This book just wasn't for me.
I did appreciate the incorporation of real historical events and characters into the story. However, I would have liked these elements worked out a bit more profoundly.
The fictional elements of the story didn't feel realistic. And then there was the mother of Mathilda.
I suppose the author ment this character to be a humoristic addition to the story, but she was so immensely irritating that it kept me from enjoying the story.