows to manhood. This reminded me rather of the very similar generational clash a century later between William's great grandson Henry II and his son Henry, the Young King, though the latter was definitely a less appealing individual than Robert. The author clearly cannot stand William Rufus, who is portrayed in entirely negative terms as a vicious brat. Matilda's thought processes do get a little tiresomely repetitive at times, and the novel is perhaps slightly overlong, but it is well worth a read by anyone interested in historical fiction set in this period of history. show less

I love historical fiction but I really struggled with Harlot Queen and was only able to read one chapter at a time. Disappointingly, I found it slower than the slowest snail in a slow snail competition; I positively crawled through it and felt like I deserved a medal for getting to the end.

The story revolves around Isabella of France who at 9 years old was betrothed to Edward II of England. She crosses the channel with dreams of love and finds a man who has no interest in her. It sadly show more reminded me of Charles and Diana as Edward had already fallen in love, with Piers Gaveston. After so many rejections from her husband, Isabella realises that she has something she can exploit: power as the Queen of England. We follow her journey as she gathers her allies and sees off her enemies, and finally finds love.

Drier than a cracker with no cheese, only read this if you have a keen interest in Edward II otherwise you will lose the will to live. I did find the second half of the book more interesting as Isabella's son, Edward III, comes to the throne in suspicious circumstances, but unfortunately this isn't a book I would recommend. show less

A young boy finds a magic toy boat in a magic shop, and he and his brother and two sisters have all sorts of adventures flying through time in it.
I loved it. A predecessor to The Magic Treehouse books, but much better. I love that the boat turns out to be Frey's, and the encounters between the kids and the Norse gods are great. Definitely recommended.