Review: The Confession of Katherine Howard by Suzannah Dunn

Title: The Confession of Katherine Howard
Author: Suzannah Dunn
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: 2011
Pages: 320

Rating: 3 out of 10

This brief story recounts portions of Katherine Howard's girlhood, as well as her days as queen and her disastrous fate. It is told from the viewpoint of Cat, a naive girl who grew up with Katherine and now serves as her lady in waiting.

The book starts out ominously:
"I was thinking... this is who we are: the perfect queen and her faithful retinue. Now, I wish I could go back, patter over the lavish carpets to tap us on the shoulders, whisper in our ears and get us out alive." (page 4)
I found this to be a good example of Dunn's writing. Almost well written, but not quite. The potential is there, but an amateur quality remains. In actuality, the above sentence is relatively flattering, being more eloquent than most others in the book, but it still doesn't exactly fit. First of all, Cat never views Katherine as "the perfect queen," and with good reason. And who in the world "patters" over carpets?? I suppose next will be carpeted tap-dancing.

Worse than people's shoes tapping on carpets is the modern style of Dunn's writing. There is a whole lot of sex talk between the girls, and while I don't doubt that girls of any time period are capable of being curious, their wishful conversations sounded just a bit too unrealistic.

Something that greatly annoyed me was that the main character Cat is so drastically overlooked. She remained definitively faceless and without personality for the entire story. Coming into the book, I didn't read the back cover, and I had been assuming that Katherine Howard would be the narrator. When it became clear that the story was being told by someone else, I kept thinking that on the next page, this person would introduce herself and reveal her identity. But she didn't until about page 50!
Her name is never, ever mentioned until quite far in, and we have to guess for ourselves that she is the queen's lady in waiting or maid or something of that nature.
I got a strong impression that the author expected readers to just know that our main character was "Cat Tilney, ladies maid" from the description on the back cover. And absolutely no book should rely on that, in my opinion.

In the same way of forgetting to mention her own main character's name, Suzannah Dunn fails to mention or feature a lot of other things, too.
Before Cat and Katherine come to court, they appear to enjoy gossiping about the latest royal news with their friends. As girls, they hear about the queen being taken away and replaced by a new one, who is later beheaded.
Of course, I know who they are talking about - Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Later, they converse about Anne of Cleves as well. But it struck me as very strange that they would never once mention any names. Anne Boleyn's name is not featured once in the entirety of the novel, and neither are any other of Katherine's many predecessors.
Katherine's affair with Thomas Culpepper is mentioned often, but we never actually "see" him. He is mentioned, but never featured in any scenes, turning him into just a name of some guy.
The words "London" and "England" seem to be avoided. Absolutely no sense of setting is given whatsoever, which is always a major negative point for me, especially with historical fiction, and especially with historical fiction that deals with royalty. Kings and queens are ingrained so deeply in their countries and their cultures, a writer ought to find it impossible not to mention them.
I can't fathom why the author seemed to go out of her way to avoid specific names and titles, but it certainly didn't do any favors for the story.

Before this one, the only other book that I had read that prominently focused on Katherine Howard was Philippa Gregory's The Boleyn Inheritance. Though I know that Gregory is not exactly known for her accuracy, I have to say that that book is leagues better than this one.
I also felt that Gregory's Katherine was much more believable and probable: a beautiful, flirtatious, silly girl who is ignorant and not all that intelligent.
Here, Dunn's Katherine is described as not being all that pretty or charming. She seems a grim, flinty girl who is wise beyond her years, mysterious, and ever so solemn - a stark opposite of Gregory's version.
But it doesn't seem to fit the history - Henry VIII had just left the plain, solemn Anne of Cleves looking for something more entertaining, and chose Katherine. Why would he choose another ugly girl with a grey personality? And why would a wise, cunningly intelligent girl make herself so easy to trap by continuing an affair with the king's favorite? Perhaps this could be excused if Katherine was written as being desperately in love with Thomas, but she wasn't. Katherine struck me as an un-feeling, passionless girl.
So, the entire persona of Katherine didn't ever seem right to me, always a bit off.

