Meg ClothierCritiques

In der Zeit der Renaissance haben noch die Männer die Herrschaft. Sie wollen nicht, dass kluge Frauen ihnen die Macht streitig machen. Die junge Nonne Beatrice ist Bibliothekarin in einem Kloster, wo sie sehr zurückgezogen lebt. Eines Tages werden zwei schwer verletzte Frauen vor den Klostertoren gefunden. Ihnen kann nicht mehr geholfen werden, aber eine der beiden überreicht Beatrice kurz vor ihrem Tod ein Buch. Doch die Vertreter der Kirche waren den Frauen schon auf den Fersen, denn sie wollen unbedingt dieses Buch haben. Beatrice jedoch will dieses Buch unter allen Umständen schützen
Zunächst einmal hat mich dieses wunderschöne Cover angezogen und auch der Klappentext war ansprechend. Die Autorin Meg Clothier hat sich bei diesem Roman von der Geschichte des mittelalterlichen Voynich-Manuskripts inspirieren lassen. Der Schreibstil an sich ist blumig und toll, allerdings ist die Geschichte recht sachlich erzählt. Sie hätte eine gute Portion mehr Emotion vertragen können. Außerdem wurde es doch streckenweise etwas langatmig.
Nonnen leben an sich schon sehr zurückgezogen, aber Beatrice ist besonders kontaktscheu. Ihr sind die Bücher und das Unterrichten der alten Sprachen wichtig, nicht aber so sehr das Miteinander. Für die Vertreter der Kirche ist das Buch die Schrift eines Ketzers. Das Buch hat auf Beatrice eine ganz besondere Anziehungskraft, und sie will dieses mysteriöse Buch, das lebendig zu sein scheint, schützen – um jeden Preis. Die anderen Charaktere sind individueller gezeichnet und haben mir daher mehr zugesagt, als diese unnahbare Beatrice. Die Oberin setzt sich für Frauen ein, womit sie sich einerseits beliebt, aber andererseits auch einen Feind macht. Die Männer kommen in diesem Buch nicht besonders gut weg.
Das Leben im Orden ist nicht nur frömmlerisch, sondern auch dort gibt es Eifersucht, Abneigung und Intrigen.
Ich hatte aufgrund der Beschreibung eine interessante und spannende Geschichte erwartet, das Potenzial war vorhanden, doch so wirklich konnte sie mich dann doch nicht wirklich packen.

An historical fiction novel inspired by the Voynich manuscript? Yes please! For those needing a refresher, the Voynich manuscript is a handwritten book on vellum in an unknown script dated to the early 15th century. The book has some botanical illustrations - including some fictitious plants - but the contents have never been successfully de-coded, despite some of the best minds and scholars all over the world doing their best to uncover the mystery. The Voynich manuscript is now available in full and is free online, making it available to the public to view and solve at their leisure.

The Book of Eve by Meg Clothier is set in Renaissance Florence, where Sister Beatrice is the librarian in a convent. Beatrice feels safe in her library with her prayerbooks and scrolls until the arrival of two women desperately seeking sanctuary one night changes things at the convent irreparably. One of the women hands Beatrice a book, and Beatrice realises this is no ordinary book when men come looking for the women.

After falling in love with the cover design of this book - it might even end up being one of my favourite covers of the year - next to impress me was the writing skill of this new-to-me author.

"'Did you hear that, Beatrice? What do you say to that?' There are many things I should like to say, but none that will do me credit. I swallow a mouthful of pie, and find that my thoughts are in danger of spoiling its flavour." Page 31

I just love that double-barrelled quote, don't you? The convent was a terrific setting, and I greatly enjoyed meeting some of the other sisters and learning the rhythms of life within the veritable safety of the convent walls. The political climate of the time in Italy was relatively familiar, having recently read other books set in Renaissance Florence, largely One Illumined Thread by Sally Colin-James (April 2023); The Brightest Star by Emma Harcourt (2022); and The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell (2022).

As the pressure rises and Beatrice finds herself in danger, the author was able to capture unique character insights, like this gem:
"And so, compelled by fear, not buoyed by courage, I fling myself clumsily forwards," Page 270
Having said that, I had to begin to suspend my belief when it came to the powers of the book. I should say that this isn't a dual narrative, and there's no part of the plot set in contemporary times where the book is being decoded. The Book of Eve is inspired by the Voynich manuscript, but isn't about decoding the book. It's an origin story of sorts and I was firmly in a four star frame of mind within the closing pages - one star being lost along the way to the influence of ancient powers. Putting it another way, the creep of urban fantasy into this tale went a little too far for my liking.

