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Post by dreamy on Jul 1, 2005 6:39:00 GMT 10
When I went to the big city a few weeks ago, I looked for both the Penman and Roberson books and could not find them. I guess I will have to order them online. That's what I also had to do, Rose. Couldn't get them at the bookstores and so it was amazon again for me. ;D...They sell them for very reasonable prices.
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Post by desertrose on Jul 2, 2005 14:52:21 GMT 10
Yeah, thank goodness for Amazon!
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Post by dreamy on Jul 21, 2005 5:58:55 GMT 10
Well, I finally finished the Welsh trilogy and I can only repeat what I posted before...this is the best historical novel stuff I have ever read since. I HIGHLY recommend Sharon Kay Penman'S books...I will certainly try to read all her other books as well. Her style of writing and her historical accuracy are simply unique. You should give it a try!
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Post by LLady on Sept 22, 2005 3:36:17 GMT 10
This what I', reading right now. A bit of a change from my usual historical romance novels.
DREAMING THE EAGLE Manda Scott Dreaming the Eagle is the first part of the gloriously imagined epic trilogy of the life of Boudica.
Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word “boudeg”). She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome — and triumph.
It is 33 AD and eleven-year-old Breaca (later named Boudica), the red-haired daughter of one of the leaders of the Eceni tribe, is on the cusp between girl and womanhood. She longs to be a Dreamer, a mystical leader who can foretell the future, but having killed the man who has attacked and killed her mother, she has proven herself a warrior. Dreaming the Eagle is also the story of the two men Boudica loves most: Caradoc, outstanding warrior and inspirational leader; and Bàn, her half-brother, who longs to be a warrior, though he is manifestly a Dreamer, possibly the finest in his tribe’s history. Bàn becomes the Druid whose eventual return to the Celts is Boudica’s salvation.
Dreaming the Eagle is full of brilliantly realised, luminous scenes as the narrative sweeps effortlessly from the epic — where battle scenes are huge, bloody, and action-packed — to the intimate. Manda Scott plunges us into the unforgettable world of tribal Britain in the years before the Roman invasion: a world of druids and dreamers and the magic of the gods where the natural world is as much a character as any of the people who live within it, a world of warriors who fight for honour as much as victory, a world of passion, courage and spectacular heroism pitched against overwhelming odds.
Dreaming the Eagle stunningly recreates the roots of a story so powerful its impact has lasted through the ages.
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Elly
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Post by Elly on Sept 23, 2005 4:51:07 GMT 10
sounds wonderful Llady. I borrowed a book from the library last week which looked pretty interesting 'Isolde, Queen of the Western Isle' wasn`t till after I got it home realised it`s the first in a trilogy so not going to start it till I`m sure I can get the next two, by Rosalind Miles whom I don`t think I've read any of her stuff before.
So just started on a book I bought a year or so ago 'Boadicea's Chariot, the Warrier Queens' by Antonia Fraser, I was a bit disappointed when I got it as it isn`t what I had thought, but it is proving me wrong, am quite enjoying it. although might skip the Maggie thatcher bit she`s not my favourite woman in history.#laugh#
From the pacific to the belligerent, they include Catherine the Great, Elizabeth I, Isabella of Spain, the Rani of Jhansi and Queen Jinga of Angola. Antonia Fraser's warrior queens are those women who have both ruled and led in war. Taking Boadicea as the definitive example, her choice of female champions from other ages and civilizations aims to present an awesome assembly.
This book is more than a biographical selection however, the author is interested in the way that her heroines have held and wrested the reins of power from their - consistently male - adversaries.
If Boadicea's apocryphal chariot has ensured her place in history, what then are the myths that surround the others? And how different are the democratically elected - if less regal - warrior queens of our own time: Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir and Margaret Thatcher?
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Post by LLady on Sept 24, 2005 3:02:12 GMT 10
Sounds like very interesting reading Elly
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Post by dreamy on Nov 2, 2005 22:54:08 GMT 10
I'm reading "TIME AND CHANCE" by Sharon Kay Penman, the "follower" of "WHEN CHRIST AND HIS SAINTS SLEPT"... This is a bit about the book:
"He was 19 when they married, and she 11 years his senior, newly divorced from the King of France. She was beautiful, headstrong, intelligent, an heiress to the riches of Aquitaine. Of him it was said he was Fortune's favourite, but he said a man makes his own luck. Within two years, Henry had made his, winning the throne of England. Together, this formidable couple, bound so each other by passion and mutual respect, would employ their extraordinary charms to fashion a kingdom out of a bundle of feuding fiefdoms. That the ties that bound them would ultimately unravel as Henty betrayed Eleanor for younger flesh neither could foresee at the start. "Time and Chance" opens a two years into the rign of Henry II. Having subsued his warring barons, he must now bring order to a land torn by banditry and bloodshed. Astute and charismatic, Henry will exercise uncommon skills of statecraft to consolidate his kingdom. The legacy he leaves is clesr: He is one of England's greatest kings. And yet he also leaves a stain that cannot be cleansed. Hoping to subdue the Church - and against the advice of his Queen - he raises his closest confidant, Thomas Becket, to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. But when the once wordly Becket discovers faith, their alliance withers in the heat of his newfound zeal. What Becket believes is his holy mission Henry sees as arrant treachery: The way is paved for a murder that still echoes down to us more than eight centuries later. Rich in character and colour, true to the historical details and sensitive to the complex emotions of these men and women, "Time and Chance" re-creates their story with all the pain and passion of the moment. It is a magnificent tale of love, power. ambition - and betrayal. It is Penman at her best.
