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A review by jmatkinson1
The Silken Rose by Carol McGrath
4.0
At 13 Alienor travels from the romantic and cultured court of Provence to marry Henry III, King of England, a man more than twice her age. Whilst Alienor brings little dowry, her family has strategic power and influence, and Alienor realises that she has to be both a devoted wife and mother as well as politician to steer her devout and profligate husband away from conflict with his nobles.
McGrath has taken a historical figure of little note and woven a gentle romance around her life which is a pleasant yet undemanding read. There is no doubting her research is strong and the sense of time and place well developed. The parallel story of Rosalind is again steeped in romance but there is a slightly harder edge here with heresy and class being considered. The story stops well before the Barons' Uprising and this was slightly frustrating but as this is planned to be the first in a trilogy it makes sense to pick up the tale with the next Queen, the beloved Eleanor of Castile.
McGrath has taken a historical figure of little note and woven a gentle romance around her life which is a pleasant yet undemanding read. There is no doubting her research is strong and the sense of time and place well developed. The parallel story of Rosalind is again steeped in romance but there is a slightly harder edge here with heresy and class being considered. The story stops well before the Barons' Uprising and this was slightly frustrating but as this is planned to be the first in a trilogy it makes sense to pick up the tale with the next Queen, the beloved Eleanor of Castile.