Monday, October 12, 2020

Maid in the King's court

I'm a bit late jumping on the YA bandwagon, mostly becasue recent YA novels tend towards fantasy or supernatural stories. Those don't interest me, but historical novels written by Lucy Worsley? You can't find a sub-sub-genre more targeted to my taste. Eliza Rose Camperdown, the only child of the Baron of Stone is a strong-willed, active child with little promise of becoming the cultured lady who able to find a proper (and properly wealthy) husband who can save the family estate. At age 12, she's sent to Trumpton Hall for finishing where she meets her distant cousin, Catherine Howard. Both girls find places at court as maids to Anne of Cleves, and as Catherine takes Anne's place, Eliza Rose finds herself serving her former friend. After Catherine's execution, she faces a dilemma - should she keep her place at court despite the danger, or should she make a new life with Ned, a page whose prospects are limited by his illegitimacy? Worsley's prose is light and enjoyable and she portrays Eliza Rose, Ned - and Catherine - as sympathetic characters trapped by a stifling and occasionally brutal system.

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