The Exiled

Second in the series of Anne de Bohun, who in the previous book had been exiled from Englan by her lover King Edward. In the year since, she has given birth to their son Edward, and establieshed herself under patronage of a wealthy trader in Brugges. She uses her intellegience and gossip to build a fortune, but in doing so, engenders the ire of her growing list of enemies (including that of the Queen of England). Finally things come to a head, bringing her back into the sphere of the King....[return][return]Reasonably distracting story, not a heavily historical read

I read The Innocent a number of years ago and I always meant to continue this trilogy before now, but I only found the time recently. The Exiled picks up in the city of Brugge, where Anne, exiled after her adventures at the court of Yorkist King Edward IV, which included an affair with the king and the birth of an illegitimate child, has settled and begun to earn a living as a merchant. She must wrestle with the prejudice and envy of her fellow merchant, who do not care to trade with a woman, much less a successful one. But Anne must also contend with politics, as her former royal lover engages to marry his sister to the Duke of Burgundy, enveloping Anne in a complex game of love, intrigue, and schemes with very powerful people. A fun show more read, if somewhat liberal with the history of the time. show less

The Exiled, the second in the Anne trilogy, picks up after Anne's moved to Burgandy in voluntary exile from King Edward. She uses her cunning to begin trading as a merchant to the disgust of her neighbours however trouble soon ensues when she is almost murdered. Rumours begin that Queen Elisabeth, contaminated by jealousy is trying to orchestrate Anne's killing.

This novel probably wasn't as strong plot-wise as the first. I found there was a lot of filling in time with an overuse of witchcraft elements and too much head-jumping. The reader is constantly propelled into various secondary characters' points of view and left feeling a little befuddled. All this head-jumping and psychic visions also strips the plot of its mystery. After all, show more why read a book if you and the main character know what's going to happen every step of the way?

For me, the other major issue was the characterisation of the protagonist, Anne. She just seems to have no flaws. She is beautiful, determined, intelligent, well-educated, strong, invincible and psychic. It's all a little too much. I really wanted to see some more realistic human traits in her. It's not acceptable to constantly use the 'beauty as a curse' plot line.

The most frustrating aspect of all of this is that Posie Graeme-Evans has a wonderful way with words. Her phrases and descriptions are unique and quite beautiful. It is rare to come across an author these days that are as eloquent without alienating the reader. She really could have written a fantastic book. With a little more planning and better direction from her editor, these could have been amazing. She certainly has the talent for it.

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This book simply wasn't as good as The Innocent, which is the first in the series. I found it dragged quite a bit and I was heavily skimming towards the end. I'll still read the final book, but only because I've gotten this far and not because I especially want to read it at this point.

The second novel in an interesting series.