M.M. Bennetts
Auteur de Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors
Séries
Œuvres de M.M. Bennetts
Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors (2013) — Directeur de publication — 56 exemplaires
May 1812 2 exemplaires
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M.M. Bennetts is a tremendous researcher and grey contributor to the canon of historical fiction. Her work is such that all who like the period should consider time spent with her offering. Then though, one we have this tome.
There are a few things within that take one from truly sitting with the piece and knowing what one is in for. It does too much, at heart. It is not just an historical, for so much is made of the romance, the wedding of our hero. Nor is it a Regency Romance, for so much is made of the history, which has its absurdities within it. Our hero knows or is connected to all that is important at the end of April and beginning of May of 1812, and so we must know all.
Without giving away too much, our hero just can't be that one person who is so caught up in everything that there were none other to carry the water. Nor does that become more so when carrying that water is used as an artifice to prolong the consummation of the romance of our regency romance. In this genre, the romance side, we are used to circumstance getting in the way of consummation, but even at its most silly, the reasoning seems balanced.
Here we have to suspend our disbelief a little. (or a lot) We do find that the hero and heroine are well suited to each other, which also seems an unlikely bit of circumstance (again something we see in Regency Romance), but not necessarily as contrived as this seemed to bring our protagonists together. The last thing that I find hard to lay to rest is that despite often such good history, there are a few places where the research falls through, and Mrs. Bennetts has since argued extensively that her error in the manuscript and research is somehow justified when such is not supported by any primary or secondary source. That is why a star gets deducted.
A good story, tropes integrated if perhaps too over the top, and much to be learned as well.… (plus d'informations)
There are a few things within that take one from truly sitting with the piece and knowing what one is in for. It does too much, at heart. It is not just an historical, for so much is made of the romance, the wedding of our hero. Nor is it a Regency Romance, for so much is made of the history, which has its absurdities within it. Our hero knows or is connected to all that is important at the end of April and beginning of May of 1812, and so we must know all.
Without giving away too much, our hero just can't be that one person who is so caught up in everything that there were none other to carry the water. Nor does that become more so when carrying that water is used as an artifice to prolong the consummation of the romance of our regency romance. In this genre, the romance side, we are used to circumstance getting in the way of consummation, but even at its most silly, the reasoning seems balanced.
Here we have to suspend our disbelief a little. (or a lot) We do find that the hero and heroine are well suited to each other, which also seems an unlikely bit of circumstance (again something we see in Regency Romance), but not necessarily as contrived as this seemed to bring our protagonists together. The last thing that I find hard to lay to rest is that despite often such good history, there are a few places where the research falls through, and Mrs. Bennetts has since argued extensively that her error in the manuscript and research is somehow justified when such is not supported by any primary or secondary source. That is why a star gets deducted.
A good story, tropes integrated if perhaps too over the top, and much to be learned as well.… (plus d'informations)
This book frustrated me, and it also made me angry at times, because it could have been a 4* or even 5* instead of the 2.5* I give it.
I absolutely adored most of the author's voice, it read like contemporary (of the Regency period) and was quite clearly very well researched in most parts. There has to have been truly intense linguistic research into the period and I did not doubt for a second that all the historical data were on the spot and even well-understood too.
I loved the uncommon length of it for a Regency romance, I loved the fact that the male main character actually had a profession, and I adored that this depicted an arranged marriage in exactly such matter of fact way as it would have taken place at the time. I loved all the bits about the Napoleonic wars and France, and wished there had been quite a lot more of that.
With which we come to what I didn't like, not at all actually, and to what the reasons are why I do not give a book with such a mindbogglingly wonderful "Regency voice" the 5* it ought to have.
You'd have to do some very fast talking to convince me that a barely 18-year-old virgin of upper middleclass origins, in England, and in 1812 has full knowledge of what takes place during a wedding night.
Here's what Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy recounts of his grandmother:
That's 80 years later. Except for sources which refer to usually already married women of the high aristocracy there is quite simply no clue or hint which would support that virginal girls at the time were aware of the hard biological facts or more directly the basic plumbing and what it does.
Yet either out of the wish for retroactive political correctness or because of one single Freudian historian (with Freud having long since found to be in error multiple times) whose theories are not exactly universally lauded, recently more and more romance authors describe their heroines as knowledgeable, even those who are very young and virginal.
As a result one of the most organic possibilities for conflict gets thrown out of the window. I might just have accepted if now, instead, the author chooses the Napoleonic wars as a source of conflict, including maybe the dejection of the two unwilling parties. But alas! Not so. By the way, I also fail to believe in a husband of the era who refrains from consumption for weeks on end.
Instead we get the classic romance trope of the "Big Misunderstanding", indeed we get it several times an then again another time. And it drags on and on and on. At that point the book became unfortunately boring and plotwise ceased to be above Harlequin romances which have been doing just this all the past decades.
That was truly very disappointing.
Some further nitpicking:
Why would a British lord break out into "Oh my America, my newfound land, my kingdom!" upon lifting the skirts of his quite British wife?
I grasped that the author knew about the typical places and clubs famous within the ton. I grasped it about Brummel. I just would have preferred to have a tad less of the ton for once. That were my hopes. Unfortunately this did not follow.
On the whole:
I wished I had been more satisfied with this book. I loved the voice, I loved the authentic language, I loved how offhandedly confident the author was about the historical facts, but at the end of it I was sorely disappointed by the retconned heroine and the tired plot. I will certainly watch out for more books from the author, but I hope she will become fully true to the era and seek out a more individual story.… (plus d'informations)
I absolutely adored most of the author's voice, it read like contemporary (of the Regency period) and was quite clearly very well researched in most parts. There has to have been truly intense linguistic research into the period and I did not doubt for a second that all the historical data were on the spot and even well-understood too.
