Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Book review - "The Canterbury Papers" by Judith Koll Healey



It is not easy to keep reading a book when you don’t like the main character.  That’s the conundrum I had with The Canterbury Papers by Judith Koll Healey.  The novel follows Alais, daughter of a king, sister to a second king, former betrothed to a third king and mistress to a fourth.  Girl gets around.  But soon the reader finds out that not only is she stupid (she realizes her room at an inn has been broken into but decides to ignore it), she is also a mean girl.  After finding this out, I had to make a decision to finish the book or stop because I no longer cared what happened to the Princesse Alais.

I chose to press on.  The story is centered around Eleanor of Aquitaine, demanding that Alais travel from Paris (again?) to Canterbury in England to retrieve some hidden letters that would be extremely awkward to the Queen mum if they were ever made public.  In return, Eleanor promises information about the son Alais believed had died shortly after she gave birth to him.  She feels she has no choice but to do the queen mum’s bidding.

When Alais arrives at Canterbury, she comes face to face with the man whom she and her royal siblings tormented as a boy, because he was smarter than they were.  William has grown into a formidable man and Alais discovers there is much more to him that meets the eye. 

The issue with the letters is a little anticlimactic since Alais learns their existence and content are the worst-kept secrets in England and France.  

Despite that the book was well-written with few head-hops, but had great details of thirteenth century England and France without all the data dumps.  The kidnapping scene, which opens the book, isn't suspenseful after the first chapter.  

Three ♕ out of five.

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