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Full Book Review:
Catherine de Medici, the protagonist of this first book of three which chronicles her life, makes for an addictive read. Following her early life as an Italian girl married off by her relative Pope Clement VII to Henry, second son of King Francis I, through to motherhood. Thrust into a strange country she grows to deeply love her husband who ascends the throne only to have to face the humiliation of her husbands devotion to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Out of this life grows a fierce women determined to win her husbands love and the power of ruling France, but her methods grow evermore ruthless.
This is the first Jean Plaidy book I have read and was surprised to find it was published in the 1950s, not knowing much of the writer. As a fan of Historical Fiction I found this book an enlightening take on the French court. It was a quick read and although I think the book had enough to hold your attention and allow you to grasp the main characters others may find the book too short on secondary character development. I had conflicting feelings for Catherine, swinging between feeling sorry for her and thinking her quite a mean young woman, but always intrigued to know the next development in her life.
I was pleasantly surprised by the writer and look forward to reading the other titles in this series.
Please note - my first review is a copy of one I wrote on Amazon. From now I will be writing reviews on my blog only.
