Queen of Love

Eleanor of Aquitaine Saga #2

by Alan Savage

Second book of the historical romance about the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II, and of her relations with her ten children, including Kings Richard and John.

Genres: Historical Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published August 24, 1995

About the author

Christopher Robin Nicole was born on 7 December 1930 in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana), where he was raised. He is the son of Jean Dorothy (Logan) and Jack Nicole, a police officer, both Scottish. He studied at Queen's College in Guyana and at Harrison College in Barbados. He was a fellow at the Canadian Bankers Association and a clerk for the Royal Bank of Canada in Georgetown and Nassau from 1947 to 1956. In 1957, he moved to Guernsey, Channel Islands, United Kingdom, where he currently lives, but he also has a domicile in Spain.

On 31 March 1951, he married his first wife, Jean Regina Amelia Barnett, with whom he had two sons, Bruce and Jack, and two daughters, Julie and Ursula, they divorced. On 8 May 1982 he married for the second time with fellow writer Diana Bachmann.

As a romantic and passionate of history, Nicole has been published since 1957, when he published a book about West Indian Cricket. He published his first novel in 1959 with his first stories set in his native Caribbean. Later he wrote many historical novels set mostly in tumultuous periods like World War I, World War II and the Cold War, and depict places in Europe, Asia and Africa. He also wrote classic romance novels. He specialized in Series and Sagas, and continues to write into the 21st century with no intention of retiring.

He signs his books as Christopher Nicole and uses several pseudonyms, some of them female. Pseudonyms used include: Peter Grange, Andrew York, Robin Cade, Mark Logan, Christina Nicholson, Alison York, Leslie Arlen, Robin Nicholson, C. R. Nicholson, Daniel Adams, Simon McKay, Caroline Gray and Alan Savage. He wrote disaster thrillers in collaboration with his wife, Diana Bachmann, under the penname Max Marlow. Under his different pseudonyms he has worked with many publishing houses: Jarrolds, Hutchinson, Simon & Schuster, Coward-McCann & Geoghegan, Jove, Michael Joseph, Mills & Boon, and Severn House.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christop... and
http://openlibrary.org/authors/OL1009...

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eleanor of Aquitaine blows my mind. So, this lovely lady lived in the 1100's, when women were property, but somehow, she managed to become one of the most powerful people of her time. Granted, she was born into a privileged position, was one of the largest landholders in France, and, by all accounts, was absolutely gorgeous. I'm sure that helped. But, imagine the social and political acumen she had to possess to make it all work. This historical fiction is written as a first person memoir of the time period after her marriage to the King of France was annulled and she was forced into marriage with Henry, the soon to be, King of England and the narrative continues until her death.

I understand that the first person point-of-view doesn't work for everyone, but I loved it. Then again, there are few historical fictions that I don't enjoy, so take my review with a grain of salt. Historical fiction is literary candy for me. When I need to escape reality, I jump into the past, usually with royalty because, let's face it, the life of a peasant was probably nothing to write home about.

The manner in which Henry acquired the most eligible woman in Europe for his bride was rather questionable. In essence, he kidnapped her, raped her, and then insisted on the match. She forgave him because, frankly, she could have made worse matches and wasn't really in a position to bargain. Here are her thoughts about the man: "... the aspect of Henry which most strikes one is his energy. It was such as almost to make one believe the tales of a devilish ancestor. From the moment my new husband rose in the morning until the moment he collapsed exhausted in bed at night, he never rested either his body or his brain for a moment." loc 81, ebook. Henry was known for his energy and fiery temper. I didn't mark the passage, but Eleanor relates how, when the King became angry, he would throw himself to the floor and eat the rushes. For modern folks who may not know what rushes are- these are essentially plants that were used to keep the floor clean, sort of like throw away rugs. Remember, floors were pretty disgusting back then as transportation was done mainly by horse and certain things were tracked in on people's boots. The King of England would get so mad that he ate poop covered rushes! In the modern age, that would so not fly. I can just see the covers of the tabloid mags.