After the culmination of events with Katherine being investigated, the book ends rather suddenly. It would be easy for a reader not educated on the events to miss the fact that Katherine was actually executed.
The historical note at the end focuses far more on the executions of Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpepper, for some reason.

Since I have now said so many negative things about the book, I am trying to think of a positive one.
I suppose that I did like how I finished reflecting to myself how unlikely a contestant Katherine was for the throne. Unlike her cousin Anne Boleyn, she was never groomed and pushed to catch the court's eye, and grew up as practically a commoner. As she talks about news, faraway at court, she obviously doesn't see herself ever becoming one of those people she hears about.

The book wasn't actually quite so terrible as my review probably makes it sound. It was easy to read, and moved at a quick enough pace (though it did get bogged down whenever there was a flashback to girlhood days). It was definitely below average, but I didn't hate it.

The Confession of Katherine Howard was a book that I simply didn't have strong feelings for either way - though if I did, they would be more likely to lean toward negativity. Don't expect any of the characters to have strong identities, or the events any gravity, either. Like the vapid main character, this was a dry book vacant of personality.

Review: The Pleasure Palace by Kate Emerson

Title: The Pleasure Palace
Author: Kate Emerson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2009
Pages: 400

Rating: 2 out of 10

From beginning to end, this was a fluffy book that made for painful reading.

It is the story of Jane Popyncourt, who flees 1500's France to England with her mother at a young age. There, she does her best to blend into the royal court of King Henry VIII.

I was bored by the hollow characters here, especially Jane herself. Her thoughts seemed so wooden and scripted.
The writing was abrupt and hurried through, certain things struck me as a bit too unrealistic, and there were a few plot points that were never really tied up.
The basis of the story, which has Jane's mother fleeing her country, is never fully explained.

For a few chapters, Jane spends a great deal of pages coming up with an involved, elaborate plan to get the king alone in order to speak with him privately. However, this never made much sense to me because Jane seems to have a good relationship with the king, and sees him as often as she wishes. Surely she could simply ask to speak to him privately, or lower her voice? But no. Instead, she hatches a scheme to pretend-seduce the king, culminating in his being in his bedroom with her and about to undress her (is that alone enough?). At this moment, Jane tells him that actually, there will be no sex. In fact, quite the opposite - she wants him to do a favor for her. Considering the fact that Henry VIII was known for being so lusty and prone to tantrums (not to mention being a man), I found it very suspicious that he accepts this bewildering changing of the tides with little more than a twinge of disappointment. And to make everything even worse, Jane's secret request isn't even secretive. It wouldn't have mattered if she had asked the King in public after all. The whole thing was ridiculous.

The above paragraph is simply one example of writing that often made no sense. A smaller thing would be that Jane recognizes her brother immediately after not seeing him since she was 9 (I cannot remember how old she was at the time, but most likely around 20), and doesn't even make that big of a deal of their reunion.
Jane is always being described as innocent and good and child-like, though she does take a lover, which would almost certainly have lost her these titles in her day and age. The King himself calls her "child" when she is in her 30's, and not as a pet name. Um...
I was annoyed at Jane constantly referring to her romantic interest, Guy, as if it was the first time the reader was hearing of him. Hundreds of pages after we first meet Guy, she is still saying "I saw his brother, Guy..." or "I say a young man named Guy Dunois walking by..." Alright, we know who he is now!

I cannot think of anything I enjoyed about this poorly written book.

Review: The Diamond by Julie Baumgold

Title: The Diamond
Author: Julie Baumgold
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2010
Pages: 320

Rating: 4 out of 10

Spanning two centuries, this book tells the story of the famous Regent Diamond, and the many historical figures involved with it, including Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie Antoinette, and Louis XIV. The diamond is discovered by a miner in Africa, and falls into the hands of the Pitt family. After cutting the diamond into perfection, the Pitts have a hard time finding a buyer. The stone is so priceless, even kings are unable to afford it. When the stone is bought at last, it goes to France. Going from a court wonder to gathering dust in the treasury numerous times, the Regent survives the French Revolution (when it is stolen by commoners) and the Napoleonic Wars.

