A review by moonshinealmanac
Restoration by Rose Tremain

4.0

I absolutely adored the first third of this book, which encapsulated the absurdity, vivaciousness, and sordid nature of the early years of the Restoration. Merivel is a wonderfully humorous and lovable protagonist, but his story takes a turn which, although quite in keeping with the capricious nature of Charles II's royal court, meant that the novel lost a little of its joy for me as it progressed. I also feel like its final act, and the death of Katharine, seemed a bit contrived and detracted from the events of the middle of the plot. This is a story about a man finding his identity in an era of facade and pantomime, and was fantastic in its evocation of seventeenth-century London; perhaps it was just a little too bittersweet for me.