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A review by vikingwolf
Secrets of the Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace by Kate Emerson
3.0
On the death of King Charles VIII of France, Jeanne's world is turned upside down when her mother, a lady at the Court, suddenly flees with her to relatives in England, changing her daughter's name to Jane and hers to Joan. Joan takes up a position as lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, wife to King Henry VII, while Jane joins Princess Mary and Margaret to teach them better French. Jane becomes friends with the princesses and the sons of several well known courtiers being educated with them. She finds she has to rely on their support after the sudden death of Joan, leaving her at Court purely on the kindness of the King.
Jane was a real person at the English Court and the author has decided to use her as the main character in this Tudor drama, creating a whole colourful backstory for her that is probably mostly fiction. She serves Princess Mary until Mary is sent to France to marry the French King, and Jane has to remain in England. Her romances begin with a flirtation with the handsome Charles Brandon, closest friend of young Prince Henry but he soon loses interest in Jane in favour of wealthier prospects, something she fears will constantly be a problem in her future. Things seem to improve when a prisoner of war is brought to be housed in London and Jane develops an instant attraction to him, and him to her. Their affair begins secretly with Jane seduced by the hope that this wealthy man will take her back to France with him when he is finally ransomed. As far as I'm aware the affair with the Duke was real and Jane was notorious because of it.
Jane, at least in this story, has another reason for wanting to go to France. She is bothered by the details coming out about her mother's death which is starting to sound like a deliberate poisoning rather than a fever sickness but trying to track down everyone who knew her mother at that time is difficult and she is soon warned about sticking her nose into things that don't concern her. She starts to wonder if Joan's possible murder is connected to the unknown reasons that made Joan flee the French Court for the assumed safety of England. The arrival of her childhood friend Guy who serves her new Duke lover, tells her she and her mother were assumed dead and that there was a big search for Joan in the days after she went missing.
I admit that this is not my favourite Tudor book. I did like the early pages with Jane's journey to England and settling in at the Palace where she makes friends with the children of well known courtiers, growing up with the likes of Will Compton. It was as the book goes on that things started to get a bit tedious for me. I was fine with the Charles Brandon plot which was interesting and I wish it had been more developed, whether it was based on fact or fiction not bothering me one way on the other. His character has always interested me. I didn't find the Duke anywhere near as interesting though I guess it was ok to read about their secret affair and the problems it caused Jane when people found out. I would rather have seen her relationship with Henry VIII as the main focus for the story as there have been rumours that she really was the mistress of Henry. Instead the author went for focus on just the Duke and a historical side story which was a little disappointing.
I really didn't care much for the historical side story. This paragraph does contain spoilers for the main twist in the book so read ahead with caution, though it wasn't difficult to guess from the start of the book that this was where the plot would eventually lead. Joan was actually the bastard daughter of Henry VII when he was in exile, and he took in her and earlier her brother in positions at his Court, keeping it as the family secret. The hints are that Henry's mother Margaret murdered Joan because of this. I'm really not sure why she's murdering Joan one minute and is happy to let her brother live? A bastard son is more dangerous than a bastard daughter! Why kill Joan but not Jane? What is the purpose to it? It didn't really make sense to me. I found it a pretty weak and uninteresting plot. The search for answers was just dull and dragged on for most of the book and it never became interesting.
Jane herself was a pretty weak character. A lot was made of how pretty she was but she was also an airhead. She was constantly warned about sullying her reputation by hanging around the likes of Charles Brandon and her affair with the Duke but seemed to be motivated by lust, and then she wondered why she was unfairly seen as the Court slut. She was far from subtle about her digging for information so she is a ridiculous figure for Henry VIII to use as his spy. I really feel that I ploughed through this book more than read it. It felt so slow and dull in places and I wasn't really enjoying the plot or the way it was delivered. I kept going because there were interesting bits in it but the rest of it was padding that I wasn't liking. I really wish the focus had been more toward Henry and less of the Duke and his aide.
I have the other books in this series to read but there needs to be a massive improvement in style and content for me to finish the next offering.
2.5 stars.
Jane was a real person at the English Court and the author has decided to use her as the main character in this Tudor drama, creating a whole colourful backstory for her that is probably mostly fiction. She serves Princess Mary until Mary is sent to France to marry the French King, and Jane has to remain in England. Her romances begin with a flirtation with the handsome Charles Brandon, closest friend of young Prince Henry but he soon loses interest in Jane in favour of wealthier prospects, something she fears will constantly be a problem in her future. Things seem to improve when a prisoner of war is brought to be housed in London and Jane develops an instant attraction to him, and him to her. Their affair begins secretly with Jane seduced by the hope that this wealthy man will take her back to France with him when he is finally ransomed. As far as I'm aware the affair with the Duke was real and Jane was notorious because of it.
Jane, at least in this story, has another reason for wanting to go to France. She is bothered by the details coming out about her mother's death which is starting to sound like a deliberate poisoning rather than a fever sickness but trying to track down everyone who knew her mother at that time is difficult and she is soon warned about sticking her nose into things that don't concern her. She starts to wonder if Joan's possible murder is connected to the unknown reasons that made Joan flee the French Court for the assumed safety of England. The arrival of her childhood friend Guy who serves her new Duke lover, tells her she and her mother were assumed dead and that there was a big search for Joan in the days after she went missing.
I admit that this is not my favourite Tudor book. I did like the early pages with Jane's journey to England and settling in at the Palace where she makes friends with the children of well known courtiers, growing up with the likes of Will Compton. It was as the book goes on that things started to get a bit tedious for me. I was fine with the Charles Brandon plot which was interesting and I wish it had been more developed, whether it was based on fact or fiction not bothering me one way on the other. His character has always interested me. I didn't find the Duke anywhere near as interesting though I guess it was ok to read about their secret affair and the problems it caused Jane when people found out. I would rather have seen her relationship with Henry VIII as the main focus for the story as there have been rumours that she really was the mistress of Henry. Instead the author went for focus on just the Duke and a historical side story which was a little disappointing.
I really didn't care much for the historical side story. This paragraph does contain spoilers for the main twist in the book so read ahead with caution, though it wasn't difficult to guess from the start of the book that this was where the plot would eventually lead. Joan was actually the bastard daughter of Henry VII when he was in exile, and he took in her and earlier her brother in positions at his Court, keeping it as the family secret. The hints are that Henry's mother Margaret murdered Joan because of this. I'm really not sure why she's murdering Joan one minute and is happy to let her brother live? A bastard son is more dangerous than a bastard daughter! Why kill Joan but not Jane? What is the purpose to it? It didn't really make sense to me. I found it a pretty weak and uninteresting plot. The search for answers was just dull and dragged on for most of the book and it never became interesting.
Jane herself was a pretty weak character. A lot was made of how pretty she was but she was also an airhead. She was constantly warned about sullying her reputation by hanging around the likes of Charles Brandon and her affair with the Duke but seemed to be motivated by lust, and then she wondered why she was unfairly seen as the Court slut. She was far from subtle about her digging for information so she is a ridiculous figure for Henry VIII to use as his spy. I really feel that I ploughed through this book more than read it. It felt so slow and dull in places and I wasn't really enjoying the plot or the way it was delivered. I kept going because there were interesting bits in it but the rest of it was padding that I wasn't liking. I really wish the focus had been more toward Henry and less of the Duke and his aide.
I have the other books in this series to read but there needs to be a massive improvement in style and content for me to finish the next offering.
2.5 stars.