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A review by mjporterauthor
The Autumn Throne by Elizabeth Chadwick
5.0
The Autumn Throne by Elizabeth Chadwick is a delightful book.
Charting the final thirty years of Eleanor of Aquitaine's life, it is not exactly a fast-paced novel, but I don't think it's ever meant to be. For all that Eleanor was imprisoned for nearly fifteen years of those thirty, there is still a great deal that befell her, and of course, with her unruly husband and difficult sons, Eleanor really doesn't have a moments peace to herself.
I very much enjoyed the arrival of many of Eleanor's grandchildren throughout the novel, as well as the reappearance on multiple occasions of William the Marshall - definitely Elizabeth Chadwick's greatest character to date.
I don't think that I've read the first two parts of the trilogy, but I've read about Eleanor before - both in fiction and non-fiction, and I didn't feel as though I missed out on anything, and for all that I knew the ending of the novel would be her death, that didn't diminish the enjoyment of reading about her sometimes chaotic and busy life.
While Henry II is not reviled throughout the novel, he never appears as a particularly pleasant man, neither do her sons, especially John. Yet, the author does a fine job of portraying all of Eleanor's sons, and her husband, as men that Eleanor can't help but love, both as their mother, and as their wife, even when they anger her. But it also shows how helpless she was. She might have been a great queen, but she was really just a pawn that her husband and sons used when it suited them.
A finely nuanced book.
Charting the final thirty years of Eleanor of Aquitaine's life, it is not exactly a fast-paced novel, but I don't think it's ever meant to be. For all that Eleanor was imprisoned for nearly fifteen years of those thirty, there is still a great deal that befell her, and of course, with her unruly husband and difficult sons, Eleanor really doesn't have a moments peace to herself.
I very much enjoyed the arrival of many of Eleanor's grandchildren throughout the novel, as well as the reappearance on multiple occasions of William the Marshall - definitely Elizabeth Chadwick's greatest character to date.
I don't think that I've read the first two parts of the trilogy, but I've read about Eleanor before - both in fiction and non-fiction, and I didn't feel as though I missed out on anything, and for all that I knew the ending of the novel would be her death, that didn't diminish the enjoyment of reading about her sometimes chaotic and busy life.
While Henry II is not reviled throughout the novel, he never appears as a particularly pleasant man, neither do her sons, especially John. Yet, the author does a fine job of portraying all of Eleanor's sons, and her husband, as men that Eleanor can't help but love, both as their mother, and as their wife, even when they anger her. But it also shows how helpless she was. She might have been a great queen, but she was really just a pawn that her husband and sons used when it suited them.
A finely nuanced book.