From Publishers Weekly
Mackin ( The French Woman ) takes an incident well known to history buffs but fails to imbue it with either freshness or vivacity. In 1173, the sons of Henry II revolted against their father and monarch, in a plot masterminded by their mother, the estranged and dynamic queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and abetted by Eleanor's former husband, Louis VII of France. Mackin's feminist account of the conflict paints a doleful picture of 12th-century life, extensively researched and readable, but lacking in excitement. Three heroines--Eleanor, her gimpy little astrologer Sophia and comely runaway serf Lucie (who goes from traveling player to dungeon detainee to retainer at Eleanor's Poitiers court)--share billing with a large cast of knights, nobles, misogynist monks, peasants, players, princes, poets and townspeople. They move through a panorama of forests, towns, meadows, monasteries, castles and churches, amid scenes of chivalry and courtly love (and the hayloft variety as well); feasts, fetes and royal hunts; sieges, sackings, rape and pillage; and even a witch-dunking. Unfortunately, these characters engage in interminable philosophical musing, much of it repetitious.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The author of the highly acclaimed first novel The Frenchwoman ( LJ 12/89) focuses on Eleanor from 1173 to 1189. She leads her three oldest sons in rebellion against their father Henry II of England, who cannot believe they would war with him. Eleanor is portrayed as a strong woman who accuses Henry of early senility caused by the murder of Becket two years previously, but who is still torn between love and hatred for him. She is also frustrated because her sons neither consult nor listen to her on the conduct of the war. Other novels have depicted her as a victim of circumstances or as a jealous vixen. Mackin shows her as an intelligent and ambitious mother willing to sacrifice everything for power and for her son, Richard. Parallel plots of a peasant girl's romance and a crippled woman's desire for love soften the warlike elements. Nicely done.
- Andrea Lee Shuey, Dallas P.L.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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