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Post by smudger on Dec 3, 2005 16:20:42 GMT 10
Ladies looks as though i must check out some good historical relevant books in the near future.
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Post by LLady on Dec 4, 2005 10:15:22 GMT 10
I'm reading "TIME AND CHANCE" by Sharon Kay Penman, the "follower" of "WHEN CHRIST AND HIS SAINTS SLEPT"... This is a bit about the book: "He was 19 when they married, and she 11 years his senior, newly divorced from the King of France. She was beautiful, headstrong, intelligent, an heiress to the riches of Aquitaine. Of him it was said he was Fortune's favourite, but he said a man makes his own luck. Within two years, Henry had made his, winning the throne of England. Together, this formidable couple, bound so each other by passion and mutual respect, would employ their extraordinary charms to fashion a kingdom out of a bundle of feuding fiefdoms. That the ties that bound them would ultimately unravel as Henty betrayed Eleanor for younger flesh neither could foresee at the start. "Time and Chance" opens a two years into the rign of Henry II. Having subsued his warring barons, he must now bring order to a land torn by banditry and bloodshed. Astute and charismatic, Henry will exercise uncommon skills of statecraft to consolidate his kingdom. The legacy he leaves is clesr: He is one of England's greatest kings. And yet he also leaves a stain that cannot be cleansed. Hoping to subdue the Church - and against the advice of his Queen - he raises his closest confidant, Thomas Becket, to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. But when the once wordly Becket discovers faith, their alliance withers in the heat of his newfound zeal. What Becket believes is his holy mission Henry sees as arrant treachery: The way is paved for a murder that still echoes down to us more than eight centuries later. Rich in character and colour, true to the historical details and sensitive to the complex emotions of these men and women, "Time and Chance" re-creates their story with all the pain and passion of the moment. It is a magnificent tale of love, power. ambition - and betrayal. It is Penman at her best. Another interesting sounding book. So many books and so little time to read them! #cry#
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Elly
Administrator
Posts: 29,887
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Post by Elly on Dec 4, 2005 18:45:30 GMT 10
I'm reading "TIME AND CHANCE" by Sharon Kay Penman, the "follower" of "WHEN CHRIST AND HIS SAINTS SLEPT"... This is a bit about the book: "He was 19 when they married, and she 11 years his senior, newly divorced from the King of France. She was beautiful, headstrong, intelligent, an heiress to the riches of Aquitaine. Of him it was said he was Fortune's favourite, but he said a man makes his own luck. Within two years, Henry had made his, winning the throne of England. Together, this formidable couple, bound so each other by passion and mutual respect, would employ their extraordinary charms to fashion a kingdom out of a bundle of feuding fiefdoms. That the ties that bound them would ultimately unravel as Henty betrayed Eleanor for younger flesh neither could foresee at the start. "Time and Chance" opens a two years into the rign of Henry II. Having subsued his warring barons, he must now bring order to a land torn by banditry and bloodshed. Astute and charismatic, Henry will exercise uncommon skills of statecraft to consolidate his kingdom. The legacy he leaves is clesr: He is one of England's greatest kings. And yet he also leaves a stain that cannot be cleansed. Hoping to subdue the Church - and against the advice of his Queen - he raises his closest confidant, Thomas Becket, to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. But when the once wordly Becket discovers faith, their alliance withers in the heat of his newfound zeal. What Becket believes is his holy mission Henry sees as arrant treachery: The way is paved for a murder that still echoes down to us more than eight centuries later. Rich in character and colour, true to the historical details and sensitive to the complex emotions of these men and women, "Time and Chance" re-creates their story with all the pain and passion of the moment. It is a magnificent tale of love, power. ambition - and betrayal. It is Penman at her best. Another interesting sounding book. So many books and so little time to read them! #cry# I`m a great fan of hers, her Welsh trilogy must be the best historical novels I have ever read, just brilliant
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Elly
Administrator
Posts: 29,887
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Post by Elly on Oct 6, 2006 11:04:45 GMT 10
Finished reading 'The Third Witch' by Rebecca Reisert, never heard of this author before but really enjoyed the book.
It is about one of the witches in Macbeth, her side of the Shakespearian story which I have never read, so wasn't really expecting to like this novel but it was very very good.
review:
Their life is a desperate struggle for survival: wise-woman Nettle, Mad Helga, little Gillyflower, the girl they took in seven long years ago. They live by selling potions, begging for food, sometimes robbing the dead of the battlefields that scar the Scottish hills every year. But Gilly remembers a happier life. She has dedicated her very being to destroying the man who destroyed that happiness, even though she has no way to reach him. Until the day he saves her life. Now Gilly knows where he is, who he is. Disguised as a poor servant boy, she insinuates herself into his life, subtly begins to shape it. Even as Macbeth becomes King of Scotland, Gilly brings her revenge to its triumphant conclusion
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