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A review by lisa_setepenre
The Boy's Tale by Margaret Frazer
3.0
This is the sixth entry in Margaret Frazer’s Sister Frevisse series about a nun who solves murders in the second quarter of the 15th century, often featuring cameos from some notable figures from that era. In The Boy’s Tale, Frazer constructs a murder mystery around Catherine de Valois’s marriage with Owen Tudor and their children.
I am a bit in two minds about this. The series, on a whole, is a great cosy read – I love the world that Frazer has created and love spending time there even without a murder to solve, I enjoy the gentleness of the world and the distinct lack of farcical humour that has turned me off other historical crime novels. There’s a feminist slant to the work without ever feeling too modern – Frevisse remains firmly rooted in her context as a 15th century nun. It also helps that this is set in the second quarter of the 15th century, a time that fascinates me and often features figures I’m familiar with in supporting roles.
And The Boy’s Tale is all those things – it’s a great cosy read, the characters are well-developed and sympathetic. I did really enjoy reading it. But then – then, the central concept of the mystery is one I find objectionable. Catherine de Valois’s secret marriage has been ‘found out’ and this is a huge scandal. Fearing for her children’s lives, she sends them away for safety – and as the children take refuge at Dame Frevisse’s convent, murder claims the lives of their small, desperate party.
For a start, it’s not known who knew about Catherine’s ‘secret’ marriage when but the idea that she was ‘found out’ and forced into an abbey is a relatively modern invention. The reality is that she likely retired to Bermondsey Abbey where she died due to a severe illness she, in her own will, mentions having suffered. It might even be that her marriage was an open secret amongst the highest levels of the nobility that was tolerated until her death (which is the view of Henry VI’s biographer, Lauren Johnson). But all that pales into comparison by the fact thatGloucester apparently wanted all her Tudor children murdered in The Boy’s Tale. Er, what? There is literally no evidence for this (again, he might have known about this already!) and is quite an outlandish accusation to make. I was actually surprised by this as Frazer gave him a fairly sympathetic treatment in the first book of hers I read.
I am a bit in two minds about this. The series, on a whole, is a great cosy read – I love the world that Frazer has created and love spending time there even without a murder to solve, I enjoy the gentleness of the world and the distinct lack of farcical humour that has turned me off other historical crime novels. There’s a feminist slant to the work without ever feeling too modern – Frevisse remains firmly rooted in her context as a 15th century nun. It also helps that this is set in the second quarter of the 15th century, a time that fascinates me and often features figures I’m familiar with in supporting roles.
And The Boy’s Tale is all those things – it’s a great cosy read, the characters are well-developed and sympathetic. I did really enjoy reading it. But then – then, the central concept of the mystery is one I find objectionable. Catherine de Valois’s secret marriage has been ‘found out’ and this is a huge scandal. Fearing for her children’s lives, she sends them away for safety – and as the children take refuge at Dame Frevisse’s convent, murder claims the lives of their small, desperate party.
For a start, it’s not known who knew about Catherine’s ‘secret’ marriage when but the idea that she was ‘found out’ and forced into an abbey is a relatively modern invention. The reality is that she likely retired to Bermondsey Abbey where she died due to a severe illness she, in her own will, mentions having suffered. It might even be that her marriage was an open secret amongst the highest levels of the nobility that was tolerated until her death (which is the view of Henry VI’s biographer, Lauren Johnson). But all that pales into comparison by the fact that