Author: Patricia Bracewell
First Published: February 2013
Publisher: Viking
416 pages (hardcover)
If you read my blog/reviews, it’s apparent that I really love historical fiction about English royalty. Most of the time it’s Tudors or War of the Roses stuff I read, because that’s the easiest stuff to find. I was extremely excited to discover the existence of this book, Shadow on the Crown, which is about English royalty … from 1001! Whoaaa, no one ever writes about that period of the English throne! I just knew I had to have this book and read it.
Shadow on the Crown is about Emma of Normandy. She is the sister of Duke Richard of Normandy, and she is wed to King Æethelred of England quite quickly after the King’s first wife dies. However, Emma is not marrying the King to merely be his wife and consort. In exchange for Duke Richard’s cooperation in keeping the Danish Vikings away from English shores, Emma is to be crowned a queen in her own right, Queen of England.
But being Queen is not a glorious role and a thankless task. With Emma as Queen, King Æethelred’s sons by his first wife worry that if Emma and the King have their own sons, they will supplant them in the succession of the crown. After all, the sons of a consecrated queen surely have precedence over the sons of a mere consort. Though Emma has no such plan, her marriage to the King has already made enemies of the sons. To make matters more complicated, she begins to fall in love with one of her new stepsons, a man close to her in age, but a person she can never have.
There is also the Lady Elgiva, a beautiful young lady from the northern part of England who was a candidate for being the King’s new wife. Petty and jealous, Elgiva is furious that she lost an opportunity to become Queen and what’s more, now she has to serve in the Queen’s household. Elgiva is a viper waiting to strike and she is more than willing to sabotage Emma in any way that she can.
Lastly, Emma is isolated in this new country, with few of her own Normans for company. She is not sure if her brother, Duke Richard, will actually hold up his end of the bargain. If he does not, Emma is sure to be in danger from the wrath of the King. And there is the constant threat of the Danish Vikings invading England …
This book totally lived up to my expectations, I am so happy to have discovered this book and the story within. I will admit though, that my enthusiasm for this book may be kind of biased since I loooove English royalty historical fiction. The fact that this is the kind of book I salivate over definitely colours my opinion somewhat, but moving on … Though the author has taken many liberties with historical facts, as she outlines in the author’s notes in the back of the book, I feel what she has added or altered worked very well for the sake of the story. I know not everyone is cool with the idea of historical fiction based on real people being, well, fiction, but I think the author does a great job of it here. It is not too farfetched, and it all adds to the story, rather than changes it.
The characters aren’t paragons of characterization. Most of them are pretty black and white; good or evil, etc. However, this hasn’t stopped me from liking them and enjoying the story. Definitely my favourite character is Emma herself. I’m not super familiar with her so I don’t know how (in)accurate this portrayal is of her; everything I know about her is from Wikipedia. Emma in this novel is like a goody-goody, and I say that endearingly. Sent away from her home at the age of 15 to marry someone way older than her, she handled her situation much more maturely than I could have, if thrown in the same scenario. Though Emma did not want to become Queen and indeed, saw it as a great burden, she took on the role as if she was destined for it. Even the King (who held no love for her) and the sons had to begrudgingly admit that Emma was regal. It was like she was born for this. She looked and acted the part. Sure, she had some diplomatic blunders when she was navigating her way in the English court, but hey, she’s new, everyone makes mistakes.
I loved the contrast between her and Elgiva. As far as I know, Elgiva was a real person but I don’t think she and Queen Emma actually had a rivalry of sorts. Anyway, Elgiva is the complete opposite of Emma. She wants and craves power, and she can (usually) manipulate people to get what she wants. She’s easily jealous, and quite petty. The kind of person who can hold a grudge for a decade or two. Emma is light whereas Elgiva is darkness, which is fitting given that Elgiva has a great fear of cramped, dark spaces, heh. The contrast is kind of cliche, yes, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I really loved this book, and it is so, so refreshing to read about medieval England. The author’s note at the end says she intends for this to be a trilogy, which I figured as much as I was reading because I was near the end of the book and I knew there was so much more of Emma’s life story left to tell. Looking forward to book two immensely!
My Rating: 5/5
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