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Lady of the English by Elizabeth Chadwick

A monthly discussion on varying themes guided by our members. (Book of the Month discussions through December 2011 can be found in this section too.)
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Miss Moppet
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Lady of the English by Elizabeth Chadwick

Post by Miss Moppet » Wed August 10th, 2011, 10:40 pm

SPOILER WARNING: Details from When Christ And His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman and the history of the English C12 civil war in general will be discussed in this thread.

On p. 42 and I'm especially enjoying the scenes with Henry I. I did feel the lack of him in Saints although that is such a big book I don't see how any more could have been fitted in. Also, we are seeing an earlier part of Matilda's life - IIRC she is introduced in Saints only after
.
'And I say to you that all men will bow to my resolve, by one means or another.' Henry's hand clenched into a fist. 'I am no fool. I know when a man is dead and gone, his word is no longer the law. Therefore I must make all watertight while I am still in good health. If no son is to come to me through my Queen, I must look to grandsons born of my daughter.'
I love Henry! (For those of you who have read the Lady Moppet stories, as soon as I read this I thought, "so that's where Oscar gets it from.")

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Wed August 10th, 2011, 11:46 pm

I'll wait for you to get further along, but I really liked the relationship/friendship between Matilda and Adeliza, it really brought out a more human side to her, but not sugar coating her either.
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Ash
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Post by Ash » Thu August 11th, 2011, 12:27 am

I agree with you about the younger Henry, and the relationship between the two women. But as I mentioned elsethread, I had a problem with melding this book with the images I already have from Penman's book and found myself having trouble feeling the same kind of sympathy for Matilda that I felt for her in WCSS.

Aside from that, the writing is really top notch here. I also enjoyed reading about some characters that she write about in other books: Marshall, Bigod....

I could have done with less sex scenes but thats just me.

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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Thu August 11th, 2011, 10:03 pm

Didn't have the chance to get any further today but wanted to say I love the authenticity of the medieval atmosphere, the way all the etiquette seems right and appropriate - you really feel you have a window into the C12. Plus the level of detail is just right, the cushions Adeliza has on the ship, for instance. There's just enough to paint a picture and not so much you get overloaded.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Thu August 11th, 2011, 11:41 pm

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]Didn't have the chance to get any further today but wanted to say I love the authenticity of the medieval atmosphere, the way all the etiquette seems right and appropriate - you really feel you have a window into the C12. Plus the level of detail is just right, the cushions Adeliza has on the ship, for instance. There's just enough to paint a picture and not so much you get overloaded.[/quote]

There is a knack to that, some authors do and many others don't. I like the feel of looking in on the mindset and customs (and clothes of course!), but I don't need to know about every last damn button on the dress down to the very tip of their toes with the shoes.
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Brenna
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Post by Brenna » Mon August 15th, 2011, 5:40 pm

Bought this yesterday and got about 12 pages in. As I have a 9.5 hour drive to look forward to, I'm assuming I'll have this finished pretty soon. I literally finished Saints 5 minutes before I started Lady, so the comparisons will be fresh!
Brenna

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Mon August 15th, 2011, 5:46 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]Bought this yesterday and got about 12 pages in. As I have a 9.5 hour drive to look forward to, I'm assuming I'll have this finished pretty soon. I literally finished Saints 5 minutes before I started Lady, so the comparisons will be fresh![/quote]

That will be fun to see your impressions of Sharon's Matilda and EC's.
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Brenna
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Post by Brenna » Thu August 18th, 2011, 7:09 pm

I did not like that scene between Matilda (Maude) and Geoffrey that got violent. I knew they had a voalitile relationship, but I never pictured, nor wanted to that he would beat her. I'm not a fan of the portrayl of Maude either, but I still have a ways to go. I love the writing though, as always :-)
Brenna

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Thu August 18th, 2011, 8:16 pm

I used the Akashic Records for that beating scene between Matilda and Geoffrey. I did consider not writing it, but then I decided that let the truth be told.
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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Brenna
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Post by Brenna » Fri August 19th, 2011, 4:53 pm

[quote=""EC2""]I used the Akashic Records for that beating scene between Matilda and Geoffrey. I did consider not writing it, but then I decided that let the truth be told.[/quote]

Understood. The comparison is completely unfair, but it is difficult to resign the Matilda you describe to the Maude in SKP's book. It's almost as if they are two completely different people.

I do have a question though. I thought Geoffrey made the deal with Stephen after Maude was already in England not while she was still in Normandy? Wrong?
Brenna

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