Reign by Ginger Garrett

Beyond the Drama, Her Heart Was Real

From the moment her marriage to prince Ahab thrusts her into the intrigues of palace life, Jezebel’s exotic beauty opens doors and her will breaks down walls. Torn from her homeland and wed to power in a strange country, Jezebel vows to create a legacy and power all her own. Some might call her a manipulative schemer, bent on having her way. But they don’t know the whole story, and she was much, much worse.

As she moves through the halls of power, her heart struggles between devotion to the gods she worships, the prince who loves her, and her thirst for revenge. She sparks a battle between her strangely powerless gods and the God of palace administrator Obadiah—a God who confronts her with surprising might. She will fight, though victory may cost her everything.

Reign is the fictionalized biography of the notorious Jezebel of the Bible. The story opens with Jezebel’s hatred of her twin sister and shoving her to her death in a sacrifice.

The story unfolds through the point of view of Jezebel, her husband Prince Ahab, and Obadiah, a palace administrator. What makes this novel unique is the fact that the main heroine is abhorrent to our modern day sensibilities. As queen, she promotes murder and sacrifice, killing infants, rampant prostitution, the drinking of blood, worship of numerous gods, and pure evil. You will not like her, a most unusual predicament for most readers.

Yet the story, although slow in places, was compelling and shocking enough to hold my interest. I love a good villain - the more vile, the better. Well written and woven with intriguing historical details, this novel was a very unusual, but interesting read, one that is still haunting me.

 
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From History and Women

Black Venus by James MacManus

A vivid novel of Charles Baudelaire and his lover Jeanne Duval, the Haitian cabaret singer who inspired his most famous and controversial poems, set in nineteenth-century Paris.

For readers who have been drawn to The Paris Wife, Black Venus captures the artistic scene in the great French city decades earlier, when the likes of Dumas and Balzac argued literature in the cafes of the Left Bank. Among the bohemians, the young Charles Baudelaire stood out—dressed impeccably thanks to an inheritance that was quickly vanishing. Still at work on the poems that he hoped would make his name, he spent his nights enjoying the alcohol, opium, and women who filled the seedy streets of the city.

One woman would catch his eye—a beautiful Haitian cabaret singer named Jeanne Duval. Their lives would remain forever intertwined thereafter, and their romance would inspire his most infamous poems—leading to the banning of his masterwork, Les Fleurs du Mal, and a scandalous public trial for obscenity. 

James MacManus's Black Venus re-creates the classic Parisian literary world in vivid detail, complete with not just an affecting portrait of the famous poet but also his often misunderstood, much-maligned muse.



Black Venus is a novel about Charles Baudelaire and his mistress, Jeanne Duval. Charles Baudelaire was not a man of affluence, however, he yearned to be so. He desired the luxuries of life and strived for it, even at the risk of his own reputation. He spent money lavishly, gambling and womanizing, even indulging in drink and drugs. His mother and stepfather often came to his rescue when his debts got out of control and imposed a strict allowance, severely restricting him.

Sketch of Jeanne Duval

And then in an obscure cabaret, he met the woman who would become his obsession, an alluring Creole woman from Haiti named Jeanne Duval. He dubbed her his Black Venus. She captivated him in every way and he wanted to possess her at all costs. She inspired his poetry - graphically sexual, explicit, and descriptive. She used Charles as a means to raise her own status in life. Jeanne even made clothing purchases at elite shops and charged them to Charles’ mother. Jeanne took everything she could from the relationship that was tumultuous and lasted for decades.

Sketch of Jeanne Duval

The novel truly takes the reader in the 19^th century France, the fear of the revolution, the artists, the cafes. The poems Duval inspired were published, but due to their sexuality, were banned by the government, bankrupting his publisher and rendering Charles a very poor man indeed. Edward Manet befriends Charles and soon Manet paints Jeanne. Unlike Charles, however, his work brought Manet fame and wealth, and increased Duval’s fame.

Painting of Jeanne Duval by Edouard Manet

Black Venus is a poignant novel, heart-breaking and forlorn, almost a tragedy. It is a tale of betrayal, jealousy, obsession, and forbidden love. A magnetic story to say the least!

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From History and Women

Barbara Castlemaine's Daughters

In the 17th century, bearing a royal child was evidently a certain way of securing a pension from the Privy purse, so it’s hardly surprising that all Charles’ liaisons were fruitful.

