Book Review
Dec. 14th, 2019 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Conquest
by Elizabeth Chadwick
This engaging novel is set in England and Normandy just before and in the years after the Norman Conquest. It centers around Ailith, wife of a prosperous London armorer, who loses both her husband and infant son right before William I's coronation. Ailith's grief and despair run so deep that she attempts suicide, but is saved by Rolf de Brizes, a Norman knight and friend of Ailith's wine merchant neighbor. Feeling both responsible for and drawn to Ailith, Rolf makes her chatelaine of his English manor. They eventually fall in love and have a daughter, Julitta, even though Rolf has a wife and daughter in Normandy. However, Ailith and Rolf's relationship breaks down after several years, ultimately sundering under the weight of betrayals past and present. The latter part of the story follows Julitta as she reunites with Rolf after a long time apart and grapples with her relationships with him and her beloved childhood friend Benedict, who is betrothed to her half-sister.
Chadwick is extremely good at bringing the middle ages to life with a a good eye for the details of daily life. Her characters are also very well-drawn and balanced. I especially loved Julitta and the way she learned to compromise in her life without compromising herself.
The Conquest is more romance and sex focused than the other books I've read by her, but it's not a torrid, typical romance novel. The characters' lives and relationships have more complexity. Alongside the romantic passion, she also presents a poignant and perceptive exploration of the feelings and bonds that develop between spouses even when there is no real love there.
by Elizabeth Chadwick
This engaging novel is set in England and Normandy just before and in the years after the Norman Conquest. It centers around Ailith, wife of a prosperous London armorer, who loses both her husband and infant son right before William I's coronation. Ailith's grief and despair run so deep that she attempts suicide, but is saved by Rolf de Brizes, a Norman knight and friend of Ailith's wine merchant neighbor. Feeling both responsible for and drawn to Ailith, Rolf makes her chatelaine of his English manor. They eventually fall in love and have a daughter, Julitta, even though Rolf has a wife and daughter in Normandy. However, Ailith and Rolf's relationship breaks down after several years, ultimately sundering under the weight of betrayals past and present. The latter part of the story follows Julitta as she reunites with Rolf after a long time apart and grapples with her relationships with him and her beloved childhood friend Benedict, who is betrothed to her half-sister.
Chadwick is extremely good at bringing the middle ages to life with a a good eye for the details of daily life. Her characters are also very well-drawn and balanced. I especially loved Julitta and the way she learned to compromise in her life without compromising herself.
The Conquest is more romance and sex focused than the other books I've read by her, but it's not a torrid, typical romance novel. The characters' lives and relationships have more complexity. Alongside the romantic passion, she also presents a poignant and perceptive exploration of the feelings and bonds that develop between spouses even when there is no real love there.
