The King's Touch

An excellent work of historical fiction! The court of Charles II seen through the eyes of his illegitimate son, 'Jemmy', aka the Duke of Monmouth. Morgan succeeds marvellously in capturing the atmosphere of the time and the characters -- Charles, who has blocked off his emotions and who ends up creating myriad problems for his beloved son as a result of his reluctance to commit to any particular course of action or listen to advisors; the wooden, dull and yet quietly ferocious James, Duke of York, and Minette, their beautiful and tragic youngest sister. Morgan's style is wonderful; his style isn't modern; neither is it archaic enough to be jarring but walks the fine line between them. What emerges is the poignant story of a naive, show more foolish and sometimes reckless young man (the truth emerges in between the words Jemmy chooses to recount his story, not in them); we feel sympathy for him and his fate, but never share his self-delusions. A fascinating story sure to appeal to HF buffs. show less

The King's Touch is the story of Charles II's illegitimate son Jemmy, James Duke of Monmouth. Written in the first person POV, Jemmy recounts his life story from being removed by Charles from his mother's care, through his relationship with his father and his aunt Minnette, Charles' restoration to the English Crown and finally ending at the start of the Monmouth Rebellion at Charles' death. The life and reign of Charles II and the main characters (and Charles' many mistresses) are fairly well known, and not worth rehashing further.

Those looking for an action packed, bawdy romp through the Courts of Charles II should look elsewhere, this is not the book for you - I'd recommend Forever Amber. Yes, we see his mistresses and the intrigues show more and scandals of the Restoration period, but in lesser degree - even the plague and the great fire of London are almost afterthoughts in the story. As other reviewers have noted, what this book is about is Jemmy and his relationship with his very enigmatic father as Jemmy struggles to come to grips with his illegitimacy as others intrigue to have him declared legitimate and the true heir to the crown.

As stated previously, this is not a fast paced book and one that should be read in small doses so you can sit back and savor them slowly like you would a very decadent truffle or a fine glass of red wine (or both!!). Unfortunately for me, I had this as an interlibrary loan and not renewable and found myself under the gun at the last minute to blow through 500 + pages and I feel it impacted my enjoyment of this a bit. show less