I completely forgot that it was Eleanor's husband who had the infamous disagreement with Thomas Becket. "The quarrel thus commenced dragged on for some time. It was fairly well known, and i do not propose to go into details about it- during this period I had a fair number of problems of my own, and while I felt sorry for Thomas, placed in such a dilemma as having to choose between King and Church, I am bound to admit that he made life unnecessarily difficult for himself." loc 880, ebook. That seemed to be Eleanor's way- go with the flow of what happens, but don't forget what happened and strike back when you're in a place of power.

In this passage, Eleanor is fretting over turning 40, which, had she only known it, wasn't even halfway through her life: "I should point out that in the summer of 1162 I reached my fortieth birthday. This is a most depressing milestone, for anyone, but more I think for a woman than a man, and most of all for a woman once accounted the most beautiful of her time. At forty there could be no disguising the fact that I was growing old, and that even my beauty was fading. In addition, forty brings with it the approach of the dreaded end of fertility, and what has a woman got left?" pg 915. She had ten kids, how many more does a woman need? And, although much of her power was based in her beauty and fertility, she was still a formidable spirit. I mean, the lady was locked up by her husband for over a decade and yet, she manages to come back from it! Talk about aging gracefully...

Here, Eleanor is holding her own after being defeated in battle with the King of England, her husband. (She went to war against him for her sons- how hardcore is that!): "I would say that it is fairly well established that you have recently been in arms against your king." "I acted as Duchess of Aquitaine," I pointed out. "As we are now in Aquitaine, you are an invader, and I am a prisoner-of-war." "I am the ruler of Aquitaine," he argued. "In my name," I riposted. "I have now withdrawn that privilege from you." "Madame, your effrontery is startling." "I am Eleanor of Aquitaine." loc 1988. Boom.

If you like historical fiction about strong women, The Queen of Love may be something that you really enjoy. Some other suggestions: Margaret the First, Isabella: Braveheart of France, The Dream Lover: A Novel of George Sand, or Pope Joan.

Thank you to NetGalley and Endeavour Press for a free digital copy of this book!

[Misfit · Rating 1 out of 5]

Queen of Love picks up where Eleanor of Aquitaine left off. Eleanor is now married to Henry II and Queen of England and she starts dropping children left and right - including the future Richard I and the infamous John Lackland, and continues as their now grown sons revolt against their father, Richard's crusade and marriage to Berengeria, and into her old age and John's rule and the murder of his nephew Arthur.

Using the first person narrative as an aging Eleanor reflects back her life really bogs this book down - there is just too much telling and not showing. Although when Savage does have Eleanor in the thick of things that *showing* is downright hilarious (wish I could quote them here, but you know those censors). From seducing her husband's mistress Rosamund Clifford in the bath (!!!) to her relationship with a young William Marshal (oh my the wardrobe error when the drawstring to his hose got caught on you know what), to sharing the Blondel the lute player with her son Richard (well, maybe sharing is the wrong term - Richard picked up after mom was done) - although hands down was Eleanor giving sex-ed lessons to her future daughter in law Berengeria. Knowing Richard's taste for men, she was very very careful to give her a blow by blow of anything she could do to encourage him along the path to marital harmony. Priceless.

As in the first book, Eleanor does it with just about everyone but the Pope and Thomas Becket (although for a while I was afraid that was going to happen). But it's not just Eleanor who gets to play around - her sons Richard and Geoffrey both diddle with the French King. Read these two books for the laughs only and not for the history.

[Malou · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did it! It only took one month!

This is by all means not a bad book, its just written in a way that makes it really hard to read, very matter of fact.

I did object to all those mentions of rape and pedophile tendencies, in.. se above, a matter of factly way. Its not a matter of fact, its disturbing how the author (a man) just brushes past this, making it sound trivial. Maybe he is trying to capture the view of the times.. but its the 1100, how does he know?

also this is not, as i was led to believe, a book about a queen of love but a book of a queen full stop.

Nice cover, very fitting.

