As a reader who enjoys historical fiction immensely, particularly the Plantagenets, the Tudors and especially where strong women are involved, reading this made me realise with a jolt that I’ve only read supposed English history from the English perspective. Not surprising in the least but it wasn't anything I’d considered before. Given the arranged marriages, the politically motivated marriages to acquire lands and kingdoms as well as the wars that sought these ends it becomes quite obvious that many periods of our own history are fiercely and inextricably intertwined with the history of other nations.
Blurb.
‘Richard Lionheart tells the story of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1173, she and three of her sons instigate a rebellion to overthrow the English king, her husband Henry Plantagenet. What prompts this revolt? How does a great queen persuade her children to rise up against their father? And how does a son cope with this crushing conflict of loyalties?
Replete with poetry and cruelty, this story takes us to the heart of the relationship between a mother and her favourite son – two individuals sustained by literature, unspoken love, honour and terrible violence.’
The Revolt is a powerful account of Eleanor of Aquitaine told for the most part from the POV of her third son Richard, Coeur de Lion, (since this is a French novel!), sometimes Eleanor, with brief input from her second husband Henry II. Remembering, and the writer does remind us herself in the author’s note, that this is not a history book, it is a novel yet the research would seem to be extensive and, as memory serves me, accurate! That relates only to the factual information and how it is used in the text. What stands out though, is the author’s ability to get under the skin of Richard and as you read you feel it IS Richard speaking. His thoughts, his wishes, his doubts, his emotion, his conflicts and the love he has for his mother. We see Eleanor through his eyes. He’s her son, so his view is subjective surely? But he suggests a bond between them that is not necessarily enjoyed by his siblings. Powerful, too, is the loathing they both have for husband and father, Henry II. As you read you try to ascertain whether Eleanor herself has moulded Richard’s view of his father or is it Henry’s distance and favouritism for younger son, John, that snubs out any chance of a filial bond? It makes for a fascinating read.
A slender volume at less than two hundred pages yet the narrative is substantial, poetic and philosophic. It is an historian’s job to present us with the facts. It is the novelist’s job to bring, not just those facts, but the persons throughout history to life. Clara Dupont-Monod has done that ably with a crisp translation by Ruth Diver. You come away from the book feeling that you understand a little more than you did of the motivations of both Eleanor and Richard. You also are privy to a slice of French history from a French perspective which allows you to see a broader view than maybe you did before. And if you have no particular interest in history there is much in the story to entertain and occupy a reader from a literary point of view.
My thanks to Corinne Zifko at Quercus Books for a copy of this book and a place upon the social media tour. My fellow bloggers have some fascinating insights also.
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