Many novels have been written about the notorious Barbara Villiers, who became first Palmer, then Countess of Castlemaine, completing her rise to nobility as the 1st Duchess of Cleveland, but the lives of the three sons and three daughters she presented to her royal lover took quite a different turn to their famous mother.

Lady Anne Fitzroy

Lady Anne Fitroy Countess of Sussex

Anne was born in 1661, and Barbara claimed she was conceived on the night of Charles’ coronation in May 1660, her enemies were quick to suggest the baby was either her husband, Roger Palmer's, or her other lover’s, Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Chesterfield.

Roger Palmer acknowledged Anne as his daughter, giving her his name, although this was changed to Fitzroy when the king decided to acknowledge her as his.

Her illegitimacy notwithstanding, Lady Anne was very eligible, and at thirteen, she was married to the twenty-year-old Thomas Lennard, 15th Baron Dacre and Gentleman of the Bedchamber, who was created Earl of Sussex on the marriage.

Lennard was an extravagant spender and gambler, and their marriage was an unhappy one. After two years, when Anne was fifteen, she began a lesbian liaison with Hortense Mancini, duchesse Mazarin, who had fled her own abusive husband, Armand Charles de la Porte. This liaison was not only shocking to the royal court, but very inconvenient in that King Charles was also conducting an affair with ‘the Mancini’ at the time.

A letter written to Loord Roos by his sister related:

"Lady Sussex and Madame Mazarin have privately learnt to fence, and went downe into St. James Parke the other day with drawne swords under theire night gownes, which they drew out and made severall fine passes with, to the admiration of severall men that was lookers on in the Parke."

Anne’s husband dragged her off to country like a naughty child, but instead of coming to her senses, Anne took to her bed and wept bitterly for weeks, kissing a miniature portrait of Hortense. Hortense’s feelings, on the other hand seemed unaffected and she merely moved on to another lover the Prince de Monaco while her affair with the king continued.

Anne did not back down, however, so Lord Sussex decided on desperate measures to get his recalcitrant wife back in line. In collusion with his mother-in-law, who, having been ousted as king’s mistress by Louise de Keroualle, by 1678 lived in Paris, she sent Anne to a nunnery near her own house so she could keep an eye on her. However, Barbara’s current lover, and English ambassador to France, Ralph Montagu, abducted Anne from the convent and they ran off together.

Barbara’s behaviour was considered outrageous even for her time, so her sense of affront at her daughter's actions seems misplaced. In a letter to King Charles, dated "Paris, Tuesday the 28th, 1678," Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland wrote:

I was never so surprised in my whole life-time as I was at my coming hither, to find my Lady Sussex gone from my house and monastery where I left her, and this letter from her, which I here send you the copy of. I never in my whole life-time heard of such government of herself as she has had since I went into England. She has never been in the monastery two days together, but every day gone out with the Ambassador (Ralph Montagu), and has often lain four days together at my house, and sent for her meat to the Ambassador; he being always with her till five o'clock in the morning, they two shut up together alone, and would not let my maitre d'hôtel wait, nor any of my servants, only the Ambassador's. This has made so great a noise at Paris, that she is now the whole discourse. I am so much afflicted that I can hardly write this for crying, to see a child, that I doted on as I did on her, should make me so ill a return, and join with the worst of men to ruin me.

The Sussex’s marriage did, it seems, get back on track for a while, and during the 1680’s,  they produced four children, two sons who died in infancy; and two daughters, Barbara and Anne, who lived to adulthood and were co-heirs of the Barony Dacre. However the couple separated in 1688 and Anne was widowed in 1715 and lived another seven years.

Lady Charlotte Fitzroy

Lady Charlotte Fitzroy Countess of Lichfield

Barbara’s second daughter was more widely accepted as Charles’ offspring, and named Charlotte after him. Born on September 5, 1664 at her mother’s Whitehall Palace apartments, Charlotte, was Barbara’s fourth child and second daughter.

Little is known about Charlotte, other than she rivalled her mother in beauty, had the King’s entrancing Stuart eyes, as well as his mouth. In contrast to her mother, Charlotte was sweet-tempered and pleasing, a contemporary describing her in adulthood as, “a very good and virtuous lady.”  In a court full of overweening ambition, sycophancy and back-stabbing, Charlotte was her father’s delight and the favourite niece of her uncle James Duke of York.

When Charlotte was ten, and on the same day as her sister Anne, a marriage was arranged for her by Anne, Countess of Rochester, to her grandson, Edward Henry Lee. a cousin. They were married on 6 February 1677 when the pair were 12 and 13, when Edward was created Earl of Lichfield.