This book was written very factually, which an incredible amount of detail. You can tell that little of this book is fiction, and it very often reads like a history book. All of the history fascinated me, and I personally love books presented like this. However, if that is not your taste in reading, this probably is not the book for you.

In the beginning, this book was very interesting. The complex historical depth, with just the tiniest dash of fiction, was very well done. However, the other three quarters of the book grew dull, and there were only a few scenes here and there that interested me. The description of the French Revolution was very good, but it is bordered by pages and pages of yawns.
This isn't exactly a long book, but that doesn't stop it from feeling like it, and the author was often going nowhere. I know that with this type of story, it is not realistic to expect a conventional plot-line. However, this book also lacked vision.

I wanted very much for the Regent diamond to become a sort of character in the book, like the Ring in The Lord of the Rings. We are always, always aware of the ring's presence in that story. Here, nothing even close. Often, we would be shown events that had little or nothing to do with the diamond, except that such and such person had seen it once in their lives, or something so insignificant as that. I never actually cared enough about the diamond. It almost seemed that the author had used the diamond to just write an account of France's history, and wasn't actually concerned all that much with the jewel.
The Regent was at first portrayed as possibly cursed, which was what intrigued me the most when I read the inside cover. The slave who steals the diamond from the mines cuts his leg open and hides the diamond inside, only to be killed by a man who wants it for himself. At this point in the story, the author says that the diamond "already had blood on it." A curse is mentioned here and there, but this possible aspect of the story dwindles away after a few pages.

All in all, this book was a little below average.

Review: The Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner

Title: The Tudor Secret
Author: C.W. Gortner
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 2011
Pages: 352

Rating: 4 out of 10

In 1553 England, Brendan Prescott is sent to serve the Dudley family and act as squire to Robert Dudley. Nearly as soon as he arrives in London, he is swept into a swirl of politics and intrigue in a royal court whose young monarch, the fading Edward VI, lies on his deathbed. Vying for the throne are Jane Grey and the two Tudor daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and each of them have supporters and enemies. Brendan is first asked to spy for Robert, and then to double-spy for William Cecil, a powerful name at court and an ally of Elizabeth's.

I had resolved just a few weeks ago to take a break from Tudor England, since I feel the topic has been more than exhausted in today's popular historical fiction. But, when I saw this one on the Early Reviewer's page, I was drawn in by the beautiful cover and the idea of spies and secret identities and double-crossing. It sounds marvelous, but unfortunately the best thing about this book was the cover.

Not that it was entirely awful, but I can't think of anything in particular that was good about it.

I couldn't bring myself to be all that interested in any of the characters, especially the main character Brendan. The author wastes no time getting to the action - skipping any chance we had of getting even a good introduction. Brendan seemed silly to me - he's the type who will rustle bushes loudly while "spying," (and he does - more than once). He boldly confronts powerful nobility and royalty in some scenes, but in others, is terrified to even speak to someone in a position of power.
Robert Dudley is cast as "bad," and the author makes no attempt to explore his character. I personally think him a very interesting historical figure, but the author tells us all about how Robert used to beat up Brendan when they were kids, and apparently he has still remained the cruel, more or less stupid bully.

I thought it was suspiciously convenient that Brendan is able to meet with such high nobility in only the first few nights he is at court, and how as soon as Robert asks him to deliver something to Princess Elizabeth, he finds her at once. He then walks alone with her at night - I don't think that a Princess fearing for her life would just agree (or be allowed by her guards) to just stroll off with some unknown man.

Some other things were thrown into the mix that seemed very staged and hurried through.

There was a background romance between Brendan and a lady-in-waiting, which was at first a surprise because from the way Brendan described this woman before, I had thought that she was an old lady. He seems to develop feelings for her overnight, and it never seemed all that convincing to me.

A woman from Brendan's past, who raised him in place of the mother he never had, comes into the story, but only for a matter of minutes. It was just so very pointless and strange.