[Lilith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

This was a great read but it loses a star for me due to how victimized they made Eleanor. This and the last book felt like a man’s lesbian/rape fantasy. Why was Eleanor getting assaulted so much? And why is she having a lesbian relationship or attempting them so much. It was very interesting but those parts felt very “yeah, written by a man.”

Other than those parts, it was a great adventurous read. Other books I read on her didn’t touch her journeys so much. Even though half these journeys ended up in lesbian orgies for some reason. But queens always seem to stay just in their country so it was nice to read about an explored one.

[Poireka · Rating 1 out of 5]

*** This is an honest review of a free copy of the book provided via NetGalley ***

This novel starts with the wedding between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry of Anjou. Written from the perspective of Eleanor in the style of a memoir, it follows her life from this point onwards almost until her death. Since the novel is not a long one, this gives a first indicator of the style, which flips between a rapid listing of relevant events (births and deaths, battles and diplomacy, etc.) and word-for-word scenes between some of the relevant actors, including the protagonist herself.

The tone of the writing is such that I couldn't help thinking of Jane Austen's Lydia Bennet. The author, presumably intentionally, has characterised Eleanor as flighty and shallow -- or in other words, 'female' if one is content working with last century's connotations of the word. As a woman I found some of the passages almost insulting. Eleanor makes a throwaway comment about being raped during her enforced betrothal to Henry and names an date and time at which she stopped feeling sad about the death of one of her sons. Of course, children's lives were more fragile back then, but giving end dates to emotional processes strikes one as a little bizarre. Generally, these things fade, sometimes entirely away, but they don't just stop at the push of a button. Another passage has her stating that "every castle I have ever known is filled with females eager to accomodate passers-by". Turning the powerlessness of women during that time into an eager choice left a bad taste in my mouth.

The author's fondness for run-on sentences and liberal application of commas adds to the rather frantic pace of the novel. I started out enjoying the humorous, casual tone the author employs to write from Eleanor's perspective, but with continued reading I found it rather grating, rather like a badly told shaggy-dog story. Both the sex and the violence mentioned on this novel's description page made me first giggle rather than gasp, and then yawn. The writing style can perhaps be summed up with the following excerpt:

"Ahem," Henry remarked.

Indeed. Ahem. I give this book 1.5 stars because it entertained me at the start and I'm fairly convinced that I am not its target audience. This is an emotionally shallow romp (although romp implies more fun that I had) through some of the most interesting events in history without any restraint through intellect or emotional impact. If that's the kind of thing you're after then rest assured that this novel is consistent throughout.

[Shirin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Christopher Nicole (also known as Alan Savage) has made quite a career from himself writing, among other others, softcore porn novels about historical women from the Middle Ages.

This particular book, like the one that precedes it, narrates Eleanor's life while also coming up with increasingly implausible pairings. Over the course of the two books, Eleanor gets it on with one of her father's knights, the bath maids in Constantinople, her uncle Raymond, Saladin (who is 12, though he doesn't act like it), Geoffrey of Anjou, Empress Mathilde, Bernard de Ventadour, William Marshal, Blondel de Nesle, Berenguela of Navarre, and Rosamund de Clifford, along with both of her husbands.

I gave it two stars, because while it's not technically well-written and few characters act remotely human, it is rather funny, albeit unintentionally so. Also, the Eleanor duology has less rape it than Nicole/Savage's other novels, so that's a plus. If you want to experience this insanity for yourself, your best bet is to sign up for a Kindle Unlimited trial, since all of Nicole/Savage's book are available through that for free.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have not read the first book of this series, Eleanor of Aquitaine. This is a first-person account narrated by Eleanor. It is an interesting idea, but I felt it was poorly executed and while it attempted to show rather than tell about Eleanor's complex personality, I felt it fell far short of the mark. There are far better books about Eleanor. In the interest of full disclosure, I am the 34th great granddaughter of Eleanor so my desire for a more serious offering must be taken into account. I was provided an advance reading copy of this book by Net Galley for a fair and honest review.

[Meghan Edwards · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a horrible, steaming dung heap. The text reads like poorly written fanfiction; with a main "heroine" who is so horribly misaligned with history as to be laughable!