I loved the uncommon length of it for a Regency romance, I loved the fact that the male main character actually had a profession, and I adored that this depicted an arranged marriage in exactly such matter of fact way as it would have taken place at the time. I loved all the bits about the Napoleonic wars and France, and wished there had been quite a lot more of that.
With which we come to what I didn't like, not at all actually, and to what the reasons are why I do not give a book with such a mindbogglingly wonderful "Regency voice" the 5* it ought to have.
You'd have to do some very fast talking to convince me that a barely 18-year-old virgin of upper middleclass origins, in England, and in 1812 has full knowledge of what takes place during a wedding night.
Here's what Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy recounts of his grandmother:
I can remember my grandmother, who was married in 1899, describing to me how on her wedding day her mother drew her aside and said, "There's just one thing I must tell you, Dorothy. Remember, whatever Gathorne does to you is right."
That's 80 years later. Except for sources which refer to usually already married women of the high aristocracy there is quite simply no clue or hint which would support that virginal girls at the time were aware of the hard biological facts or more directly the basic plumbing and what it does.
Yet either out of the wish for retroactive political correctness or because of one single Freudian historian (with Freud having long since found to be in error multiple times) whose theories are not exactly universally lauded, recently more and more romance authors describe their heroines as knowledgeable, even those who are very young and virginal.
As a result one of the most organic possibilities for conflict gets thrown out of the window. I might just have accepted if now, instead, the author chooses the Napoleonic wars as a source of conflict, including maybe the dejection of the two unwilling parties. But alas! Not so. By the way, I also fail to believe in a husband of the era who refrains from consumption for weeks on end.
Instead we get the classic romance trope of the "Big Misunderstanding", indeed we get it several times an then again another time. And it drags on and on and on. At that point the book became unfortunately boring and plotwise ceased to be above Harlequin romances which have been doing just this all the past decades.
That was truly very disappointing.
Some further nitpicking:
Why would a British lord break out into "Oh my America, my newfound land, my kingdom!" upon lifting the skirts of his quite British wife?
Edit to clarify: In 1812 we have the War of 1812 with the USA. The USA has fought and won independence. John Donne (he of the poem referring to his Mistress in this way) died 1631, barely 20 years after the colonisation of Northern America had begun. Of course he waxes romantic about undiscovered countries (belonging to the Kingdom then of course!).
Myddleton is a totally different era and aware of the fact that "America" is now practically an enemy, especially after Perceval was killed and Liverpool tried to smooth the waves with the USA. As a diplomat and spy Myddleton would of course know about the impending enemities (to happen but a fortnight later). Why the hell should he wax romantic about a country about to open war on his own? He is educated enough to also know that Donne wrote his poem under totally different political conditions.
So these are entirely different things and I can't for the life of me believe that at a moment of sexual endeavour with his British wife he'd say something like that. I find it more than just outlandish. It took me right out of that scene and came over as a major plothole.
I grasped that the author knew about the typical places and clubs famous within the ton. I grasped it about Brummel. I just would have preferred to have a tad less of the ton for once. That were my hopes. Unfortunately this did not follow.
On the whole:
I wished I had been more satisfied with this book. I loved the voice, I loved the authentic language, I loved how offhandedly confident the author was about the historical facts, but at the end of it I was sorely disappointed by the retconned heroine and the tired plot. I will certainly watch out for more books from the author, but I hope she will become fully true to the era and seek out a more individual story.… (plus d'informations)
Few books have left me panting and gasping, anxious to turn the next page, then the next and the next. Dickens. Austen. Gaskell. Eliot. This book has all the elements of classic literature; well wrought, multi-dimensional characters; exquisite dialogue; brilliant settings and descriptions; extraordinarily well-researched detail; a plot as textured as textured and complex as it is accessible. It's romance, it's adventure, it's mystery and true to life history all intricately and seamlessly woven to make this an unforgettable read. Since "War and Peace" and "Pride and Prejudice," I've not read anything finer. I've read it twice already, and I mean to read it again and again. It's a truly breathtaking work of the highest literary caliber.… (plus d'informations)
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 5
- Membres
- 100
- Popularité
- #190,120
- Évaluation
- 4.4
- Critiques
- 8
- ISBN
- 6
At the beginning of the book you will find a list of contributing authors, lists of the novels that the authors have written, I found this extensive list to be extremely helpful in finding a good book to read. Each section has different periods in English history ie. Roman Britain and early Medieval period, Late Medieval period, Tudor period, Stuart period, Early Georgian period, Late Georgian period and Regency era, Victorian era. Another section has a bit about the twentieth century which includes Downton Abbey, lost houses of England, Ellis Island and British immigrants. Last but not least, the last chapter has historical tidbits across the ages. Wow, that is a huge huge amount of information, but all fascinating.
I do have the book in print and was offered the audio book for review by Debra Brown and since the print book is a bit big and bulky to take along to the gym, hard to hold on the treadmill, the audio book was perfect for me. I lot of the essays had material that I had read about and knew, my favorite period is the Tudor era, but I also learned a bit more on other topics such as medieval feasts, some of the famous and infamous people that are a huge part of English history.
So my thoughts? This has to be one of the best and concise book about English history that I have ever had the pleasure to read and it was not boring like some history books can be. Told by the best authors out there, if you are a fan of British history like I am, then you absolutely have to have this book, in whatever format you want. I loved it! I look forward to the next one!… (plus d'informations)