The third would be Brendan's mysterious identity. It's an overused plot tactic, but one that I normally love if it's well written. But here, it remains just an overused plot tactic. Brendan is a foundling, meaning that his anonymous mother abandoned him when he was a baby and that he was "found" by someone else, who raised him as a servant. He bashes us over the head with this fact repeatedly in the beginning of the book, and for the rest of it, never lets us forget it. Practically by page 2 I knew for certain that he was going to find out something about his heritage, or meet his parents, or something like that.

I just wasn't interested in this book. Even though the action happens fairly quickly, it wasn't exciting because I just didn't care about the characters.

Not all that good, and I will most likely not be reading the next installment in the series.

Review: Earthly Joys by Philippa Gregory

Title: Earthly Joys
Author: Philippa Gregory
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Touchstone
Published: 2005
Pages: 516

Rating: 7 out 10

Although I normally read books quite quickly, I stretched out my reading of this one over a few days. The vividly portrayed Renaissance England setting, the complex, familiar characters, and the interesting, steady flow of the plot line made me want to stay in this story longer than I usually do with others.

The main character is John Tradescant, a gardener in the time of King James I. While other men entwine themselves in politics and charge eagerly off to war, John is content to nurture seedlings, discover new plants, and watch his beloved trees grow along with his life. John ends up becoming the loyal personal servant of George Villiers, the young and handsome Duke of Buckingham, and the king's favorite. As the years slip by, John sacrifices his family and his life for his master, viewing him at different times as a son, a brother, a friend, and a lover.

I just loved this story! There was so much complexity, so many undercurrents, so many sub-plots. Though I have certainly heard more than a few complaints about the historical accuracy of Philippa Gregory's works, this one in particular, I found this to be a very well written book.

First of all, the way that Gregory writes is just lovely here. She captures everything so perfectly. Some authors write their books with a poetic beauty, some with a touch of appreciated humor, some with drama, some with characters you can't help loving, but Gregory seems to mix a bit of all these together into a writing style that just compels you to keep reading. I had to struggle to put the book down, or not read so quickly as I normally do, because despite wanting to savor this book, I also felt compelled to tear through it in one sitting.

I read a review on the back cover of another of her books that said no one has mastered Renaissance England like Philippa Gregory. I don't know if I would go that far, but she has definitely mastered this setting. I just absolutely love books that fully transport you to another time and place, and this book certainly succeeds with that.

The only parts that I felt a lack of a setting were when John travels the world – to India, Asia, Russia, and France. Surprisingly, there is a very large lack of placement here. After being so sharply introduced to the sights and smells of England, it was a bit startling to suddenly be whisked off to another country – even if a similar one, such as France – and have no descriptions of a setting at all.
In these scenes, the author focuses on John himself, his botany, and other things that are going on in the plot. But the scenery is left a mystery, something that I felt extremely odd, considering how good Gregory is at that.

All of the characters in Earthly Joys are wonderful. John is a simple man, and yet, we see into his thoughts and actions so deeply that he becomes a complex, and essentially a very realistically ordinary, yet interesting man. The relationship between him and his wife was an extremely well written one, and though there was no great love story, Gregory combined fondness, duty, love, resentment, and guilt into a very believable marriage. George Villiers was another of my favorite characters. Or at least, another of the most well written characters – I hated him! Excessively arrogant, reckless, selfish, and – the reader is led to believe – a traitor and a murder.

Something about this book that I was not expecting was how sexual it was. Gregory makes no attempt to hide all of the homosexual alliances, affairs, and romances going on at the time – in fact, she makes good use of them and even has John take a male lover as well.

All of the characters, settings, politics, and events in this book were very well written. Gregory may not be the deepest or most historically accurate writer, but she certainly is an engaging one.

Review: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Title: The Uncommon Reader
Author: Alan Bennett
Genre: General Fiction
Publisher: Picador
Published: 2008
Pages: 120

Rating: 6 out of 10

Queen Elizabeth II of England borrows a book from a traveling library she stumbles upon just to be polite. She has never read all that much, and has never read beyond what people normally do. However, this obligatorily borrowed book becomes the first of many as the Queen develops an insatiable need for reading material. As she makes her way through mysteries to thrillers to literature to classics, the Queen becomes an avid bookworm.

