The Merry Monarch's Wife: Catherine of Braganza

Several of Jean Plaidy's historical novels have been re-printed in recent years, particularly the books in her "Queens of England" series. One recent re-release is "The Merry Monarch's Wife," (originally published in 1991) a biographical novel about Catherine of Braganza, wife of King Charles II in the late 17th century. As with all books in this series, the story is told in first person by the queen looking back on her life -- along with the woman's repeated expressions of "if only" regret and how she might have done things differently. In each "Queens" book, Jean Plaidy features a character and basic story previously included in earlier series. For example, the "Courts of Love" Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine also is found in the first four books of the "Plantagenet Saga." Catherine of Braganza, the Merry Monarch's Wife, is also featured in the second book of the "King Charles II" trilogy (part of the overall Stuart Saga about the Stuart monarchs): A Health Unto His Majesty.

Through the earlier "King Charles II" series and this Queens of England companion book, Plaidy brings her great historical research to the interesting and romantic story of King Charles II and his merry England, the British Court of the Restoration Period. "The Merry Monarch's Wife" is a decent enough telling of the same story from the King Charles II trilogy, with some additional material specific to the life of Catherine before and after her marriage to Charles II. The many characters at court, including Charles' mistresses and extended family members, are sufficiently developed for a story that tells the details of life at court as well as the political events of the time, including especially the conflict between Catholics and Protestants. These novels about Catherine of Braganza bring out many interesting details about the tragic Queen, who introduced Britains to their (until recently) favorite beverage of tea, yet as a foreigner and Catholic was unpopular in her new country -- and in the end failed in the major duty of a Queen, to provide the country with an heir. Throughout, we see the young, naive and sheltered woman who was sent to a foreign country to become the wife of a promiscuous man who could not be faithful to one woman, and yet still loved Charles and clung to her position.

The story itself, as a part of the English Restoration, is one of marked licentiousness, the English extreme reaction against the preceding years of Cromwell's Puritan rule. Plaidy even included an author's note addressing this matter in the introduction to her King Charles II story -- an explanation no doubt needed in the 1950s -- along with her justification for what others' called her too favorable portrayal of Charles himself. This actual history shows the real depravity of mankind which as an overall society cannot yield to the holy and moral life desired by God, and bears out the Calvinist understanding that without God's work in the heart, man cannot conform to God's moral standards -- the underlying reason why Cromwell's Puritan England failed. Plaidy thankfully wrote in an earlier time and thus does not include the common vulgarity and gratuitous sex scenes so typical of many modern-day writers. Yet her telling of the story clearly states her own attitudes, as so aptly expressed in the Billy Joel song -- "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints / the sinners are much more fun."

Plaidy (real name Eleanor Hibbert) was near the end of her life and career when she wrote this 9th book in the "Queens of England" series; she died in 1993. As such -- and as noted by other reviewers -- these later books lack the quality of her earlier works. Yet many of her earlier works, some written in the 1950s and 1960s, are out of print and hard to come by. Three Rivers Press has re-released the later Plaidy works to re-introduce Jean Plaidy to a new generation, and hopefully they will see enough interest to also re-print Plaidy's earlier works.

The Redemption: Pirate Adventure Story

The Redemption, by M. L. Tyndall, begins a new pirate adventure series, “Legacy of the King’s Pirates.” Set in 1665 in the Caribbean, The Redemption follows the story of Lady Charlisse Bristol, who has fled England to search for her only relative, a father she has never known. She soon is shipwrecked and stranded on a deserted island, until a pirate ship, The Redemption, arrives. Captain Edmund Merrick is a “legal pirate” in the service of Great Britain to attack only Spanish ships, though the rest of his crew are hardened pirates. Merrick also has recently become a Christian and daily struggles with his old nature and new life in Christ.

Merrick assists the young Charlisse Bristol in her search to find her father. However, he soon learns that her father is the very wicked and violent “Edward the Terror,” the very pirate Edmund has been searching for—to bring to justice. Edmund also struggles with his own temptations with the beautiful lady while keeping his crew away from her. Throughout the story, Charlisse and Edmund grow in their relationship to each other, as Charlisse learns to trust and accept help from Edmund, while also learning about the true Heavenly Father she needs even more than a human father.

Much of the story takes place in Port Royal, the main port of Jamaica at that time and the special attraction of pirate ships. The Redemption skillfully depicts the wickedness of Port Royal, the “Sodom of the New World” as it was known by the 1660s (), integrating the story of Edmund and his pirate shipmates with the local population of prostitutes and generally disreputable folk. Yet a small church, and its pastor Reverend Thomas Buchan, provide a great contrast and the Christian element for this story. For The Redemption is much more than a pirate and romance story, but a strong story about God’s redeeming love for His own, including these two characters, Edmund and Charlisse.

