3.75/4. The epilogue made me go "hmm." As a historian-in-training, I'm fascinated with how things grow and develop and in the author's summing of Eleonore, she mentioned how her younger son, Edmund became the first Earl of Lancaster and chose the red rose as his symbol, which was mentioned in passing in the novel itself. I though such was clever. I wasn't overwhelmed by this novel as I had hoped seeing as it focuses on one of my least focused areas of history; a lull in the major dynasties of Europe if you will. The writing was solid, as were the detailing, but the fault in the story as a whole was the books format. Multiple viewpoint novels tend to struggle with keeping a consistent flow and this one was no exception to that trap. By the time I got into the middle of the book I felt that the author perhaps would have been served if it had been made into a series detailing the lives of the four sisters and therefore allowing each to be fully explored and grown as a characters and keeping a flow within the overall story. I never felt that I truly got a peak at any of the women, just rough sketches but there was plenty of opportunity to fully embrace their characters. Additionally, there were a couple of editorial mistakes in the book. One in which the author accidentally refers to Edmund as Edward during the former's coronation as the titular king of Sicily. And towards the end of the novel she goes from calling Louis IX's mother, Blanche as "Blanche de Castille" to "Blanche of Castille". The latter is more nitpicky but it definitely stood out, especially as the characters in question were of French origins rather than English. All in all, this novel is definitely worth the read, even with it's flaws. I have another novel, Sophie Perinot's The Sister Queens which focuses primarily on Marguerite and Eleonore so hopefully those two come to fuller life in that setting. That said, I'm still a big fan of making lesser known female historical figures more accessible to the world at large. I read this when it first came out. I'm not sure how to classify it. Possibly as an imaginary alternative universe exercise? Whatever it is- it might be fun to read, kind of like a pretend tale, but it is not historical. The characters are given modern dithers and sensibilities, first of all. And the entire becomes laughable for that reason. Only one of its rather many flaws.I did not hate it, so I did give it a 2 star. I did read the entire thing because it was a new to me author, but then regretted wasting my time. Silly, ridiculous and no reality check to their historical record. They were negotiable pawns for economic and military alliances and it was NOT about them.
Do You like book Quattro Sorelle Tutte Regine (2013)?
Enjoyable read. I also like more info about how much is accurate, though.
—SALILPAES001
It was a great book.Beautiful,interseting and really awesome.
—krishna
Got totally hook on this period and the nasty women
—dawsomeofthat
