Author: Princess Michael of Kent
Format: ARC
Publisher: Beaufort
Publish Date: September 2014
Source: I received a copy from the PR; however, this did not affect my review.
What's the Story?:
From Goodreads.com: "At the age of nineteen, Yolande of Aragon is sent away from her family, her friends, and everything she knows, to marry the young Duke of Anjou, King Charles VI's first cousin. Their marriage has been arranged to form an alliance between the previously warring kingdoms of Aragon and Anjou, and is politically fraught in a time of great danger and unrest. Yet the union between Yolande and Louis becomes not only a great love story, but also sets in motion events which will change the course of history.
As Louis spends more and more time and money fighting in Italy for his claim to the Kingdom of Naples, Yolande is left alone with their six children to govern their lands. But through her charm, fierce intelligence and the clever use of her spies, she becomes the saviour of not just her kingdoms but also of France."
My Two Cents:
"The Queen of Four Kingdoms" is a historical fiction look at Yolande of Aragon, who, like many aristocratic women of her age is sent off to become the consort to Louis, the Duke of Anjou. Luckily for Yolande, her match actually becomes a great love. Unlike many other women of the time, Yolande actually rules her lands as the Duke keeps going to Italy in order to fight tooth and nail for the Kingdom of Naples. This book is all about how Yolande copes with balancing family (she and the Duke have a lot of children) and duty. The Kingdoms of Anjou and Aragon seem to be only mildly assuaged by Yolande and the Duke's match.
In this book, you have a fabulous main character to read about. Yolande definitely kept me reading. I really enjoyed this story. Yolande is a really interesting figure and I did not know much about her. I am not certain as to whether or not that I've read much about her in historical fiction before. I really liked reading about everything she was able to do while her husband was away. It was so interesting to me how much power she was able to have and how she was able to walk the line between caring for her children and ruling a kingdom. I also really liked the appearance of Jeanne d'Arc in this book. She is one of my favorite historical figures to read about. What a life! It was really interesting to see Yolande's take on what Jeanne did and was able to accomplish and also how her life was ended.
Overall, the writing of this book is really good. I found it enjoyable. The writing style is interesting. The book was written in third person present tense. I think I probably say this every time I read a book in that tense (it is just so different to me) but, it did take me awhile to get used to and drew my attention away at first. Slowly I warmed up to it and it really helped me to get into the story eventually. It was an interesting choice but in the end, I think that the author succeeded.
I would be remiss if I didn't draw attention to the author. The author is Princess Michael of Kent, the wife of Queen Elizabeth II's cousin. She also came from an aristocratic family. This gives her a very unique resume. Prior to this, she had written a couple books and the foreword in this book makes it sound like she will write more (Yay!).
Thanks for the review. I'm always on the lookout for interesting women in history. A funny thing about the cover, I thought the author was a subtitle and that the story was about Princess Michael of Kent!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever read of Yolanda, though I suspect I may have read novels about some of her relatives. I have to admit, I was also fooled but the cover, not realizing the Princess Micheal of Kent was the author and not the subject.
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