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague

Reviewed by Troy Reed

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks is set in seventeenth century England during the time of the plague. The novel is based on the real village of Eyam, Derbyshire, in the Pennine Mountains. Members of the small village begin dying one by one as the plague seeps into their town in the year 1666. The living face a difficult choice that their survival depends upon- leave the village and find refuge in towns that the plague has not yet hit or stay behind and quarantine themselves to protect other innocent people? The young, charismatic town vicar, Michael Mompellion, convinces the villagers that they have a better chance of survival if the village seals itself off from the rest of the world. A few decide to risk it and leave, but the majority of the people prepare to stay in the village and combat the plague head-on.

The story is told from the point of view of 18-year-old Anna Firth, a widow with two young sons. Anna works as a maid for the vicar and his wife, Elinor. Anna and Elinor develop a close friendship, and Elinor teaches Anna to read. The vicar, his wife, and Anna come to the aid of those infected with the plague and care for them as best they can with herbal medicines and words of comfort. At the same time Anna is caring for others, she must also deal with the tragic loss of her two sons as they succumb to the disease. As the plague begins to decimate the population, many people turn against the vicar and believe that his advice was wrong. The villagers begin to mistrust friends and neighbors and start to turn against each other in their confinement. Some let their superstitions get the best of them and believe that there are witches among them that are responsible for the suffering.

The characters in this novel are well-developed. Brooks is able to accurately portray the range of emotions that people would exhibit in such a difficult time when faced with disease, death, and dwindling supplies. Her portrayal of how some members of the village are driven to madness and desperate measures are extremely accurate and convincing. Readers will identify with Anna as she copes with the loss of her children and with the suffering of the neighbors that she helps. Anna reacts to her situation in a believable way, by throwing herself into her work, hoping that soon the plague will pass and life will resume once more. Geraldine Brooks is a superb storyteller that skillfully portrays this tale of everyday people learning how to cope during an extraordinary time in history.

Review of "The Rebel's Pledge": A peak at 17th Century England and America's Maryland

Reviewed by Bonnie Toews

Rita Gerlach has remarkable talent as a writer. She captures the past and makes it live for today's readers. At the same time, she remains true to life in 17th Century Maryland and England during the English rebellion--in dialogue, social mores and historical fact. Rita's characters become like family--you don't want to leave them at the end of her novel--so if she continues to use them in future stories, readers will welcome them back into their literary lives.

"The Rebel’s Pledge" begins in 1686, just as the English Rebellion against King James is at its height. Mathew Hale is one of the rebels who is caught and faces execution. By Royal Decree, however, he escapes the hangman’s noose to be sentenced to live out his remaining life as a slave in the colonies. On a Maryland plantation, Hale’s new owner Edmund Carey learns his slave is the son of a man who saved his life during the English Civil War. When Indians attack Carey’s home and ravage his land, Hale saves his owner’s life. Carey is so grateful that he frees Hale from slavery. With a chance to go anywhere he pleases, Hale elects to stay with Carey as his foreman. When Carey becomes very ill, he beseeches Hale to go to England to fetch his estranged daughter so she can see him and the plantation that she will inherit before he dies. At Green Glade Manor in England, Laura has lived under her rich uncle’s guardianship. This brother of her mother is an ambitious man, and betroths her to an aristocrat, a man whose fortune he hopes will benefit both of them. Unfortunately, Laura’s fiancé is a man with his own hidden agenda, and when Hale arrives, she escapes with him to America and to her father. In love, she and Hale marry, but soon afterward, Laura’s spurned aristocrat lover accuses Hale of murder and kidnaps Laura from her plantation home. Now Hale must make his way back to England to clear his name, find his wife, discover the real murderer and confront the man who wants to destroy his and Laura’s life together. Can he forgive the man who brought so much pain to his family? Or will he become the thing he despises?

Thus, the true drama begins, pitting Laura and Mathew Hale in a duel of conflicting class distinctions and treachery that stretches across two continents. From the opening page to the last word, this poignant love story is set in the midst of swashbuckling suspense. What a way to learn about American history! Through the heart of fiction. I predict, in time, Rita Gerlach will become an adored household name to readers and fans of historical fiction.

Reviewer's bio: Bonnie Toews is a national award-winning business journalist whose articles and editorials have appeared in Canadian magazines and newspapers. Through a career that has ranged from teacher to editorial director of a major publishing company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, she now freelances and writes fiction novels as a hobby.

Reviewer's web site: http://www.bonnietoews.com
Reviewer’s email address: bonnie.toews@sympatico.ca

The Mayflower Secret: Introducing the Pilgrims to Young People

The Mayflower Secret, a Trailblazer Series book, tells a story of 13-year-old Elizabeth Tilley and her experiences as she comes to New England on the Mayflower in 1620. Along the way, readers are introduced to Governor William Bradford as well as many interesting details about the early years of the Plymouth colony. For example, the Pilgrims did not call themselves by that name, but rather as "Brethren." Often the story refers to the group as "Separatists," but never Pilgrims.

The Pilgrim leaders, plus Captain Standish, Squanto and Samoset are all featured. In fact, the names of the characters -- with one exception noted in the book introduction -- all refer to actual people from the Mayflower: names such as Edward Winslow, the Brewsters, Governor Carver, and children including Humility and Henry Cooper. The characters also talk in the old-English, King James style language, for a more authentic feel. As depicted in the book, an actual Elizabeth Tilley became orphaned after her parents died that first winter; and she married John Howland when she was 16, in 1623.

