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songsaboutghosts's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the biography overall and I learnt a lot, but the author often writes as if the reader is already expected to know certain things, which I don't think is particularly helpful in a historical biography.
jameskeates's review against another edition
3.0
Eleanor is a fascinating historical character, as wife of two kings, mother of two more, and Duchess of Aquitaine and major player in her own right. The subject of this book is interesting enough therefore, but a few bits on the writing side mean it's only three stars. While I like a narrative history compared to a purely dry comparison of sources, Meade goes too far at times. Her confident statements about Eleanor's inner thoughts in particular, seems to assign predictions to her which I suspect benefit from the author's historical hindsight. Perhaps these are sourced but it's impossible to tell as there is no discussion at all of available sources.
thehappybooker's review
5.0
The author didn't go beyond what is known and speculate into motives and personalities that we simply can't discern from this great distance. Well-researched, superbly written.
ifearnofish's review against another edition
4.0
This was a beautifully written book. Unfortunately it veered away from Eleanor from time to time to focus on the misdeeds of her husbands and her children, but that can really be blamed on what little was recorded of her and her actions at the time rather than on any part of the author. Gripping read and definite recommendation.
siria's review against another edition
2.0
Average biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine. It does a good job of bringing together what evidence we have for Eleanor's life--her political involvements, her family disputes, her religious and cultural patronage--but it has to be admitted that what we have isn't much. Meade falls into the trap of saying that Eleanor 'must' have done such and such, or 'must' have felt something else, when she has no evidence beyond her own extrapolations and inferences. Decent introduction, but take it always with a grain of salt.
truebookaddict's review against another edition
5.0
This was hands down one of the best biographies I have ever read. I have long admired Eleanor, the woman who was a queen twice, first in France, and the second being the queen to the formidable Henry II of England. Together they sired eight children, two of them becoming future kings of England in their own right. Boy, what she went through and achieved for her children is truly astounding. She was a formidable woman who knew to pick her battles. She most certainly made some mistakes along the way, but for the time period, when women were mostly kept in the background, Eleanor was always in the forefront. She lived to be 82 years old, quite a feat for the time as well. Before I read this book, my only reference for Eleanor was the famous film, "The Lion in Winter." Even then, I fell in love with the woman she was, and have always wanted to learn more about her. This book gave me that and much more. Not only a biography, but a detailed historical account of her life, and those of her husband, Henry II, and her sons. It definitely made me want to read more about the various figures during her lifetime.
ohmygodlinda's review against another edition
4.0
Bought this in a secondhand shop off of Rue de Severin in Paris and consumed it by the time I was back in London less than a week later. A really gorgeous, lively biography of a really gorgeous and lively woman, and it has one of the best lines about Eleanor of Aquitaine, about how she was the wife of two kings and the mother of Richard the Lionhearted, but whenever we think of her, we only ever think of her as Eleanor. Really, really wonderful.