[.ca] Duchess: A Novel of Sarah Churchill

fascinating:
I know very little about history, so I really have nothing to say about whether this book is historically accurate or not. For me, that's beside the point. Bad reader, I know, particularly when it's a fictionalized biography of an actual historical figure, but I'm trying to be honest here. So when I started reading this, I knew nothing about Sarah Churchill, which also means I had no preconceived ideas about her. It follows her life from the time she arrives in court as a young girl attending Princess Anne. She quickly becomes very adept at court life--politics and intrigue and knowing who to cultivate and who to snub, and most importantly, she avoids becoming a casualty of court life--a mistress of the king or some other powerful man. She falls in love with John Churchill, who's very much like her with a similar non-wealthy background and very politically astute. She holds out for marriage, while he's determined to marry for wealth and have Sarah as a mistress. The book tells of her fluctuating political fortunes, tied to those of Princess Anne, and I found it just fascinating, particularly because it doesn't just give a list of events, but the thoughts and emotions motivating them. It also paints a very vivid picture of court life at the time. So I've been entertained, and learned a little about British history in the process. And if historical scholars have different interpretations of the personalities and events in the book, I'm sorry, but I just can't bring myself to get too worried about it.

excellent history of English royalty:
An interesting novel, at times couldn't put it down. At least it wasn't boring like some historical novels.

Pleasantly Surprised:
I was pleasantly surprised by this book as most books of this nature are really hit or miss. The book was engaging and the characters are well-developed and remained true (for the most part) to their character development and did not go off on tangents that left you shaking your head wondering what was going on. The author did a great job contextualizing the historical era but leaving the overall focus to the characters in the book.

Part II of the Religious Feuding that Henry VIII Started:
I found this book particularly compelling because, having much more knowledge of Henry VIII and his break from the Catholic Church and the reign of his daughter "Bloody Mary," I was surprised to learn that, 100 years after Elizabeth's Protestant reign, the fight between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church for the souls of England continued at a ferocious pitch. This novel offers an absorbing look at the palace intrigues of this period and the willingness of England to go to war against various countries. Susan Holloway Scott weaves a fascinating story from the point of view of Sarah Churchill. -- Phyllis Zimbler Miller, author of MRS. LIEUTENANT and co-author of SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION

Good, but could have been better:
I love historical fiction and this one was pretty good, though could have been so much better. There is too much skipping ahead for one thing. For example, Mr.Churchill would go on these missions that Sarah hated him for doing, and always complained about how much she missed him, yet a few pages later he'd have returned (this being theoretically many months or a year later) safely into her arms, feeling to me like he had never left at all. Same thing happened whenever she became pregnant, almost as if her pregnancies were back to back when they really were not. I'll read the other books Miss Scott has written, and hope those are more promising. This title was still enjoyable and worth it, so I would recommend it for any historical fiction readers looking to kill some time.