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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Where Grace Solves Another One

Conspiracy by Grace Cavendish
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Third in the series. Still very cute, well plotted, well researched, and fun.

This is intended for a MG audience, and IMO is nicely tuned to that age group, but the readers aren't condescended to, which is why it works for older readers, too. Obviously, a writer of fiction is allowed to take liberties with facts, and few middle graders would notice if the novel was unrealistic in its depiction of the setting or characters, but I credit the author(s) with doing an excellent job of recreating Queen Elizabeth's court and the people within it. The overall setting is believable, the characters are generally constrained by the norms of their time, and the historical events and context are handled in a way that is both instructive and (thankfully) unobtrusive.

Entertainment was the primary goal of the series, I suspect, not social studies instruction, but historical accuracy and educational value were clearly significant concerns for the author and publishers. (The mention of teacher tools in the back rather confirms this.) And there's a lot to learn here. Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth taught me a lot about the place and time, which makes sense because he was a brilliant scholar, but I'd be a liar if I said I didn't also learn quite a few things about the Earl of Leicester, Kenilworth Castle, and life for people at court from reading this novel. It's all packed in there, just part of the deal.

I also like the main character. Lady Grace make a fine detective ("pursuivant" here) and an entertaining protagonist for the series. She isn't a bumbling goof (a type I never enjoy), but neither is she excessively skilled, and is in the sweet spot to make the mystery work. She can't fight, she doesn't dance well, and other than climbing trees is not any kind of action star. Neither is she some kind of Sherlock, solving mysteries by cigarette ash and footprints. But she's brave enough, resourceful enough, persistent enough, and clever enough to make a fine POV character.

I liked it.

This book and the previous two were written by Patricia Finney (writing as Grace Cavendish, in the same way that the Hardy Boys authors were all called Franklin Dixon), but she didn't do any more. The following titles are written by other authors; I'm hoping they continue the excellence.

Let's find out. :)

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