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Title: The Maiden's Heart by Julie Beard ISBN: 0-515-12515-6 Publisher: Jove Pubns Pub. Date: June, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.88 (8 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: ... Is A Cold fish
Comment: I am a great fan and admirer of Ms.Beard's novels, having absolutely ADORED "A Dance in Heather" and "The Falcon and the Sword"...I was incredibly disappointed in the third of her novels that I have read. The Maiden's Heart was a cold fish of a book lacking not only the mindblowing passion her other books have contained, but also stilted and unnatural in the flow of the writing. I found myself bored and annoyed by Margrete's wishes for a chaste marriage, and her idolisation of the Abbess who suggested this solution in the first place...attempted rape or not, it would have made more sense if she had been reluctant to consume her marriage within the privacy of their own bedroom... It becoming a public issue was, in my opinion tacky. And Hugh's complacency was unnerving and unrealistic. The villian Ranulf was horribly portrayed, and too easily disposed of for comfort...as a whole it whiled away the time on a boring Sunday, but it did not measure up to the caliber and esteem I hold Ms. Beard....I found the Maiden's Heart wanting and mediocre...crossing my fingers for "Romancing the Rose" and the other novels by Ms.Beard that are infamous in historical romance reading circles.
Rating: 5
Summary: Heartwarming
Comment: This wonderful book is the kind of Medieval that Julie Beard is so loved for. There are so many books that have stereotypic heros and heroines. Julie Beard's books always deliver realistic, complex characters that we care about as they overcome the obstacles of the plot. I loved this book. A heartwarming tale.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great premise, but disappointing for all that...
Comment: This is the first Julie Beard book I have read, and I picked it up mainly because of its medieval setting and the interesting premise (a young heiress wants a spiritual marriage, or a marriage that will not be consummated, from her husband, who is a knight and the disinherited younger son of a baron). First, I must speak to the merits of this book before addressing its flaws.
The premise is one that I have not seen in any other medieval romance, and I have read many. The hero Hugh is, as I have said, a knight whose livelihood depends on his winning tournaments, but who gives up that same livelihood when his best friend is killed accidentally in one match. He is also the disinherited second son of a baron (who we later learn is deceased), and he has been brought up in circumstances not befitting his birth and social status. [We learn more about this half way through the book].
The heroine Margaret is the daughter of a baron who has fallen on hard times. Not only is his barony greatly diminished but the baron is also mentally handicapped after suffering head injuries during a raid on his castle. Margaret is struggling to keep the estate afloat, and to conceal the truth about her father's condition from vassal and king alike. [The book is set during the reign of Edward II, one of the weaker kings of England].
The social history of the book is interesting. There is a papal ban on tournaments because the Crusades are on. Of course, the ban is largely ignored, especially by the better-connected knights. The king, whose reign is not discussed that much, has some vicious companions at least from his youth as Prince of Wales [I am not sure how far this is true, given that his father was the great Edward I who would not have tolerated such lawlessness in his own lands]. There is discussion of various "heretic" movements including the Cathars, and there is also debate about the role of marriage. This social history can be off-putting for those who just want medieval history as wallpaper, but will be of interest to those who want some authenticity with their story. I have to say that as good as the social and religious details are, the political details are rather sketchier. Furthermore, without an author's note, these details can be hard to follow even for those somewhat knowledgeable about medieval history.
Now to the story. The hero and heroine are both intriguing characters, basically very good. The heroine is beautiful and chaste, but unaware of her beauty. The hero is truly chivalrous, but he is unlettered and without connections, thanks to his disinheritance. The story (of which I will not say much) is an interesting one, with some intriguing secondary characters. While the marriage is unconsummated for most of the book, of course there is a happy ending eventually.
Now to some problems. Firstly, I wonder why every author must have a heroine who is completely unaware of her beauty. [For some heroines, who have been constantly criticized by their mothers, this may make sense. For Margaret, it makes no sense]. Second, Hugh's family circumstances borders on the melodramatic. Not only are we to believe that he, the son of a baron, was sent away from his home and fostered by a peasant family, but that despite his limitations in education and upbringing, he somehow managed to find a sponsor for his training as a knight. [Generally, such sponsorship meant family connections and the support of relatives, particularly of fathers. Equipment was expensive in particular]. I may have missed how this happened, but I think not.
Thirdly, we are to believe that after the death of Hugh's father, his beloved elder brother John made no effort to see Hugh - and Hugh was so self-sacrificial as to not demand his rights then, nor to make any effort to see his brother (who is described as being gentle etc). Hmph.
Now as to Margaret. I can understand that in the worry about her father and keeping his condition secret, she forgets to keep the estate going. But some of the details made no sense. If the estate was so run-down, surely some people must have suspected the truth. Either there was a conspiracy among the loyal servants and vassals to conceal the truth (and to keep their knowledge secret from Margaret herself) or medieval people were remarkably credulous. I think not.
Margaret's demand for a spiritual marriage while remaining married also does not make that much sense. There were such cases, but in those cases, the woman (or man) demanding such a marriage almost always entered a convent or monastery. Margaret's attitude is indeed an enigma for people of her time.
Finally the villain or villains. Bishop Jerome's disdain of Margaret's attitude and his fear/hatred of the abbess makes sense given the religious beliefs of the time, and the attitudes in particular towards woman's place in society. He is not a godly man, but that was indeed the case for many clergymen. However, his cousin Ranulph (the real villain) is almost a stock character, with his evil actions driven almost solely by envy of Hugh - a man he has beaten in a tournament. This does not make a lot of sense. Or if it does, it makes for a rather unsatisfactory, unidimensional villain.
Oh - and the king. Edward II was not a satisfactory king, weak and given to favoring his male favorites - and believed to be homosexual (if a modern term may be applied). It is hard to believe however, that Margaret (daughter of one of his vassals, however small) would have been able to marry a landless knight, without any consent required by her father's overlord. Nor are the wider political problems of Edward II's reign discussed at all.
I liked Hugh and I liked Margaret. I just did not find their family circumstances all that convincing, and I found the stock villain positively irritating. At the same time, I appreciated Julie Beard's efforts to integrate the details of medieval society into her work. This is why I rated this book at 3.8 (rounded up to 4).
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Title: Lady and the Wolf by Julie Beard ISBN: 0786500158 Publisher: Diamond Books Pub. Date: July, 1994 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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