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Ana de Mendoza by Kate O'Brien
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Ana de Mendoza (original 1946; edition 1948)

by Kate O'Brien

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268698,397 (3.83)71
Spain in the years before the Armada, and high passion meets high politics. Ana, Princess of Eboli, heiress of Spain's leading family, widow of Philip II's wisest counsellor and rumoured to be the King's mistress, falls unexpectedly in love with Don Antonio Perez, dandy, adulterer, skilled politician. With her unusual looks, her aristocratic arrogance and the simplicities of her faith, Ana cannot understand why her private life should become entangled with the affairs of state and, finally, incur the terrible vindictiveness of the King himself...Kate O'Brien's understanding and love of Spain enhance the beauty of this passionate and intelligent novel.… (more)
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Title:Ana de Mendoza
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That Lady by Kate O'Brien (1946)

  1. 00
    The Fencing Master by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (nessreader)
    nessreader: Fencing Master is about a woman who learns to use the foil: That Lady is about an older woman, scarred in an old fight, who suffers the fallout of passion. Both set in Spain, both literary melodramas, both brilliant.
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» See also 71 mentions

Spanish (3)  English (2)  All languages (5)
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8440202628
  archivomorero | Jun 27, 2022 |
That Lady is the story Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Eboli, a Spanish aristocrat in the court of King Phillip. She was involved in a mock duel when she was younger and lost an eye, although she was considered to be one of the great beauties of her day. The novel covers the period of time between October 1576 and June 1592, after the death of Ana’s husband and during the time when she was involved in a major scandal and imprisoned.

Ana had a very close friendship with the King (although she was never his mistress), and it was interesting to me to watch the interactions she has with him and with her lover, Antonio Perez. Although Phillip never actually enters the action for much of the book, he, along with Ana and Antonio are very well-rounded characters. Some of the “villains,” however, are a little too stereotypical for my taste. The intrigue and danger of the Castilian court came across very well, though, and I was interested to see how the story would eventually pan out. The book moves slowly at times, but the historical detail in this book is fantastic. ( )
  Kasthu | Feb 16, 2012 |
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Kate O'Brienprimary authorall editionscalculated
Flax, ZenaCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
"What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.
Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to get a toy?
For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?
Or what fond beggar, but to touch the crown,
Would with the sceptre straight be strucken down?

from: The Rape of Lucrece
~William Shakespeare
Dedication
First words
Ana did not wait for the king in the porch of her house. (Prologue)
Why did'st thou promise such a beauteous day
And make me travel forth without my cloak?

Between her birth in Boru House, Limerick, on 3 December 1897 and her death in the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury, in the afternoon of 13 August 1974, Kate O'Brien chose discretion and privacy as a maxim for her life. (Introduction)
What follows is not a historical novel. (Foreword)
Philip was tired, and having worked without pause all day at his desk was tempted, when he recognized its handwriting, not to open the last letter of the afternoon's great collection. (Epilogue)
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For One Sweet Grape and That Lady are one and the same.
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Spain in the years before the Armada, and high passion meets high politics. Ana, Princess of Eboli, heiress of Spain's leading family, widow of Philip II's wisest counsellor and rumoured to be the King's mistress, falls unexpectedly in love with Don Antonio Perez, dandy, adulterer, skilled politician. With her unusual looks, her aristocratic arrogance and the simplicities of her faith, Ana cannot understand why her private life should become entangled with the affairs of state and, finally, incur the terrible vindictiveness of the King himself...Kate O'Brien's understanding and love of Spain enhance the beauty of this passionate and intelligent novel.

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Book description
Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda, Princess of Eboli and Duchess of Pastrana, born in 1540, is heiress to the estates and titles of Spain's leading family. At the age of thirteen she marries Ruy Gomez de Silva, Secretary of State and favourite of the King, Philip II of Spain. At fourteen she loses an eye in a duel, thereafter to be called Tuerta - one-eyed - by her loved ones. As the years go by she bears ten children, a faithful and dutiful wife. But court gossips tell she is the mistress of the King of Spain...

Now thirty-six and a widow, at Philip's behest Ana leaves her country retreat, once more to take up the reins of her responsibilities in Madrid. In September 1577 she meets again her husband's friend, the ostentatious and charming Don Antonio Perez, and with this meeting the calm propriety of Ana's existence is altered forever. She discovers passion: but in so doing brings upon her head the threat of scandal, and the terrifying displeasure of the one man with total power - the King.
"This beautifully written dramatic novel about a woman's love, a statesman's intrigues, and a sovereign's strange jealousy is the story of Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Eboli, who risked her reputation and her life for the "one sweet grape" of happiness that only love could bring to her.
The scene is Spain during the years of glory that culminated in the Armada disaster, but For One Sweet Grape is not a historical novel as such. Instead it is a rich and intimate love story whose chief characters happen to be historical personages.
Kate O'Brien brings to life the vacillating but likable Plilip II, his brilliant minister of state, Antonio Perez, and the magnificent woman whom both of them loved.
Though Ana was never the mistress of Philip, the bond between them was deeper than friendship. After her husband's death Philip bade her come out of retirement to be near him at Madrid, and it was there that she met Antonio Perez, her husband's prot'ege', now Secretary of State, and soon her devoted and passionate lover.
Following a scandal in which the lovers were involved Philip had them imprisoned, for reasons of state and as a measure of revenge when Ana refused to give up Antonio. Time and again Philip offered her freedom if she would apologize to her enemies and give up her lover, but Ana, whose courage and strength grew as her beauty faded, always refused. Philip, aging and bitter, was devoured by remorse at the wrong he had done, out of jealousy, to the woman whose integrity and understanding surpassed his own.
Kate O'Brien is the writer Orville Prescott praises as "a subtle, original, deft novelist with an unusual beauty of style and an exquisite refinement in the analysis of character." For One Sweet Grape is her finest and most satisfying book.
(taken from the bookflaps)
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