However, it was the use of the word 'meaningless' just three pages from the end that saw a further star slip away. The denouement regarding the origin story of the book was a little ambiguous and while I often dislike ambiguity, this one was rather fitting until that one word threw one of my interpretations under the convent's cart wheels, splashing me right in the face.

The Book of Eve by Meg Clothier is a well written feminist tale set in Italy during the Renaissance period and readers without any knowledge of the Voynich manuscript will enjoy this immensely.

* Copy courtesy of Hachette *

On carnival night two women approach a small convent and before they die they entrust the librarian with a book. The women are chased by a vengeful priest and the book is apparently heresy. However for the abandoned and disfigured daughter of the recently dead Duke, books are her life and this book is powerful. As the book's powers are revealed, the convent becomes the target of religious zealotry.
I really enjoyed the magical nature of this story and the links to the early days of Christianity and the power of the early Church to control the narrative. It does become confusing in places but is a great read.

This is a beautifully produced book and there is much of interest on board, but it has two serious flaws. A miscellany such as this most certainly needs a Contents List and also needs an Index. There are eight blank pages at the end of the book, enough for a decent index - perhaps the publisher had in mind that the reader could add their own index in manuscript. Of course, this means that there really was room for two pages of Contents before page 1 and six pages of Index at the end of the book. Why are the publishers and authors so lazy? In our modern times, it's easier than ever to search a text and produce Contents and Index pages! I have, therefore, spent time doing the publisher's job and all the main subject headings are listed in the tags below.

I applaud the authors in their attempt to answer "What's the difference between a Boat and a Ship?". There is no exact answer to the conundrum but they are right with one suggested answer (with the qualifications they state) - Ships carry Boats.

Given the surname of the two authors, it is a surprise that they did not include a section about nautical clothing - Slops, Naval Uniform, Cap Tally, Blue Collar, Bell Bottom, Sou-wester, Steaming Boots and so on.

I was thrilled to read about the 12th and 13th centuries in Byzantine history that I didn't know much about. Until the last section the book was disappointing. I was glad to read later most of the main characters really lived and went through such upheavals that the author described, although Agnes [aka Empress Anna] and Theo Branas were footnotes to history. The author seemed to really incorporate history, from the marriage of Agnes of France to the boy-emperor of Constantinople, the mama's boy Alexios II Komnenos, through her learning to cope with the duplicitous Byzantine court, through the reigns of seven emperors and ending with the 4th Crusade, Sack of Constantinople and travails of Agnes [1204].

I didn't feel the love interest between Agnes and Theo really caught fire until the last section--during the reign of Murzuphlus: Alexios [again!!] V Doukas; he was always away at war and when they were together, all they did was argue. I don't think the author tampered too much with history but I feel she changed the ages of some of the people. One thing I found: the Byzantines weren't terribly original in naming their children--I couldn't count all the Alexioses--no wonder their emperors all used their surnames! I was glad to read something other than the hackneyed Justinian-and-Theodora. I liked the author's touch in using the term Rôman, giving these people distance from classical Romans but still putting forth the idea that they were heirs of classical Romans.

Recommended.½

I started out with such high hopes for this book. The time period is such a unique one, and any historical fiction that’s about an obscure female figure makes me a happy camper. However, ultimately, I was disappointed by this work. Not a great introduction to this author.

She got the time period down, at least. Her effort towards historical research and getting the details right show through. She chose a setting and historical period ripe with change and intrigue. The Byzantine Empire is on the verge of massive change, facing vast armies without and decay/breakdown within. The tale of this young girl thrown into this maelstrom of backstabbing and danger was enough to keep me reading. The author knows how to bring the Fourth Crusade and an empire in flux to vivid life.

I’m a bit ambivalent on the main character. At least I can say that she’s brave with all she faces, she can think on her feet sometimes, and is able to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. However, more often than not, she is more of a reactionary character rather than one who actually takes action. She goes along with the events as they present without taking many actions to change outcomes. There are a few times where she takes action (Andronkis comes to mind), but the instances are too few to save her as a good main character.

