The French Mistress

If you like historical fiction, you won’t want to pass this book up. It’s the story of Louise de Keroualle, beloved mistress of King Charles II of England. The author, Susan Holloway Scott, has written books about others of Charles’ mistresses (apparently he really loved the ladies), but this is the first of her books that I have read.

Louise and Charles are both very likeable characters, with charm and wit to spare. We meet many other interesting historical figures, too, including King Louis XIV of France, Charles’ beloved sister Henriette (wife of Louis’ nasty brother), and Charles’ one-time favorite paramour Nell Gwyn. The story is sweeping in its nature, taking us from Louise’s country home, to the court of Louis XIV of France, to the decidedly anti-French and anti-Catholic London of Charles’ reign.

I think what I like best about the novel is how Louise uses the lot she’s been given in life. She starts out as a lady-in-waiting to Henriette, and through that position catches the eye of King Charles. Once she is sent to Charles’ court, she uses her wits and her charm to create a position for herself, despite the hatred of many of the people around her. She is a strong woman, stronger than most of the men she deals with, including King Charles.

The Lovely Bones

I just finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold again, because it has been a couple of years since I read it and the movie is coming out soon. This is such a beautiful story dealing with a very difficult topic. I had forgotten a lot of it - there is some activity with Ray and Ruth near the end that I had totally blanked on.


I am looking forward to the movie. Susie is played by the girl who played the 13-year-old Briony in Atonement, who I think is a fabulous young actress. And I am looking forward to see how they create Susie's heaven.

I think that is my favorite part of the story - Sebold's idea of what heaven is like. That it's different for everyone, but that your heaven will intersect at some point with that of your loved ones. For anyone who has had a loved one die too young, it gives you a kind of hopefulness about where they are, what they're doing, and when you will see them again. At least that's what it did for me.

Homeland

I really enjoyed this novel by Barbara Hambly, which tells the stories of Cora and Susanna through their letters to each other during the American Civil War. Cora is a Northerner married to a Southerner who is fighting for the Confederacy, and Susanna is his young Southern neighbor who Cora has befriended. Cora spends the war with her family on a remote Maine island, and Susanna spends the war with her sister and other family members in various parts of the South. Their letters to each other, both send and unsent, tell how each survives the war, and the vagaries of daily life.

The characters are really well-rounded, despite existing only in letters to each other. And Hambly does not romanticize the war - her novel is a lot like Cold Mountain in that regard. It was a compelling read, with a great ending. I highly recommend it for Civil War buffs and anyone - male or female - who enjoys a good novel.