The young married couple spent their summers at the Lee family’s country estate, Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire, bought by Sir Henry Lee in 1580. The couple were also given a property by the king, located near St James Park on what is now Horse Guards Parade.

By the age of nineteen, Charlotte already had four children and went on to have a further 16, but the couple’s 42 year long marriage was apparently a happy one though six of their children died young.

Sir Edward Henry Lee, [his father's half-brother was the libertine-poet the Earl of Rochester] was a dedicated Tory and advocate of King James II. He followed him to Rochester in Kent after the king's escape from Whitehall in December 1688.

Edward died in 1716 and Charlotte two years later.  The inscription on their monument in Spelsbury Church reads – “at their marriage they were the most grateful bridegroom and the most beautiful bride and that till death they remained the most constant husband and wife.”

Lady Barbara Fitzroy

Lady Barbara Fitzroy Aged 16

Barbara was born at Cleveland House in St Martin in the Fields, London, England on 16 July 1672, at around the time Barbara Castlemaine was losing her position as the king’s chief mistress to Louise de Kérouaille.

 

Although her mother insisted she was a daughter of the king, Barbara was widely thought to have been fathered by either John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough, or Lord Chesterfield, whom she is said to have resembled.

Roger Palmer, Lord Castlemaine, who had remained married to Barbara throughout her reign as king’s mistress, bequeathed the younger Barbara his estate. Charles, however, always publicly acknowledged her as his, while disavowing her in private.

In March 1691, eighteen-year-old Barbara gave birth to an illegitimate son of the Earl of Arran, and named the baby Charles.

James had been confined to the Tower of London for insulting William of Orange to his face. His father, the 3rd Duke of Hamilton, and Princess Mary prevailed on William to release him. Both were bitterly opposed his relationship with Barbara, so his release was with the condition that James should renounce all further relations with Lady Barbara Fitzroy. Their son, Charles, was raised by the Duchess of Cleveland, who supposedly disowned her.

Barbara became a nun in the English Priory of St. Nicholas, at Pontoise in Normandy, taking the name Sister Benedicta, where she eventually became prioress. James was killed in a duel in Hyde Park by Charles, 4th Lord Mohun in 1712.

Barbara signed herself as follows:

Mon nom du monde est Barbe Fitz Roy est en Religion Benedite fille Du Roy De La grande Bretagne Charles 2dc j'ay fait profession dans Le Couuent des Benedictines Angloiscs De Pontoise L'annee 1691 Le 2* D'auril c'est maison est mittige.

Translated as:

My name in the world is Barbe Fitz Roy, in Religion it is Benedicta, daughter of the King of Great Britain, Charles II. I made profession at the Convent of the English Benedictines in Pontoise, the year 1691, the 2nd of April. It is my place of penance.

Barbara became Prioress of the Convent of the Hotel Dieu at Pontoise, as Sister Benedicte, dying there on May 6, 1737.




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From History and Women

Royal Mistress by Anne Easter Smith

Jane Lambert, the quick-witted and alluring daughter of a silk merchant, is twenty-two and still unmarried. When Jane’s father finally finds her a match, she’s married off to the dull, older silk merchant William Shore. Marriage doesn’t stop Jane from flirtation, however, and when the king’s chamberlain, Will Hastings, comes to her husband’s shop, Will knows King Edward will find her irresistible.

Edward IV has everything: power, majestic bearing, superior military leadership, a sensual nature, and charisma. And with Jane as his mistress, he also finds true happiness. But when his hedonistic tendencies get in the way of being the strong leader England needs, his life, as well as those of Jane and Will Hastings, hangs in the balance. Jane must rely on her talents to survive as the new monarch, Richard III, bent on reforming his brother’s licentious court, ascends the throne.

This dramatic tale has been an inspiration to poets and playwrights for five hundred years, and, as told through the unique perspective of a woman plucked from obscurity and thrust into a life of notoriety, Royal Mistress is sure to enthrall today’s historical fiction lovers as well.

Royal Mistress is an absorbing tale about Jane Lambert, the daughter of a mercer who becomes the mistress of King Edward IV and other noblemen in the fifteenth century. Born with the gift of beauty, Jane easily turns heads and attracts the attention of every man she encounters. When she meets Thomas Grey, the Marquess of Dorset, Jane falls irretrievably in love. He betroths her to William Shore, a much older, but wealthy merchant. Jane soon discovers her husband is impotent and her eye begins to wander as she contemplates seeking an annulment. When she catches the eye of William Hastings, the king’s own chamberlain, he recommends her to the king, a man with a voracious sexual appetite. Jane willingly becomes his mistress until his death. Years later, when Richard III ascends the throne, he is determined to cleanse the depraved court and Jane is one of the first to be accused.

