A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

This novel tells the fascinating story of Pope Joan, one of two women in history to hold the office of Pope (the other lived in the 14th century). Very little is known about her life; indeed, contemporaries tried to erase the memory of "Pope John Angelicus" entirely. It has only been recently that interest in this remarkable woman has reemerged. All the major facts in this book (aside from the Viking attack, which didn't occur until few years later) are true. Joan grew up in northern Germany, to a German mother and an English father (hence the name "Angelicus"). Not much was known about her childhood, but Cross does a wonderful job of trying to piece together the life she might have had. Her brother John was intended for the schola. When Joan, howver, displayed an aptitude and desire to learn, a Greek man was brought in to tutor her. That eventually led to Joan's attendance at the schola, where as the only female student there she was house in the manor of a...

This novel follows the story of Sancha of Aragon, the granddaughter of the King of Naples and the daughter of one of the cruelest men in Europe. She weds Jofre Borgia, the weak and inneffectual son of Pope Alexander- and brother to the infamous Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia. Despite her upbringing, Sancha is in no way prepared for what awaits her when she goes to Rome. Of course, Popes aren't supposed to father children, let alone admit that they're his. But this Alexander (born Roderigo Borgia) certainly does, even having his children live in the papal palace with him. Upon marriage, Sancha and Jofre are sent to live in Squillace, in a palace that seems like a hovel in comparison to the finery they lived in before they were married. Sancha is 16, and her husband is 13; despite his young age, he takes to carousing at all hours of the night. When called to Rome by the Pope (a most lecherous man, whose desire is to meet his daughter-in-law), Sancha and Jorfe must go. When there, San...

I first ran into Philippa Gregory's books about four years ago, with The Other Boleyn Girl - undoubtedly, one of her best books. With The Constant Princess , Gregory returns to the six wives of Henry VIII, this time with his first wife, Katherine (or Catalina, as she was known in her native Spain). The book focuses upon the first years, and less upon the later divorce from Henry. The narrative is told in a mixture of the third person and Katherine's first person (in italics). The book opens with Catalina's childhood. Already betrothed to the Price of Wales, she grew up on the battlefield as her parents attempted to conquer Granada and therefore unite Spain under a Christian monarchy. The opening of this book recouts how the keys to the Alhambra were handed over to Ferdinand and Isabella. Flash forward many years, and Catalina is newly arrived in England to wed Prince Arthur. England is absolutely nothing like Spain: its cold, it rains, the language is foreign to her, and th...

In this book, Peter Ackrod brings to life not only the playwright himself, but London and Elizabethan theatre. He uses exquisite detail to render a satisfactory portrait of his subjects. Although Shakespeare is perhaps the best-known author in the English language, it is surprising how little is known about his life. Many authors have conjectured about his life based upon the material that appears in his plays. Shakespeare was born in the town of Stratford to John and Mary Shakespeare. In the town grammar school, he learned Greek, Latin, and all the other subjects that school children of the 16th century would have studied. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who was already pregnant with their first child, Sussannah. Later on, the couple would have two more children, twins: Hamnet, who would die as a child, and Judith. Not long after the marriage, however, Shakespeare set out to London to find his fortune there. He started off his career in the theatre by holding horses for gen...

The Shadow of the Wind is among some of the best books I've read. The story follows that of Daniel, a boy who discovers a book by Juan Carax in a place called "The Cemetery of Forgotten Books." Daniel soon finds that someone has been going around destroying Carax's books, and that his own copy of The Shadow of the Wind may be the last one remaining. It soon becomes clear that Daniel's life is very similar to that of Carax's, thirty years before. As Daniel grows up, he falls in love with the sister of his best friend, very much as Julian had before. He also comes to own an invaluable pen supposedly owned by Victor Hugo, that Julian had at one time owned. The book is populated with characters both likeable and unlikeable: Inspector Fumero, whose days in the secret police from the days of the Spanish Civil War still haunt him; a homeless man who soon becomes Daniel's best friend; a blind woman who was Daniel's first love; and a woman who might be the an...

The Minotaur is the story of a family, the Cosways, as seen through the eyes of a young Swedish woman hired as a nurse, Kirsten (pronounced Shashtan) Kvist. She keeps a diary of the people she meets at Lydstep Old Hall, a house that remains locked in the Victorian period. The family consists of Mrs. Cosway, a cantankerous elderly woman who has nothing nice to say about anyone; Winnifred, set to marry the village rector; Ella, a teacher who is in love with an artist who lives in the village and befriends the narrator; Ida, whose place in the novel is is that of housekeeper and all-round do-gooder; Zorah, the only one of the Cosway sisters to ever get married; and John, their brother, who has autism but was incorrectly disnosed as schizophrenic. John is the most tragic character and really the only one that the reader will feel sympathy for--aside from Kisten, who is the most perceptive person living in Lydstep Old Hall. He is brilliant, but hopelessly misunderstood. He spends much of hi...

The premise of Dragonwick seems very much like that of Jane Eyre--a young woman goes tot he house of a very wealthy man to teac his child and ends up falling in love with him. However, this book adds a completely new dimension to this story outline. The main character is absolutely nothing like the demure, humble Jane, and everyone else is sinister in a way that Charlotte Bronte's characters never could have been. The book begins in 1844 and ends in 1849, covering the land rent problems the landlords face, the Astor Place Massacre, and the far-away wars in Texas. The Mid-Atlantic is peopled solely with those of old Dutch ancestry, and cattle still live in downtown Manhattan, which is more farmland than city real estate in the mid-19th century. Miranda Welles is the daughter of a poor farmer from Connecticuit. One day the family recieves a letter from a wealthy New York cousin of theirs, the Van Ryns. Nicholas Van Ryn, looking for a governess for his six-year-old daughter, asks the ...