Have had this book on my shelves for a long time, having picked it up in a charity shop at some point. I knew it was a huge bestseller in the 1980s which I think launched the author's career. On the face of it, it is a 'timeslip' story which alternates constantly between the 12th century and 1980s England through the medium of the female protagonist, Joanna. Initially, she is hypnotised as part of an experiment in pastlife regression and proves very susceptible. Eventually she becomes so adept that she self-hypnotises even when she doesn't want to immerse herself in the life of her 12th century alter-ego Matilda.

I hadn't read a great deal of the book before I discovered that it must be the 1980s equivalent of Three Shades of Grey. There is a huge amount of sexual and other abuse of women in which the women are compliant, even at times slightly turned on, whether that is in the past or the present. Joanna remains in love with the chief male protagonist, Nick, even though he has raped her at least once - I lost track in the end - and sliced her arm up on a broken vase or whatever and all sorts of other abuse. He also 'loves' her despite his behaviour. His evil brother Sam (and why Sam has a longstanding hatred of Nick is never explained) hypnotises Nick to convince him he is the reincarnation of Prince, later King John, of Magna Carta fame. In history, John condemned Matilda to a terrible death and Sam tells him he must kill her again, seemingly as part of a plot to have Nick certified as dangerously insane. By a vast coincidence it seems that Nick really is the reincarnation of John. His first - very brutal - rape of Joanna occurs before he is hypnotised. In keeping with the twisted attitudes displayed in this book, it transpires that John fancied Matilda like mad despite also hating her, and in fact still "loves" her 800 years later.

Amazingly Sam is the reincarnation of Matilda's abusive husband. He also inflicts various abuse on Joanna under hypnosis, and tries to manipulate the historical story although there is some doubt thrown on whether such encounters were truly part of it - at one point, Joanna finds the tape of flute music he had used as a background while abusing her and reflects that it would be anachronistic for the period when Matilda lived. But in his twisted way, Sam it seems also 'loves' Joanna and is certainly obsessed with her and her previous incarnation. Likewise, the man with whom he identifies is an unfeeling brute. To stretch the reader's credulity further, there is yet a third man who is another character from Matilda's story. Weak and ineffectual, he is the reincarnation of the man whom she really loved in the 12th century. At least the sex she has with him is consensual, which makes a nice change.

As if all this wasn't bad enough, the writing standard is poor. Huge numbers of sentences begin with the present tense with the character doing something, then continue with a whole series of actions which they can't possibly carry out while still doing the first action. This is a tic of the author's that jumped out at me all the time and was really annoying. You can't, for example, start a sentence with "Parking the car ...." then have the character climb out and walk off somewhere else - they would be doing this while still parking the car. Or they are brushing their hair while taking clothes out of a wardrobe, getting dressed and walking downstairs. There were masses of such instances. And on just about every page set in the 1980s, the characters are making and/or drinking coffee. On the ones where they aren't, they are knocking back scotch. No one even drinks tea for a bit of variety - something the British were well known for at the time. The modern day characters were all cliches out of 1980s soap operas, especially the London based 'professional' ones who drive the main pivot of the action of the framing story. We are constantly told that Joanna is a no-nonsense hard-hitting journalist, while in reality she is a wimp who is so pathetic she doesn't even get her locks changed when her ex-boyfriend and his brother keep letting themselves into her apartment. The two people on the smallholding who try to help Joanna are more sympathetic, but have a tiny part in the story and are probably based on the main characters in BBC's "The Good Life" programme which was very popular at the time.

I read on to find out how Matilda comes to her grisly end - we had been told at the beginning about the tragedy affecting her and her eldest son - and to see if the book was really as awful as it initially seemed. The historical parts are much more interesting than the multiple 'love' triangle/bed hopping, 1980s framework, which has a lot of repetitive driving around, booking into pubs and bed and breakfast places, and visiting castles. By itself, the 12th century material could have worked as an historical novel. However, my recollection is that at the time publishers were not receptive to the genre. The only such novels available were library copies of Jean Plaidy, Dorothy Dunnett and other such writers, because publishers believed there was 'no market' for such a genre and created a self-fulfilling prophecy by not publishing it.

The historical genre finally made a come-back thanks to the pioneering efforts of Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters" - her Cadfael murder mysteries set in medieval times were hugely popular, helped by the very good TV series, and created a whole subgenre of historical crime, with more and more publishers rushing to get onto the bandwaggon. I think maybe they still didn't think there was a market for actual historical or historical romance novels when 'Lady of Hay' was published but thought they would try something hybrid like this, and so it found an audience among a readership crying out for new historical fiction. That would account for its huge success at the time. Unfortunately there is just too much misogyny for the modern reader to overlook. So I can only give it a one star rating, and it earns that mainly on the slightly more interesting material about Matilda and a quite attractive cover. ( )

I enjoyed the historical sections, because I have an interest in Welsh history, and the writing is pretty atmospheric. However, the book is aged quite badly and full of problematic (to say the least) relationships and actions. ( )

Loaned by a friend when I was walking in the Black Mountains. Rubbish characters (the C20 ones), and more gratuitous rape than in a Ken Fosset, dealt with maybe more appallingly (I only read one of his, and I'll only read this one of hers). Couldn't wait to finish the story and get these people out of my life, so it was quite fun that the central characters felt pretty much the same! ( )

Loved every bit of this story. The historical accuracy made it even more fascinating. Can't wait to read another book by this author. ( )

Joanna, a London journalist, is researching a piece on hypnotic regression in which individuals under hypnosis find themselves suddenly inhabiting the mind and body of people from the past. Curious, Joanna opts to undergo such an experiment herself, but when she is thrust into the life of Matilda de Braose, a young noblewoman who lived 800 years prior, she experiences a number of horrifyingly unforgettable situations. You and I, under such circumstances, would likely avoid a second session of hypnosis, but Joanna chooses to go under again. And again.

Over 500 pages, this was a sort of interesting though surprisingly violent tale, and it takes some rather uncomfortable and dark turns -- so definitely not for everyone. There are also a fair number of scenes in which characters "poke at" mouth-wateringly delicious but ultimately unfinished meals, which is agonizingly unsatisfying to the reader! Overall, no recommendation from me. ( )