family drama / Supernatural / fantasy
Tudor
England
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Tudor
England
“Betrayal is the story of two women separated by
thousands of miles and nearly five centuries, told in alternating chapters.
Although born in Devon, England, modern day Lydia
Hamilton has lived her whole life in Canada. She seems to be living the perfect
life living and working with her physician boyfriend, Dan Taylor, that is,
until she begins to have a recurring nightmare of people and places she does
not know- that haunts even her waking hours. Lydia resists Dan’s urging that
she see Alan Stokes, a psychology professor at a local university for hypnosis.
She tries to ignore her dreams as long as she can. But in desperation she
allows Alan to begin hypnotherapy in hopes of understanding why she continues
to have the dream. When a Christmas parcel arrives from her mother’s family in
England, Lydia finds an old diary in the box and she quickly realizes that the
woman, Elisabeth Beeton, she is dreaming about really existed and that there is
more to her nightmares than just dreams. She must find out how this woman diary
came to be at Morely’s Cross and why she haunts Lydia’s dreams. She flies to
Devon, England. While in England she begins to unravel her parent’s
estrangement and learns that she is to inherit her mother’s ancestral home. Dan
refuses to accompany Lydia to England, but Alan is convinced there is a truth
that must be uncovered. Lydia and Alan search the house at Morely’s Cross
finding a packet of letters of accusation against Anne Boleyn. While involved
in their search for Elisabeth, Alan and Lydia realized they have strong
feelings for each other. When Dan finally arrives in England it is to bring
Lydia home and stop all the nonsense. But he is too late, Lydia and Alan have
already declared their feeling for each other.
Elisabeth Beeton, a lady’s maid to Anne Boleyn
falls in love with George Boleyn, Anne’s brother who is trapped in a barren and
loveless marriage. George seeks to have his marriage to Jane Boleyn set aside
when Elisabeth becomes pregnant in 1534. Anne refuses and Elisabeth is sent to
Staffordshire where she gives birth to a son. Jane is also away from Court
having been exiled because of an argument with the King, Henry VIII, when she
returns to Court in the summer of 1535 she learns of their affair and realizes
she has been made a fool of, but she decides her place at Court is too
important to lose over such a minor matter. In 1536 Elisabeth finds herself
pregnant again. When George goes to Anne, she begs him wait until her son is
born, but Anne miscarries in late January. George realizes his suit is hopeless
now and urges Elisabeth to fulfil a marriage contract her grandfather had
arranged with Andrew Tremayne, to protect her and his child. Reluctantly
Elisabeth agrees and she marries Andrew immediately in an effort to convince
him that the child she is carrying is his. But after witnessing Elisabeth and
George in a lover’s embrace, Andrew realizes he has been cuckolded and seeks
his revenge by going to Thomas Cromwell, the King’s Chancellor. Henry has
become eager to escape his marriage to Anne believing it to be cursed by God
and he pressures Cromwell to find a way out. Andrew promises Cromwell a letter
from Elisabeth listing the Queen’s infidelities with names, dates and places.
Meanwhile Cromwell has contacted Jane Boleyn to tell her about the child born
in Staffordshire. Angry Jane seeks her revenge by agreeing to write the letter
Cromwell wants. Andrew produces his letter and it is decided that Elisabeth
must be kept incommunicado so that she cannot deny the letter. She is arrested
and taken to the Tower in April 1536. After the trials and executions of Anne
and George, she is released unaware of the part her husband played in their
demise. Years later Andrew will reveal this in a fit of anger.”
Betrayal is
possibly not to everyone’s personal taste – it will depend on whether you like
the fantasy of supernatural tied up with history. I rather do so I enjoyed this
novel. Most of us know the historical facts about Anne Boleyn – or do we? That
is the delightful thing about fiction, authors can interpret or even invent
where there are echoes of doubt about the ‘facts’. We were not there at the
time that these momentous events happened so we can never know for certain what
really happened, and this is where fiction steps into the breach.
Betrayal, I thought, was a well-observed
mystery-novel interpretation of the demise of Anne Boleyn. The blend of the
lives of modern-day Lydia and Tudor Elisabeth was well done, although the
historical characters did, perhaps, shine a little more than the contemporary ones.
Could the author have made just as good a novel by concentrating on the Tudor
story as a separate, plain, un-supernatural-themed historical novel? The answer
is yes, definitely for she reproduced the feel and empathy for the 1500s with
great skill – but equally, the dual setting of modern-day created a different
kind of story, so as I said at the beginning it really depends on individual taste
and preference.
For my mind, an
interesting and absorbing read!
© Mary Chapple
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Thank you for the wonderful review.
ReplyDeleteour pleasure Michele
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