Book Review
Jul. 28th, 2008 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Eagle's Daughter
by Judith Tarr
Judith Tarr is another of those great writers of historical novels that I keep coming back to. The Eagle's Daughter was up to her usual standards and had the added attraction of covering a slightly obscure set of events and personages.
The novel is about Aspasia, a widowed princess of the Byzantine empire. Aspasia is a very intelligent and spirited woman, and a very likable character that I readily identified with. She has a gift for the subtleties of politics and is an extraordinarily good judge of people and what they are likely to do. She is aunt and close companion to Theophano, who is sent to the emerging Holy Roman Empire to be the wife of Otto II in the late 10th century. Aspasia decides to accompany her niece to the west, and both women truly come into their own there as they try to build a new empire on the crumbling foundations of the old Roman one. As one of Theophano's ladies, she serves as advisor, ambassador, and tutor/governess to the royal children.
Aspasia also becomes assistant to Ismail, the Moorish court physician. This leads to a deep and lasting love between the two of them, despite the profound cultural taboos against such a relationship. I think this is one of the recurring themes in Tarr's historical novels: deep and genuine love that crosses the divisions of religion and culture. Tarr also does a wonderful job of exploring the accords and conflicts between personal feeling and political necessities.
by Judith Tarr
Judith Tarr is another of those great writers of historical novels that I keep coming back to. The Eagle's Daughter was up to her usual standards and had the added attraction of covering a slightly obscure set of events and personages.
The novel is about Aspasia, a widowed princess of the Byzantine empire. Aspasia is a very intelligent and spirited woman, and a very likable character that I readily identified with. She has a gift for the subtleties of politics and is an extraordinarily good judge of people and what they are likely to do. She is aunt and close companion to Theophano, who is sent to the emerging Holy Roman Empire to be the wife of Otto II in the late 10th century. Aspasia decides to accompany her niece to the west, and both women truly come into their own there as they try to build a new empire on the crumbling foundations of the old Roman one. As one of Theophano's ladies, she serves as advisor, ambassador, and tutor/governess to the royal children.
Aspasia also becomes assistant to Ismail, the Moorish court physician. This leads to a deep and lasting love between the two of them, despite the profound cultural taboos against such a relationship. I think this is one of the recurring themes in Tarr's historical novels: deep and genuine love that crosses the divisions of religion and culture. Tarr also does a wonderful job of exploring the accords and conflicts between personal feeling and political necessities.
