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A few medieval novels

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EC2
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A few medieval novels

Post by EC2 » Fri July 31st, 2009, 7:50 pm

I wasn't sure where to post this, but I trust the moderators to move if I've selected the wrong place. It's just to say that I've been trawling my keeper shelf and blogged about a few medieval novels that have earned their place. Thought it might be of interest. Some covers you may not have seen before.
http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com/
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Fri July 31st, 2009, 7:55 pm

Interesting list! I'd never heard of that novel by Juliet Dymoke.
Susan Higginbotham
Coming in October: The Woodvilles


http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Fri July 31st, 2009, 8:04 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]Interesting list! I'd never heard of that novel by Juliet Dymoke.[/quote]

It's dated 1973, so just when I was getting interested in medievals as a teen. I got my first Saturday job around then, so this was probably bought with wages from that. I can't think of anyone (unless Plaidy has) who has written about Henry I and yet he is one of England's most important kings. I suppose Valerie Anand did in a sideways sort of way in King of the Wood. No recent author has tackled him - that I know of.

The list doesn't run the full gamut, there are others on the keeper shelf. This was just an eclectic selection!
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

Chatterbox
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Post by Chatterbox » Fri July 31st, 2009, 8:05 pm

Cool list! Interesting that I had run across some of Dymoke's other novels, including the one you list, before her Plantagenet series, which I'm just now reading. I've yet to get to like Geraldine McCaughrean, but like EC, am more than a little enamored of Hugh Berenger. Makes me wonder what happened to all the HF I bought with my own book tokens from '71 or so onwards. I've even got some from pre-decimalisation days, somewhere, including my first Norah Lofts and Heyer.

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Fri July 31st, 2009, 8:28 pm

I'm glad to hear that Roberta Gellis's Alinor (and presumably the other Roselynde Chronicles novels) are meatier than they look from the covers. I recently added them all at HistoricalNovels.info, and the covers were really making me cringe! But they're from that time period when publishers thought people only wanted to read historical novels if they were "bodice-rippers," so I guess people thought they wouldn't sell if they had more sedate artwork on the front.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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Post by Misfit » Fri July 31st, 2009, 8:33 pm

Oooh, thanks for sharing. Margaret, the Roselynde books are nearly so wild as the covers might indicate. One of my friends at Goodreads just read the first two and she's not much of a romance kind of gal and she enjoyed them.

I've just added to my Amazon wish list and for fun went to see how many of those real old ones I could find in the library catalog - they've got the Schoonover book, Red Adams Lady and the Lofts book. I've already read RAL, but I placed a hold on Burnished Blade. That looks like fun. Found this cover at Amazon,

Image
Last edited by Misfit on Fri July 31st, 2009, 8:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Libby
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Post by Libby » Fri July 31st, 2009, 8:44 pm

What an interesting list. There are some there that I haven't seen before and would like to read.
By Loyalty Bound - the story of the mistress of Richard III.

http://www.elizabethashworth.com

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Fri July 31st, 2009, 8:48 pm

[quote=""Margaret""]I'm glad to hear that Roberta Gellis's Alinor (and presumably the other Roselynde Chronicles novels) are meatier than they look from the covers. I recently added them all at HistoricalNovels.info, and the covers were really making me cringe! But they're from that time period when publishers thought people only wanted to read historical novels if they were "bodice-rippers," so I guess people thought they wouldn't sell if they had more sedate artwork on the front.[/quote]

I think that's true. Gellis is very much a line straddler. She links the romance to the straight historical and it can be a difficult balance to pull off, but she does it. Her characters talk politics and more than just relationships and although the BIG MISUNDERSTANDING is often part of the plot, it's always plausible and well thought out. With Roselynde, Alinor and Joanna she was at the top of her game.
Misfit, The Burnished Blade was a Keeper and re-read for me at 15, but I haven't read it in like decades, so don't squawk at me if it turns out to be dire - pretty please! :o :D
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Fri July 31st, 2009, 9:02 pm

Misfit, The Burnished Blade was a Keeper and re-read for me at 15, but I haven't read it in like decades, so don't squawk at me if it turns out to be dire - pretty please!
I wouldn't even think of it. It looks like fun so we'll see what happens with it. Funny about Gellis, I've seen posters at the Romance Boards at Amazon complain because she's got too much history and not enough looooove.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Post by Ariadne » Fri July 31st, 2009, 9:03 pm

What a great list. I've read nearly half of them. Plaidy's Henry I novel is The Lion of Justice, though I seem to remember it was mostly about the women in his life...

My favorite Henry I-related novel (I haven't yet read the Dymoke) is Eleanor Fairburn's The Golden Hive, focusing on his mistress Nest of Deheubarth.

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