Where Ghosts Are Laid to Rest

Historical Romances of William harrison Ainsworth Rookwood by Ainsworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a flawed but entertaining historical novel from an author I usually really enjoy. I don't love everything here, and I have quibbles, but I can't give him a 3. This is enough fun it still has to be a 4.

Most of his novels are historical romances in the same vein as most of Alexandre Dumas or Sir Walter Scott. They're well-researched, exciting, action and adventure novels, though they have pretty high diction and read a little stuffy. I don't mind that. The historical settings and castles and swordplay and escapes are all very fun. This one is a bit different though.

First of all, this one is intentionally filled with gothic elements. We spend a lot of time in crypts, talking about spooky curses and murderous ancestors. The gothic bits come and go, though, and we spend most of the time in action, with disputed wills and secret marriages, with songs and highwaymen and thief-takers, but then get back into Castle of Otranto territory. It's a bit uneven--but that's okay.

Another difference in this novel is how it feels like two stories jammed together. We have the Rookwoods, with half-brothers disputing their inheritance, with relatives attending the old lord's funeral, and one beautiful cousin seemingly destined for one of the half-brothers. The other part of the story is about Dick Turpin the highwayman, with a long scene in the middle where he is chased from London to York. It has nothing to do with the Rookwood manor or anything that went before, except that Turpin was present for some of that. (I hate that he rides his amazing horse to death. No excuse for that. I liked him as a character until then.)

Then back to the Rookwood story. It ends well, IMO, but in the middle we have characters acting so strange that I can't account for their motivations. Sybil, a Roma girl, loves Luke Rookwood, and he loves her, while his half-brother loves Eleanor, their beautiful cousin. But as soon as Luke sees her, he falls in love with her and is done with Sybil. Sybil meanwhile was ready to marry Luke, then said no (when he found out he was the rightful heir) then tricked him to marry him, then was going to kill Eleanor, but then instead killed herself........

Sorry for the spoilers.

There are many more instances of characters behaving oddly. I think we're meant to assume that the curses and prophecies talked about in the beginning have an effect on the characters, pushing them down certain paths, rewriting their wishes, but I could be making that up.

And yet the book is very fun to read, very brisk, with some characters to admire and to hate, with lots of great action. I like that the curse on the family is finally laid to rest, thanks to poor Sybil who saw what had to be done. I could have said this was a wild ride of a 3, but I think I'd rather call it a quirky 4. A curious reader who is new to Ainsworth might just read book III chapter 14 to the end of book 5, which is almost everything with Dick Turpin and his long ride to escape the thief-takers, full of close escapes and amazing action. That bit could probably be a novella all on its own.

Recommended for Ainsworth readers. Others should probably start on another novel.

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Where Prince Phillip Moves In

Cardinal Pole: Or, The Days Of Philip And Mary. An Historical Romance; Volume 1 by William Harrison Ainsworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ainsworth writes historical romances rather like Sir Walter Scott or Alexandre Dumas. Most often, like this novel, it concerns important figures in English history, and it always includes carefully described settings, primarily castles, churches, and landscapes, almost like he's taking the reader on a tour.

I like it. I almost would give it a 5, which it deserves in many ways, except that I generally score based on how fun it is to pick up and read, and it's not quite as fun to me as an exciting fantasy or clever mystery. Still fun, though, and it has other charms.

This one is set in Tudor times, starting just as Prince Phillip of Spain is arriving in England to marry Queen Mary. The most important characters are a young couple who fall in love just about that time, but whose lives are permanently disrupted by the Spanish prince seeing the young woman and deciding he wanted her. Ainsworth does a good job showing just how arbitrary and unjust rulers could be in those times, how common people are powerless before them. This is shown in an even starker way by the protestants that Phillip and Mary burn at the stake with very little notion of mercy.