The less said about the “love” between Agnes and Theo, the better. There is absolutely no chemistry between these two, except for friction. Any romantic connection has as much chemistry as distilled water, nothing. They have very few scenes together, and the ones they do have they are usually fighting in. More arguments happen than actual love connections. It makes any dramatic tension that might have resulted from the characters striving for each other and being motivated by each other disappear.

Overall, I was disappointed by this work. The author did a good job in setting and story, but her characters and their relationships need some work. There are a few good points but not enough to save that aspect of the story. For a book this size, there isn’t enough substance to make it a worthwhile read. If you’re looking for a rare time period or murky female historical figure, then maybe look this one up. Otherwise, I’d move along.

"You Tamar, you will be king when I am dead", 13 November 2015

This review is from: The Girl King (Audio Cassette)
There's not too many books about the country of Georgia, so was interested to come across this novel on the life of 12th century Queen Tamar, a national heroine and warrior queen.
This isn't a work of great literature - it's a tad YA in writing style, as our feisty heroine succeeds her father and faces marauding Turkomen, noblemen who won't accept a female ruler, invading Seljuks and an overbearing aunt. And her love for valiant young soldier Soslani, but an unhappy first marriage to a swine of a Russian...
Tamar is fairly one-dimensional; and the author has tweaked the known historical facts so that Sos is rather an unbelievably super-hero character, whether he's rescuing Tamar's sister, capturing a rebel baron, tackling a lion or engaging in one-to-one combat with the enemy...
But it kept my attention throughout, providing an easy-read history lesson on a character I wasa not familiar with.

I loved this book, with its Byzantine setting (always a winner for me since reading Stella Duffy's Theodora books and 'Sailing to Sarantium' by Guy Gavriel Kay), its independent heroine who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and compelling, epic plot covering some years. It's always impressive when an author manages to tell a real historical story, with real historical characters (no chickening out and making the heroine a maid of the empress here!) without sounding like they're copying large swathes of history from Wikipedia. I really cared about Agnes as a character, and every so often I would remember she really existed and be amazed all over again! The plot is great, with a good amount of court intrigue -- again, it's not easy to shape real events into a coherent story so I really appreciate it done well.

I didn't realise that this book was set at around the same time as 'The Girl King' which I also really liked, and my gradual realisation that there were characters that overlapped was perhaps slower than it should have been! (But it was nice to see them).

For me, the best historical fiction opens your eyes to a piece of history you knew nothing about, and after reading this (and 'The Girl King') I am fascinated by Byzantium, Georgia, the Crusades, the relationship with a Western Europe, and would love to read more, so it succeeds on that level. This book is an excellent companion to the Theodora books by Stella Duffy (although set 500 years later), they're written in a similar style so if you liked those you'll probably like this too.

This is the tomboy princess book. You know the one -- personally I'm pretty sure I've read this book about 15 times, just with the names and setting changed. There's a princess, except she's not a *typical* princess because she likes riding horses and fighting and stuff, and she perhaps has a sister, who is more beautiful and more typically princess-y. Because of this, she's secretly her father's favourite, whereas her mother/nurse is on at her to be more ladylike. She encounters growing pains, as she tries to reconcile what she wants to do with becoming more womanly (growing breasts) and men finding her attractive, as well as pushing the limits of what women are allowed to do in their society. However, her courage and abilities win through in the end, perhaps while fighting a war. Her name is perhaps Romilly, or Aravis, or Merida, or Meliara, or Aerin, or Lissar, or Ani, or Jenica, or in this case Tamar.

Except this one is all true, and these is what saves it from being lumped with all the rest (look, I like a good tomboy princess book as much as anyone, but we can't pretend they aren't incredibly formulaic). In the 12th Century AD, Queen Tamar ruled over a Golden age of Georgian history and she is idealised there even now. She was the first woman to rule Georgia and despite the initial reluctance to let her rule, by the end of her reign, her lands covered pretty much the entire Caucasus region. I was amazed once I'd finished the book to discover how many of the events really happened. Just like the best of historical fiction, the story made me want to find out more about Tamar the Queen, and more about that region in medieval times, to put Tamar's story into context.

A lovely introduction to a really interesting woman.

Based on history and legend this is the story of Tamar, the girl king of Georgia in 1177. Beset by invaders and enemies her father respects her as a probable leader but others don't agree. Women have a role in this culture and ruling isn't one of them. Tamar has to win respect and help and marry a man suitable for the role, but her heart is elsewhere.

A skillful blending of fact and fiction, this is an entertaining read. I suspect some of the lag is due to the blend.½