Beloved Besieged is a romantic novel set
in southern France during the Hundred Years War coinciding with a period of
turbulence when France started to regain lost ground, especially around the
duchy of Gascony, ruled by Edward, the Prince of Wales, later to be known as
The Black Prince.
Ms Munday has done her research and the
scenes involving army life are the best. She captures the experience of a
soldier at war and the camaraderie between soldiers very well. It feels honest,
not at all dramatic, and very pleasing.
I was mostly attracted to this novel by
the promise of a portrayal of the aforementioned Black Prince and it delivered
on its promise. We probably hear about him more than we see him, but we see
enough of him to know him and understand him, and again the research is spot on
and that made me smile.
The main characters are generally
engaging and likeable, the villains are villainous and we are rooting for the
right people and feel the right amount of fear for them and indignation on
their behalf. Joscelin is a soldier first and foremost and he thinks like a
soldier and a landowner and lord of an estate.
Elaine is the daughter of a wealthy
stonemason but the plot hole is how a humble stonemason amassed riches of any
kind. It is never quite satisfactorily explained although his wealth is
necessary to the plot. The events that lead to her being with Joscelin are well
documented and quite credible, as is the reaction of everyone to that union.
All very good.
However, I don't feel that the romance is
as credible as the rest; it doesn't really ring true. Joscelin's behaviour is a
bit odd, on many occasions, but love is blind and if Elaine is fine with it,
then so will the reader be. It is their story after all. The fight scenes are
not quite brutal or descriptive enough (although some readers prefer a lack of detail). Maybe Ms Munday needs to read some early Bernard Cornwell, borrow some ruthlessness and pump up the siege of
Limoges to more than a passing phrase. But she doesn't shy from them and that is
in itself admirable. A touch of editing to reduce a little repetitiveness that
renders the prose a touch naive in places wouldn't go amiss either.
But overall, a fine read, a worthy
addition to the, thankfully, growing corps of work that finally tackles the
Hundred Years War, and with a super, evocative cover, I would happily read this
again.
© Nicky Galliers
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