This was an endearing novella. The Queen, who I do not know much about, was a lovely character here. Though I can't say how realistic a picture it was, the fictional Queen Elizabeth II was a great main character to take us through her story.

I love books that are about books, though I feel that it is often hard to make them interesting, as a writer can't really write a plot just from saying "she read a book about this, and then a book about that..."
However, this one has a very nice plot structure and even pacing.

Though the Queen feels she has discovered the greatest joy in life, no one else around her seems to share her views. Their exasperation at her new hobby, and their schemes to try and get her to cease reading, were clever and funny.
The Queen's library sounded magical - I'm jealous!

The entire book was, for the most part, lightly written, but underneath it was something deeper and more serious. The Queen's eventual views and decisions on writing were an excellent way to end the book, because while we are happy for the Queen's reading, it is also somewhat true that it is perhaps not exactly fitting. She is a monarch, and she has a duty to her country, not simply to herself. It seemed, I thought, to be a contradiction that could not possibly have a satisfying ending.

In the very last paragraph, the author adds in a twist, leaving the reader to wonder just as they close the book what the Queen was about to say next. We'll never know, as Bennett leaves us to assume the ending for ourselves. It was a witty, amusing end to a very witty and amusing book.

A bit trivial and cutesy, but great light reading.

Review: The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson

Title: The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette
Author: Carolly Erickson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 2006
Pages: 368

Rating: 2 out of 10

When I picked up this book at my used bookstore, I looked skeptically at the cover. It looked to me like another fluffy, shallow book about a princess or queen, who is portrayed in a fancy dress with her head cut out of the frame (so inventive). However, I reminded myself that you cannot judge books by their covers, and bought it anyways. Sadly, my suspicions were completely accurate.

This is the fictional diary of Marie Antoinette, beginning just a little before she is engaged to the dauphin Louis XVI of France. Marie continues writing in the journal, about her marriage to a dry, piteous boy who she develops a friendship with, her affair with a dashing count, the birth of her children, and her eventual betrayal and imprisonment as the Revolution washes over France.

I love the French Revolution, but this book captured almost none of it. Rather, we see the excessively decadent lifestyles of Marie and the ladies of her court that led to, or at least helped speed up, the ruin of France's finances and economy. By the time the book starts mentioning the revolutionaries, we still know very little about them. If I had known nothing of history and this book was my first introduction to anything French Revolution, I would have assumed that a mob of citizens simply gathered together to execute Marie Antoinette, and that was all there was to it.

Normally, I dislike the diary format. Maybe it is just because there were so many of them when I was in middle school (Dear America, My America, Dear Canada, Royal Diaries, and many many more), but I almost always find them childish. And this one was no exception. If Erickson had written this book without the diary style, I think it would have been just slightly better - a star better, maybe?

The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette is implausible, weak, contrived, and simply uninteresting. Look all you want for a strong, solid portrayal of the infamous queen that takes you "deep into the psyche of France's doomed queen," as the back cover promises, but expect to be disappointed. In fact, 'deep' is the precise opposite word I would use to describe this book.

Every character was sketchy and badly written, predictable, and lifeless. Marie was painted as being spoiled and vain in the beginning, and senselessly ignorant (but in a good way!) in the end. The author's method of illustrating her heroine's mistake of being so selfish and lavish was extremely obvious.
Marie would write in her diary "Today I ordered everyone to wear feathers, and a few hours later, the shops were all sold out. We had to hide the palace birds to protect them..."
Or "I have no idea what all of our palace balls cost, but I'm sure it's a lot!"
These are not actual quotes, as I didn't take note of them while reading, but I am writing them from memory.
The author would slip in these passing side notes as if she was counting pages and had made a note to herself saying: "Write something about Marie's spending every 5 pages." It seemed robotic and completely lacking in genuineness.