This novel is well researched, full of historic characters, places, and items, and the story compelling. There is plenty to entertain; betrayal, suspense, and plenty of romance. The vivid prose evokes strong images, making the story engrossing and colored with the sights and smells of the 16^th century. Jane Shore is presented as a bold, spirited woman, witty and confident in all she does and says. How else could she have caught the discerning eye of so many men of lofty rank. A very entertaining novel! 

    

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From History and Women

Queen Jezebel - A Catherine de Medici Novel by Jean Plaidy

Queen Catherine de Medici, a formidable Italian woman whose name conjures suspicions of murder and poisoning.  She first appeared in France for her wedding to Henry II, second son of King Henry I. When King Henry I died, followed by the dauphin Francis, his eldest son, Henry II and Catherine ascended the throne. This outraged the citizens who did not want an Italian woman as their queen. 

The people’s dislike for Catherine continued throughout her entire reign. In the 16^th century, Italians had a reputation for being exports in the art of poison, and Catherine, known for her razor sharp cunning, dabbled in necromancy, poisons, and murder.

Catherine de Medici's Bedroom

Even though nothing was ever proven against her, she did leave behind several clues of her deviousness. First there is the secret room in her castle. It is believed she stored her poisons in this specially constructed room filled with numerous cabinets. Peep-holes and listening tubes helped Catherine spy on her sons, advisors, servants, and visitors.

Then there is the death of Jeanne Navarre, Catherine’s long-time nemesis.

Jeanne Navarre

Catherine lured the wary Jeanne Navarre to France and then tricked her into acquiring a set of gloves laced with poison. You see, perfumed gloves were in high fashion in France at that time and Catherine offered a most exquisite pair to Jeanne. Poor Jeanne, she suffered a horrible death, which, likely was the kindling that sparked the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of the Huguenots a few weeks later. It is estimated up to 30,000 Huguenots lost their lives.

St Bartholomew Day Massacre Painting

Painting of Catherine de Medici inspecting the aftermath of the massacre

Catherine de Medici's life continues to fascinate. Many fictional books have been written about her life, tempting authors because of all the intrigue and suspicions.    The most detailed novel portraying her life, is a trilogy written by Jean Plaidy.

Click on here for my review of  The Italian Woman and here for my review of Madame Serpent. 

Queen Jezebel

Synopsis

The final novel in the classic Catherine de’ Medici trilogy from Jean Plaidy, the grande dame of historical fiction. The aging Catherine de’ Medici and her sickly son King Charles are hoping to end the violence between the feuding Catholics and Huguenots. When Catherine arranges the marriage of her beautiful Catholic daughter Margot to Huguenot king Henry of Navarre, France’s subjects hope there will finally be peace. But shortly after the wedding, when many of the most prominent Huguenots are still celebrating in Paris, King Charles gives an order that could only have come from his mother: rid France of its “pestilential Huguenots forever.” In this bloody conclusion to the Catherine de’ Medici trilogy, Jean Plaidy shows the demise of kings and skillfully exposes Catherine’s lifetime of depraved scheming.

The novel Queen Jezebel by Jean Plaidy recounts the details of Catherine de Medici's later life. This is the third and final book of her life. Of the three novels, this is the most turbulent. It depicts her incredibly shrewdness, calculating mind, and mistrust of everyone around her, including her sons. Determined to end the hostility between the Catholics and Huguenots, Catherine arranges a political marriage between her Catholic daughter Margot and the Huguenot King Henry of Navarre. But this marriage failed to bring about the peace between the rival groups. As her control over her son, the king, wanes, she convinces him that there is a plot to assassinate him. This prompts Charles to launch the St Bartholomew day massacre to rid France of Huguenots.

The dreadful murders of Henry Guise and Jeanne Navarre play a pivotal role in this book, giving readers insight and a deeper understanding of her sordid motivations and craftiness of this formidable and cunning queen.  

Like the previous two books in this series, Catherine's life is brought to life with vivid details and includes all the main characters of the period. Powerful liaisons, treachery, debauchery, hate, love, and cunning machinations to gain power unfold with clarity and excitement in this final installment. If you are intrigued with Catherine de Medici, then this is a novel not to be overlooked. It is the most comprehensively detailed book about her life. Highly recommended. 

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From History and Women