Madame Serpent

Jean Plaidy's real talent is bringing history to life - her fictionalized accounts of kings and queens, and other historical figures, cannot be beaten for condensing and humanising the otherwise dry list of dynasties and dates offered by non-fiction tomes. Plaidy's prose is plain and concise, occasionally romanticised but always readable. Like most authors of historical fiction, her stories are often skewed towards one perspective - here it is in defence and admiration of Catherine de Medici - but she covers all the important events of the biographies behind her books.

Catherine de Medici, who was the power behind the throne of France for many years and has gained an (in)famous reputation as a poisoner and witch, is here shown as a young show more girl, neglected wife, powerless queen and possessive mother. History may not have played out exactly as written in this first of three novels about Catherine, but the poor woman certainly had cause for revenge after the death of her henpecked husband! Henry was dominated by his older mistress, the 'beautiful', 'intelligent', 'wonderful', 'golden' Diane, but it is hard to understand what either woman saw in him - bar the power and prestige of being the King's puppeteer, of course. Still, Catherine spends more or less the whole book lusting after her indifferent spouse and wishing his manipulative mistress dead (she is forever itching to either slap the smug expression off Diane's face, or prepare her a special drink and have done, but instead bides her time).

Plaidy chooses to focus on Catherine's marital frustrations rather than her personal and political achievements - the 'Italian woman' (a lot like Marie Antoinette was later to become known as the 'Austrian woman') brought much of what is now known as French cuisine and etiquette to the country, and also proved her worth as Regent during Henry's temporary absence, but this is passed over in a couple of paragraphs. The result is that Catherine comes across as a sympathetic but weak character, a match for Diane's cleverness but impotent to act against the King's wishes.

Her day does come, though, and it's worth waiting for, whether read in fiction or in a history book! (What a way to go out, Henry!) show less

All I knew of Catherine de Medici before reading this fictionalised account of her life was that she was a “bad” woman. I expected to dislike her character throughout this book, but despite a few “evil intentions”, I found myself on her side and making excuses for her whenever she went too far with anything.

This novel covers her time from the age of six through to thirty-nine. I had previously read an account of her after this period in a non-fiction work, namely a biography on Henry IV of France. In the bio she struck me as a nasty piece of work, whereas in this fiction-based-on-fact tale, she comes across as a more sympathetic character.

The author shows Catherine as an unloved person who’s treated badly or neglected by those show more who should care for her right from childhood. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, despite her occasional venomous deed or devious plan.

She also comes across as slightly barmy, which again evoked my sympathy, not mockery. She wastes much of her life by waiting for opportunities rather than accepting things as they are and looking for fulfilment elsewhere – I can’t be too specific here in case I gave anything away to anyone considering reading this book.

The plot is simple with little in the way of variation because of Catherine’s one-track way of thinking. This may be why many reviewers have given the novel average or poor ratings. It’s very much a character-driven tale, so if you don’t have patience for Catherine, chances are you won’t care for the story.

I always prefer books that are more focused on character interaction rather than complex plots full of twists and turn. I also prefer lots of dialogue and minimal descriptive passages. These are the reasons why this tome has appealed to me so much. I was engaged from the opening chapter and never grew bored.

A superb read. show less

I gave this book the top rating because I couldn't put it down. This is the first book in a long while that I couldn't wait to get home from work, get dinner over with and get to my comfy reading spot to get to reading this book. It flowed and keeps you engaged the entire time. Now all I really knew about Catherine de Medici was from watching the TV show Reign and from snippets on YouTube so being this is historical fiction I take what I read with a grain of salt but it is wonderful reading. So excited to start the second of a three part series on her. Loved this book!

This one is about Catherine de Medici. It starts when she is a little girl in Italy, and follows her through the time her husband, King Henry of France, dies. Catherine is in love with her husband, but has to suffer the humiliation of Henry preferring a woman much older, and merely tolerating his loving wife. Catherine has learned throughout her life how to hide her feelings and do her best to sway situations to her advantage. No one realizes how very clever she really is…

I didn’t know anything about Catherine before reading this book, so of course, now I must go find something nonfiction, so I can find out what is true and what isn’t. It took me a little bit of time to get into the book, and I almost gave it 3.75 stars because show more of that, but in the end I decided I liked it enough to give it the full 4 stars. This was my first Plaidy book, but it won’t be my last. Not only that, Madame Serpent is the first in the trilogy about Catherine, and I do plan to read the others. show less

This is the first of three novels about Catherine de'Medici and her family. This one covers her childhood in Italy and her marriage to Henry II of France. The majority of the story covers life, love and intrigue at the French royal court in the 16th century. It is really enjoyable and easy to read, Catherine is neglected by her husband who favours his mistress and Catherine is frequently humiliated by his actions. History has painted Catherine de'Medici as a witch and a sorceress although this fictional account portrays her more as a woman desperately in love with her husband and willing to resort to any means to have him away from his mistress. I'll be reserving the follow-up to this next time I'm in the library.

This is an interesting character in French royal history and there are some well-written accounts of her. This is not one of them. Very tedious.