During the voyage across the ocean, Elizabeth sees the unhappy Dorothy Bradford, William Bradford's wife, on deck late one night. The next day she learns that the woman is missing, presumed drowned -- and blames herself for not saying anything or trying to save Dorothy. How can she ever face Governor Bradford, with this terrible secret?

Most of the story is in fact the overall story of the Pilgrims, with minor attention to Elizabeth's secret. The girl's growing feelings for John Howland, and uncertainty over her place in the colony, add further detail to personalize the experience for young people. As a story that features relatively little action, and emphasis on a girl's feelings, The Mayflower Secret would likely appeal more to young girls than boys. Such readers, though, should enjoy learning about the early Pilgrims, in this informative "Trailblazer Series" book.

Learn about King Philip's War: Rehoboth

Angela Elwell Hunt's novel Rehoboth (Book 4 in the "Keepers of the Ring" series) describes in great detail a "forgotten" event in colonial history, known as King Philip's war. The greatest uprising of the native population against the English settlers, King Philip's war lasted over a full year (1675-1676), and took more lives, per capita, than any other war fought on American soil. A huge setback for the New England colonists, it took an even greater toll on the native Algonquin Indian tribes in the area, clearing the way for further colonial expansion.

Rehoboth, the book's title, was the name of one of the many colonial villages (in present-day Massachusetts) destroyed by the Indians during this war. Much of the novel, therefore, focuses on this unfortunate town, where Aiyana Bailie lives for a while. The story begins with the Bailies living on Martha's Vineyard among friendly, Christianized or "praying" Indians. Daniel (really Taregan) Bailie decides that his work among this group of Indians is complete, and wants to move to Roxbury to assist John Eliot (a real historical figure who lived in Roxbury with many villages of praying Indians) in his work there. Along the way the family stops in Rehoboth, to arrange for daughter Aiyana (age 17) to work as a hired servant for a family there; Daniel and his son Mojag (age 21) will travel further on, to Roxbury.

Aiyana soon finds love, as well as racial tensions and, later, danger, in Rehoboth. Her English boyfriend's father will not accept a mixed-race daughter-in-law (Aiyana and Mojag are 5/8 Indian) and tries to match his son up with a proper Puritan girl, to no avail. As the war progresses, Rehoboth is attacked a first time, leaving many dead. Later, when the colonial government deports all the praying Indians to islands off the mainland, Daniel sends for Aiyana, who soon joins him along with the other Indians on overcrowded Deer Island.

Meanwhile, Mojag hears the call to live and minister among the Wampanoag Indians, and specifically to sachem Metacomet (known by the English as King Philip) only a few months before the outbreak of war. Metacomet sees Mojag as a civilized Indian who knows nothing of how to survive in the wilderness like the "real" Indians. Anxious to win Metacomet's approval, Mojag impulsively agrees to spend a month alone in the wilderness, the test faced by all young Indian warriors as a rite of passage to manhood, and soon realizes his foolishness. An angel finally delivers him from his many problems by giving him a crash course on wilderness survival, and Mojag returns triumphantly to Metacomet after a month, ready to live among the Wampanoags.

Thus Mojag and Aiyana are separated from each other, and throughout much of the book they and their father are scattered, not knowing where the others are. They are finally reunited when the war ends a year later.

Rehoboth begins with the uneasy peace less than a year before war, and concludes with the end of the war, covering a much shorter time span than the first three books of the "Keepers of the Ring" series (which spanned from 10 to 20 years each). Throughout the novel are many references to actual events of King Philip's war, enough to piece together the majority of the historical event: everything from the events leading up to the war, the incident that started the war in June 1675, to the war's final end in August of 1676 (when a company led by Benjamin Church chased King Philip through the countryside for weeks until they found and killed him). Unlike many historical novels that keep the historical situation in the background with only a few details related to the main story, Hunt's Rehoboth characters are closely connected to the historical situation and are directly affected by actual events. Perhaps because the true historical story has been largely forgotten by today's readers, and is yet a very interesting part of early American life, this novel stands complete, with a basic story about brother and sister separated from each other and how they interact with others during a terrible war.

Metacomet (King Philip) is a major character even before Mojag meets him, with early scenes of dialog between several Indian sachems, even the plotting to kill Philip's secretary John Sassamon, who had converted to Christianity and warned the colonists of the Indians' war plans. Many times throughout the book the reader learns the thoughts of Metacomet, including his distrust of the English and their God, his pride of the old warrior Indian, his initial desire for peace but then realization that the situation is out of his control, and his final hardening of heart when he turns Mojag and his friends away.

Besides John Eliot and King Philip, other noteworthy historical figures include Benjamin Church, one of the military leaders, and Mary Rowlandson, one of the captives taken during the attack on Lancaster. Their adventures are likewise told from written historical accounts as well as dialog and narratives. The story ends with a brief summary about the war's aftermath and consequences, as well as its effects on the praying Indians and John Eliot's ministry.