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Reading Rescue, November 2005: Historical Fiction
By Anne Allen and Mary Anne Fulmer
Snow in October! That's enough to make the Reading
Rescuers (no boring books here) wish for a magic carpet to fly them away
to a warmer place. While we're traveling, let's go to another time as
well, and take a look at historical fiction.
 Philippa Gregory is an old favorite at the library, with
many patrons enjoying her Wideacre series. Although they are less well
known, she has also written three books focusing on the Tudors. The
Other Boleyn Girl takes place between 1521 and 1536 and is narrated by
Mary Boleyn, a lovely blonde who catches the king's eye at a very young
age. A favorite for several years, she is supplanted by her older sister
with tragic results for Anne and the Boleyn family. Gregory does
impeccable research and her tale of the political machinations by the
Howard, Percy, and Seymour families is fascinating and chilling. The
second novel, The Queen's Fool, begins 12 years later, in 1548. This is
the tale of Hannah Green who becomes a "holy fool", a seer of visions,
at the court of Mary Tudor. England is in a state of upheaval as Mary
searches for a suitable consort, engages in unprofitable wars, and
returns the land to Catholicism. Hannah and her family have fled Spain
to escape the Inquisition, and now find the same fires burning in their
new home. Also stirring up trouble is the Protestant Princess,
Elizabeth, waiting in the wings to succeed her sister and gathering
power. Hannah has a protector in Robert Dudley, newly released from the
Tower of London, and she serves as his spy in the queen's court. As the
novel concludes, Bishop Bonner heads the English Inquisition, and Mary is
naming an heir. In The Virgin's Lover, Robert Dudley, the Earl of
Leicester, comes to the fore. His father was executed for treason
against Mary, his grandfather executed by Henry VIII, and Robert himself
was imprisoned in the Tower. However, as Elizabeth ascends the throne in
1558, the future is bright for Dudley and his Protestant plotters. He is
an appropriate person to help school the young queen in court protocol
and his charm helps assure a rapid rise in power. Gregory has the
ability to tell lively tales of love and lust, politics and plots, with
a firm grounding in historical fact.
Going back in time to the Roman Empire, A Love Divine by
Alexandra Ripley is the story of Joseph of Arimathea. As Ripley notes,
little is known of Joseph, but she uses those facts available to create
the story of a wealthy businessman who becomes a powerful figure in the
spread of Christianity. In her novel, Joseph leaves the family holding
in Arimathea to run away to sea. Using his wits, he learns to sail and
navigate, and is able to strike a profitable bargain to buy tin from the
Druids in what will become England. Tin means coins in the Roman Empire,
and Joseph's circle expands to the Herod family and the Caesars. At the
same time, off center stage, a young man is preaching that he is the
Messiah. There is a wealth of fascinating detail about Jewish life under
the Romans, the customs of the Druids, and the intellectual life of
Alexandria.
Memoirs of a Geisha takes us to another time (primarily
the 1920's and 30's) and place (Kyoto, Japan). Arthur Golden spent 6
years researching and writing the story of a geisha. Chiyo, aged 9, is
sold to the Nitta "family", as an apprentice geisha. Her major job,
however, is to assist Hatsumomo, the geisha whose earnings support them
all. It is neither an easy life for Chiyo, nor one easy to escape.
Golden draws on his extensive research to tell the rigorous training of
a geisha: the years in school learning the tea ceremony, playing the
shamisen, obtaining kimono and obis, and practicing the distinctive
hairdo and makeup. As Sayuri (Chiyo's geisha name) tells her story to a
Western biographer, she informs us of the details of a very different
culture and provides a historical context that is engrossing.
In 1972, a 16 year-old girl finds an old letter in her
father's library. This letter, from 1930 and addressed to "my dear and
unfortunate successor", precipitates the action in Elizabeth Kostova's
The Historian. Taking place in Cold War Europe, our narrator, her
father, and others travel to museums, libraries, and monasteries as they
research the Order of the Dragon. The events span 40 years, and include
travels to Istanbul, Budapest, Rakusa (Dubrovnik), Sofia, and Emona
(Ljubljana). Whether they are poring over old letters and documents near
the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, rescuing an abducted comrade in Romania,
or researching folksongs in Bulgaria, the action is fast-paced and
exciting. Kostova weaves these threads together for a real page-turner.
Next month: a look at Christmas books and videos. Please
send suggestions and comments to
mfulmer@pennlib.org.
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