Where You Feel Kinda Bad for Lord Seymour

The Constable of the Tower by William Harrison Ainsworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The constable of the tower is an important character in this novel, but this is actually the story of Sir Thomas Seymour, from just prior to Henry VIII's death to his own execution for treason. Like all such romances, the author takes liberty with the truth, and compresses events for the sake of drama, but I don't mind; he tells a good story. And as far as the actual history--what happened to whom, and the contours of the political intrigue--he generally can be relied on.

I'm glad that the show Becoming Elizabeth has been on cable. It helped me fix quite a few important figures in my mind so that when I read this I could picture the actors who play them, making the action much easier to follow. (I want to rewatch Wolf Hall now that I have a better handle on the story.) I was a little surprised at how many details were similar between that show and this novel; without researching it, I tend to assume that both come from historical sources. For example, in both, he writes a note for Elizabeth and hid in his shoe when he went to the scaffold. It reaches her in the TV show, though she burns it unread to prove to the king she is loyal. In the book, we're left assuming it reached her without the king learning about it. However, that isn't made explicit.

Ainsworth is a gifted and well educated writer, making this version of the King Edward/Lord Protector/Lord Seymour/Princess Elizabeth story both compelling and informative with interesting characters. Seymour is kind of a dick, but he had a gift for getting people to like him, and everybody around him was just about as conniving and calculating, so it's hard to judge him without judging all of them. In any case, he makes an interesting protagonist. Elizabeth is as round as I've seen her anywhere; Seymour's self-serving but sympathetic brother reads like a real person; the various nobles comprising the different factions are (IMO) treated fairly by the author; and the secondary characters added for flavor (like the headsman, three huge guards, and Xit, a little person) are clever and strange and entertaining, remind you that this is a novel intended to be read for fun.

Ainsworth isn't dead simple to read; the language is relatively demanding and antiquated. But... not that much. And except for the chunk in the middle with the king's funeral and Edward's coronation (about 60 pages of pageantry), the pacing is brisk.

I liked it. Ainsworth gives his audience what they're looking for--a romance in the old sense, with intrigue and action and powerful people and a love story, and he gives it all a highbrow gloss. Or about as close as one can get.

Recommended.

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