alas, only 2 stars
Note: At Discovering Diamonds we rarely give 3
star or less reviews, our policy being if a novel isn’t at least 3+ stars there
is no point in recommending it. There are a few exceptions: the occasional
mainstream/traditional published by well-known authors which don’t come up to
scratch…
Fictional saga
14th
century
England
I dislike not
finishing a novel. It seems to me to be disrespectful to the author. But when
the author shows disrespect to the reader, it is justified.
And I'm afraid
I couldn't finish this novel.
A second
instalment of a story following a village who are doing all they can to protect
themselves from the onward march of the plague in 1348, chiefly by cutting
themselves off with a convenient moat around the manor house, this novel
continues to explore the lives of those affected, Lady Anne, the lady of the
manor, Thaddeus her steward, her step-daughter Eleanor, and various
inhabitants. There is a fairly thorough character analysis at the beginning of
the volume to explain who everyone is and what they are doing, but even so,
even if you can plough through that, this is not a stand-alone novel and
doesn't even pretend to be. There is no backstory in the narrative at all.
Unless you've read the first one, don't attempt this sequel.
There is often debate
about how accurate historical fiction should or shouldn’t be. General consensus
of opinion is that the author has a ‘duty of care’ to be as accurate as
research permits for the bits that demand accuracy. What people actually did
and said or reacted to situations is usually the ‘made-up’ bits of fiction,
balanced against the factual side of how they dressed, what they ate – how they
lived.
When I say that
Ms Walters has disrespected her readers, I mean that although she has obviously
researched some of her book - some of
it is well depicted - she has fallen into almost every trap set by a plethora
of Hollywood films that purport to be accurate. It falls into parody in places,
and just sheer confusion at others. Had Ms Walters been an Indie or lesser-known
author she would be drummed out of Amazon for the glaring errors, and branded
as a charlatan author. Because she isn’t indie or less-known, however, has she
got away with it? Here on Discovering
Diamonds, no she hasn’t.
There now
follows a history lesson. Ms Walters,
please take note.
Ms Walter's
tension built between Saxons and Normans. This is 1348. Not far short of
three-hundred years after the Norman Conquest. That is, put into context, like
saying you are a Jacobite today or an American Colonist with no concept of
Independence from British rule. The fourteenth century is the great era of Englishness, the start of the cult of St
George, Edward III and the victory of Crecy, England versus France, the
quartering of the English coat of arms. England
was populated by the English.
A few pages on
she decides that a man she has referred to as French is in fact Norman and that
is why 'Saxon' Lady Anne dislikes him. The Normans who came to England with
such devastating effect in 1066 would have been insulted to be called 'French'.
They were not French, even their language differed. So, if Master de
Courtesmain is Norman, he is not French. And if he is French and happens to
come from Normandy, well, Normandy had been under the control of France since 1204.
So he's French and the tension is not because she's Saxon and remembers 1066,
but because he's not English. (And
anyway, it’s likely that being even minor nobility in the fourteenth century
would mean you were, even partially if not wholly, of Norman descent.)
Master de
Courtesmain is also the catalyst for the next part of our history lesson. Lady
Anne refers to him as 'sir' with all the disdain of a disgruntled Customer
Service assistant. Except he's not 'Sir', he's Master. He isn't a knight and so
Anne would not be calling him 'sir' any more than she would call him 'Duke' or
'King'.
Ms Walters'
peasants reckon time in seconds. Considering that the oldest clock in England
still extant was built around 1386 and it can only count in hours, and has no dial,
how can a peasant know what a second is in 1349? (‘A heartbeat’ is fine as a
way of describing time. Seconds isn’t.)
The word ‘demesne’
means land that is occupied by the lord of the manor for his own purposes, not rented out to a
sub-tenant. The more mundane but accurate 'village' would have been more
correct.
And what
decided me on giving up on the book? A demand to see a piece of parchment with
orders from the king - with his 'signature' on the bottom. Kings in the
fourteenth century didn't 'sign' things. They sealed things. Or, rather, others wrote the document and sealed it
on his behalf.
And according
to my Kindle, all this above is in just the first 16% of the novel. Lord knows
how Hollywoodised the rest of it is.
To be fair, if
you prefer Hollywood History, are not bothered by inaccuracies and don’t mind
buying the first book in order to make sense of this second one in the series,
then you’ll probably enjoy the read. Minette Walters does what she usually does
very well indeed – crime thrillers. I strongly suggest that she sticks to them
and gives up on pretending to be a writer of historical fiction.
© DDRevs reviewer
Excellent review and illustrates perfectly what Discovering Diamonds is all about ....
ReplyDeleteI started reading book 1 before I spotted the DD review. I'm afraid it isn't engrossing me. I don't think I'll be attempting book 2.
ReplyDelete