The Winter Crown by Elizabeth Chadwick
by
Natasa Djordjevic
- 3:57 PM
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| ✬✬✬✬✬ |
Synopsis:
It is the winter of 1154 and Eleanor, Queen of England, is biding her time. While her husband King Henry II battles for land across the channel, Eleanor fulfils her duty as acting ruler and bearer of royal children. But she wants to be more than this - if only Henry would let her.
Instead, Henry belittles and excludes her, falling for a young mistress and leaving Eleanor side-lined and angry. And as her sons become young men, frustrated at Henry's hoarding of power, Eleanor is forced into a rebellion of devastating consequences. She knows how much Henry needs her, but does Henry know himself?
Overflowing with scandal, politics, sex, triumphs and tragedies, The Winter Crown is the much-awaited new novel in this trilogy and a rich, compelling story in its own right.
My Review:
“There was a time when I thought I could change everything. I have learned the hard way that we only have so much strength: better to use it for fights where we stand a chance of winning.”
This is the second book in Chadwick’s series about Eleanor of Aquitaine. I found it quite darker than the first book (The Summer Queen), but it was still a page turner for me. In this book, we see her husband King Henry II as a “control freak” who sees Alienor (Eleanor) as a broodmare and his children as pawns in his grab for power and land.
From the moment the book opens the reader learns of the tension rising between Eleanor and Henry. She is wary of his treatment of her, afraid that he will diminish her position as his Queen. Her concerns are not groundless and as the novel progresses Henry talks to Eleanor less and less, asking her opinion only rarely. Although successful in her fecundity, Eleanor feels that Henry does not allow her to fulfill her other role as his Queen—that of a peacemaker. He avoids her as tensions built between himself and his advisers, Thomas of Becket in particular, and this complete failure of communication between the pair portents to the breakdown of the marriage itself.
It describes Alienor as an intelligent and prudent woman with a sharp eye and quick brain, more than capable to understand the workings of the politics and intrigue of the times; and was one step ahead in working out her husband’s controlling machinations. A caring mother to her offspring, she was pragmatic, even if she was not always happy that her children must be sold off in marriage to strengthen and ensure the advancing fortunes and power of the dynasty. As her family grew into young adulthood, she had great influence in their lives, especially in that of her sons—and most particularly Richard, whom she adored and was the heir to her Duchy.
It portrays Henry as being devoid of deep feeling, or at the least unable or unwilling to show it. There was a powerful, almost animalistic passion between Henry and Alienor in the early days of their marriage, which burned out as swiftly as it had begun. I can see how Elizabeth Chadwick reached her belief that this was lust and duty as opposed to love; no tender lover would treat his wife and the mother of his children as poorly as Henry did Alienor, especially in his eventual cruel captivity of her. It is also acceptable to consider that Henry was capable of more, if not love, then at least tenderness, as was shown in his long relationship with Rosamund Clifford.
“The Winter Crown” is an extraordinarily written and well-composed book. The plot is captivating and the flaws throughout are minimal. Elizabeth Chadwick’s research into the background and real people in this richly decadent time is impressive. She captures the time and place so perfectly that the characters leap to life before our eyes.
The Review of The Summer Queen you can find here
To cheek this book on amazon go to this link https://amzn.to/2zVq4Iz