Louis, Marie's odd and anti-social husband, was the only character that worked, in a very small way. He is reclusive, and does not appear in the story all that much. This was the only reason he was half-way - no, quarter-way - believable. The lack of getting to know him fit his character, luckily for the author.

The character of Amelie, Marie's traitorous chambermaid, was laughable. Literally. I couldn't decide between groaning or laughing at the way Erickson wrote her. It was just ghastly. She was really that bad.
For most of the book, Amelie is just like a Mean Girl in high school. Marie hates her and is jealous of her, but is also afraid of her and finds herself longing for Amelie's approval. Must all shallow books have a snotty Mean Girl and return to high school? Well, I suppose that that is this book's level.
But anyways, by the end of the book, Amelie has joined the revolutionaries and is guarding Marie in her prison cell.
She jabs clumsily written insults at Marie, always 100% the bad guy. When her husband dies, she "smiles and doesn't care." She also seems to be some high ranking person, because everyone follows her orders, though in reality a young woman would never have had the authority to do all the things she does.
Amelie will be joining my list of 'Worst Villains of All Time.'

Marie's romantic interests, first in her servant Eric and later in Axel, were tedious to say the least. There was a lot of eye rolling from me. In the beginning, I thought that the author was simply writing it this way to illustrate how immature Marie was, but by the time we reach the end, where Erickson is very obviously portraying Marie as grown up, strong, etc etc, she is still the same silly girl.

The whole thing with Axel confused me. I was very sure that Erickson was setting him up to the be a bad guy later. He makes careless remarks often, most notably when he laughs about a group of peasants fighting to the death over a few crumbs, and then says "You should see the really poor ones."
However, maybe the author forgot she had this idea. Or maybe she really does think that peasants killing each other over bread crumbs isn't really that bad.
Whatever the reason, Axel is the hero of the story.
There was also some pointless sidetracking about Axel's former mistress finding Marie, telling her that if she loves him, she will break up with him, etc. etc., Marie doesn't do it, and there are no repercussions.

It was funny how Marie and her court were 'The Good Guys' and the revolutionaries were all 'The Bad Guys.' Crisp black and white lines were drawn, which is always unrealistic, inaccurate, and insensitive.

With this ridiculous attempt at "history," Erickson is an author I hope to never come across again.

Review: The Princess of Nowhere by Lorenzo Borghese

Title: The Princess of Nowhere
Author: Lorenzo Borghese
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2010
Pages: 336

Rating: 7 out of 10

This is the story of Pauline Bonaparte, the sister of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and her cousin, Sophie. Pauline is a stunningly beautiful, wild young widow who would rather be seducing handsome courtiers than donning mourning clothes. In an effort to control her scandalous behavior, it is arranged that she should be re-married to a Borghese prince, Camillo. Pauline's young ward Sophie, who is fascinated by her older, glamorous cousin, watches the two fall in love, only to be torn apart by Pauline's many affairs and selfishness. As Sophie grows up, she sees that her cousin is not so perfect as she would like to think, but cannot help but remain enamored with her. We see Pauline and Sophie go through life together, through Napoleon's reign, to his downfall and the ruin of their families.

I was skeptical when I learned that the author of this book was a Borghese prince himself, an actual relative of the characters in this book. The image of a spoiled prince writing a bad book, and getting it published through money and influence, came to mind.
However, I needn't have worried. Born with royal blood or not, Lorenzo Borghese is an author I will certainly be reading more of.

The Princess of Nowhere is a powerful picture of so many things - of life during the time period, of the intricate inner-workings of the infamous Bonaparte family, and of a doomed marriage that contains an odd sort of love story in the background.

The writing style was realistic and grounded, and so very life-like. I felt that I could touch every ostentatious silk gown that Pauline wore, that I could picture her grand palaces choked in glittering wealth.

