This was, after a Place Beyond Courage, my favorite Chadwick book. What I liked best was Mahelt's defiant attitude, how she wouldn't let anybody rule her. People back then (men) thought they should treat their wives the same way they would treat their children and Mahelt showed them different. Men back then (and often now) think of women as more innocent, vulnerable creatures and try to give us sheltered lives and not talk to us about "grown-up things" but Mahelt showed everybody that we are, in fact, men's equals, and she defied the chauvinism that stemmed from chivalry and demanded to be treated as an equal. Now that I'm done with my feminist rant... Mahelt started out as an adorable little girl and I loved her brother Will, and I like that her father encouraged her headstrong will and didn't treat her like cattle. 'To Defy a King' is a perfect blend of history and fiction. I admire how Chadwick continues to research this period and these historical figures and as she's learned more about them has incorporated what she's learned into her subsequent novels. Set in England in from 1204 to 1218, it is a view into England's conflicts with France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the Roman Church as well as the internal conflicts between King John and the English nobility that lead to the drafting of the Magna Carta. It was interesting to learn the expected behavior of a daughter-in-law and the loyalty her marriage family would expect, as well as how politics directly affected the Marshall and Bigod families. The culture and the politics are completely distant and foreign to our contemporary values today but Chadwick brings what once was very real to life again with details of daily life including food, dress and furnishings.
What do You think about Die Englische Rebellin (2012)?
The story of William Marshal and Isabelle de Clare's oldest daughter Mahelt. Excellent as always.
—Rose
gorgeously written and really draws you into the world.
—Grateb32123
