What a great surprise! I love it when GR or the digital library recommends books to me based on what I've read & they are right. Really hit it out of the park with this recommendation. Although I've read other biographies & historical fiction dealing with the middle ages, I haven't read or really know much about this time period 950-1044 AD in European history or the Vikings. So I went into this book pretty ignorant of this particular time period. That didn't last long. Hollick quickly throws the reader into the action with an arranged marriage between the King of England & a princess from Normandy. At first Emma, a child bride, is little more than a political pawn, terribly mistreated by her brother & her husband. But she soon realizes her husband is a weak fool & she has only herself to rely on. She is incredibly intelligent & surprisingly politically savvy. When the King dies Emma realizes she has to use everything in her arsenal to keep her adopted country safe for her children to inheirit. She ends up choosing to marry the invading Viking Cnut who has been made King & in him finds a loving husband, confidant, & true partner. Hollick does an excellent job bringing Emma, a Queen history knows little about, to life during an time period that is undergoing tremendous change. The scope of the book covers a huge piece of time & the supporting cast is large, but Hollick manages them all deftly & really brings them to life over 600+ pages. Emma is a Queen to two Kings & the mother of two more, her life story is truly remarkable & Hollick does an awesome job. As a book of historical fiction, the author kept faith with the actual history of the era of Queen Emma. The Anglo-Saxon kings of England are often ignored by historians but this book sorts out the the family intrigue and makes it easy to see how everything fits (or could have fit) together in history. Sometimes, though, it is easy to forget the the book is fiction and a great deal of literary license has to be there to make it readable. She succeeds in merging fact and fiction and does justice to both. If you are a fan of English history, this is a must read.
What do You think about The Forever Queen (2010)?
An enjoyable read. Looking forward to reading "I am the Chosen King".
—stfsharon
strong start but I could not finish the book. Way too much combat.
—cookie