Every character was well drawn, with Pauline, of course, being most memorable. Only recently did I discover that Pauline even existed, while reading another book. This glimpse into her life was such a realistic one that now I feel as if I have read twenty of her stories (as I have with Anne Boleyn, for example).
Pauline is a remarkably selfish, shameless individual. When her young son passes away, she lashes out in anger toward anyone she can possibly blame, including Sophie (for being there at the moment of his death) and her husband (even though he was hundreds of miles away at the time and never even knew Dermide was sick until it was too late). She has a talent for twisting circumstances around into whatever she wants them to be, and her logic often hardly makes any sense, though she seems to take her convictions seriously.
Pauline is also a very sexual person, and she isn't afraid of letting everyone else know it. In her time period, her behavior would have been doubly shocking and scandalous. Her countless affairs are a regular feature in the gossip columns and cartoons, which everyone in the royal family finds embarrassing except for Pauline herself.
Since she thrives off of attention, Pauline often feigns illness. Her sicknesses are such a regular occurrence that she has made her royal doctor a rich man, and he is by now quite used to coming in and prescribing imaginary antidotes to her imaginary sicknesses. In one scene, Pauline poisons herself and Sophie with arsenic, so that she will truly get sick. Her husband has grown weary of her games, and will no longer believe that she is ill unless she is actually near death, so she sets up her own, truly brink-of-death game. I was shocked, and would like to know if there is any bit of truth in this part of the story. Why poison Sophie as well?
In another scene, Pauline seduces a young man, just because Sophie told her she had her first crush on him.
Pauline is selfish and, at times, evil. She is scheming and treacherous, and you would do best not to trust her.
And yet, you can't help but love her as well. Amidst her affairs, we see that she truly does love her husband Camillo. Her actions cause her to lose many of those that she loves, and she seems child-like in how she wants to take everything back now that it is too late. And her wild behavior, though never to anyone's benefit but hers, is without a doubt entertaining and lively reading. Pauline is charming in how spirited and unscrupulous she is.
She is the perfect embodiment of an anti-heroine: One that we love and hate all at once.

Sophie was set up to be the main character in the beginning, but ended up taking second place to Pauline. Largely since she is a child for a majority of the book, she is never as strong a character as her older cousin, but I loved her all the same. Her fierce devotion to Pauline, even after being so mistreated by her, was interesting and sad. By the end of the book, Sophie has grown into a strong young woman, and the reader cannot help but think that she is deeper and more "royal" than Pauline could ever have been.

Prince Camillo Borghese was also a very well done character. When he is engaged to be married to Pauline (but having doubts due to rumors), he is enamored by her beauty the first time he sees her. However, it is not until he accidentally sees her asleep, without makeup or fancy clothes, that he decides to marry her. He says that now she will always be beautiful to him, because he has seen her "when she thought that no one was looking."
I found this endearing and very sweet, but already, it sounded as if he was not exactly the type of man that Pauline would be suited for.
After they marry, Pauline finds that her husband is prudish in the bedroom, and that he does not take the news of her affairs well. Though he plays along with her games for a time, eventually he tires of this and ignores Pauline - the one thing she will never be able to take. Even her attempts at seducing him are unsuccessful, as what he really wants is not a whore but a wife.
While Sophie vows to stay with Pauline until the end, whatever the consequences, he eventually dismisses Pauline with no intention of ever seeing her again. I had to wonder who, in the end, made the right decision.

The setting was interesting as well, and we glimpse brief touches of politics, though the book focuses largely on the characters. Napoleon's wars are not mentioned very much in the book, save for the fact that Camillo goes off to war. While this may sound unrealistic, I actually believe that the author's choice to not involve the Napoleonic Wars was a fitting one.
Pauline, in her neglecting to ever mention her brother's, and the world's, news went with her character perfectly. The only news she cared to read was the gossip about herself.

As is necessary, of course, in a book about an infamously sleazy woman, The Princess of Nowhere contains quite a few sex scenes. I am normally very picky about sex in historical fiction. It often just doesn't feel... historical.
The scenes here were quite heavy on description, but I suppose that they were necessary to fill out Pauline's character as a very sexual woman. Just as the scenes were hovering on Harlequin, they moved on.

I loved the way that the story followed the character's lives over many years, giving you a sense of time passing. Every emotion behind the events here was well written and believable.

I absolutely loved this book! Recommended.