The most positive Catholic character in the novel is certainly the one named in the title, Cardinal Pole. I don't know if he really was such a good guy, but here he is the voice of reason and moderation, trying to heal the religious rift in England through tolerance and compassion. He's mostly ignored. Still, that character shows how things might have gone, how our ancestors might have learned to live together, if they hadn't been such extremists. Ainsworth definitely celebrates the moderates, though I get that by inference; he's not super heavy-handed that way. (He's pretty fair. There are angry voices on both sides, and positive examples on both sides too.)

The author includes a few characters from other novels here, returning for the third or fourth time that I know of. There is a little person named Xit and three "giants"--Og, Gog, and Magog--who all live and work in the tower. They cross paths with other main characters in each of these books, but also have their own subplots that usually involve pranks and eating way too much. They also distinguish themselves in each book, though it always looks like they're about to do the wrong thing. They give the stories a bit of variation in tone that is interesting and maybe a little odd, but I kinda like it.

The writing is a little dated, but not difficult, and it reads pretty breezily, IMO, bouncing back and forth between dialogue and action on the one hand and fairly long descriptive passages on the other. Here's an example of the prose coming from one of those central scenes, when Prince Phillip is being led to meet Queen Mary for the first time:

Before the principal entrance of the keep stood a vast number of gentlemen, esquires, and pages, all splendidly apparelled, and as Philip's chariot drew up, Sir John Gage, grand chamberlain, with Sir Henry Jerningham, vice-chamberlain, bearing their wands of office, came forth to assist his highness to alight. The entrance hall was filled with noble personages, amongst whom were the lord chancellor, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Arundel and Derby, Sir Edward Hastings, master of the horse, the Earl of Bedford, lord privy seal, the lord Paget, and Sir William Petre, both secretaries of state, with many others. Bowing graciously as he passed through this splendid throng, the prince was conducted by Gardiner to the great hall, where he found...

I think Ainsworth wanted to teach his readers some history, and I feel like he did pretty well.

As always, recommended for those who like Scott or Dumas. Worth a try, anyway.

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Where the King Hides in a Tree

Boscobel, or the Royal Oak by William Harrison Ainsworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I like this a lot more than the average reader. That's okay.

I found it really interesting. It's the story of Charles II, trying to retake the throne from Oliver Cromwell after they put his father to death. The first section of the book deals with the loyalists' preparations for a battle at Worcester and the subsequent loss to the "roundheads" of Cromwell. It's well done, full of spies and skirmishes and stratagems, individual heroism and unexpected reversals. Cromwell, in this part, is as important a character and as interesting a character as Charles.

The rest of the book deals with Charles trying to escape after the loss. It's very complete, with lots of heroes. (While I'm reading, I'm rooting for Charles and his loyal supporters. I don't actually care about the monarchy, then or now, but in the books they're the good guys for sure.) There are so many close escapes, so many moments when the troops searching for him almost find him. He goes from house to house, from hidden room to hidden room to hidden cellar, from one woods to another, two or three days here, an hour there. It's pretty exciting, in its way. It's the biggest game of hide and seek I've ever heard of, and Charles won.

He almost takes ship a couple times but can't quite make it work. He pulls off a disguise now and then, and other times it fails him, and he has to fly again. Of course, in real life, he went to all these places, including the huge oak tree that he famously hid in, and eventually got help to escape to France before being ridden down.

I liked it. I thought it was fun, a good book for those who like this sort of romance (action adventure romance, not HEA kissing romance), though it might not work for everyone. It has a lot in common with romances that Dumas wrote, with constant plans and schemes and fleeing on horses and the occasional sword fight, so it might work for some of his fans. (Like me.) It's also suitable for those who like complete descriptions of manor houses and moors and harbors and villages dating back to the 17th century. Ainsworth is precise about details and doesn't stint on that stuff.

This was first published in 1872. I think this edition I have is from 1899. Old enough, anyway, that someone sold it at a yard sale for 19¢. :)

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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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