TCOL: Chapter 1 In the Courts of Love

[Marie]

From my first opening page of the Fawcett edition:
The men who reigned over Eleanor of Aquitaine

Louis VII. Raised to be a priest, he ruled France but as no match for his strong and beautiful bride, Queen Eleanor.

Henry II. Bold and brilliant founder of the Plantagenet line in England, the great love Eleanor's life. He became her husband and her jailer.

Thomas à Becket. Henry's archbishop of Canterbury, whose murder nearly wrecked England.

Richard the Lion-hearted. Eleanor's handsome and chivalrous favourite son. He brought her joy and grief in equal measure.

King John. Eleanor's youngest son, whose career of misrule started with intrigues against his own family.

Who's ready?!
Discuss Chapter ONE here!

I would not really be too aggressive with pushing the use of spoiler tags with this novel, as some of us have probably read many many titles set in this period. Much of the history is well known, but use spoiler tags for some of the more outrageous plot twists that hopefully Plaidy has thrown in. (Am I making any sense?!)

[Marie]

Finished the chapter. I am enjoying the first person POV; I think if it were written in third the text would have seemed as dry & matter of fact.

I had always read before how Eleanor adored her father, & her disappointment with him here was a first.. And it was interesting to witness the hope & pride that Eleanor first had regarding Louis.

[MaryKatherine]

Finished this chapter. I also love the first person POV. Because I haven't read anything about Eleanor before, I feel that first person allows me to relate to her character a little better.

Eleanor seems to have a strong distaste for weak men, or those whom she perceives to be weak. Her father's actions struck her as too soft for a man and, despite her young age, she felt that he was in the wrong by the way he acted.

[Marie]

(As a side note, Petronilla is intriguing also..) I've always enjoyed Eleanor's stories because there is so much going on. So many important things going on.

[MaryKatherine]

I really like Petronilla. She follows Eleanor around but she is not completely under her control. It's refreshing to see female characters that can love each other but be their own selves in a novel.

[Marie]

The Secret Eleanor had lots more with Petronilla but the whole plot line was a fictional pregnancy so you have to be in the mood for an entirely alternate story, yet it was still a memorable read because I enjoyed Petronilla so much in that one.

[MaryKatherine]

Oh good to know! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll have to see if my library has it.

[[deleted user]]

I'm late, I'm late! Trying to catch up!

[Marie]

Glad to see you! Welcome!