REVIEW: Saint Thomas's Eve, by Jean Plaidy

Title: Saint Thomas's Eve
Author: Jean Plaidy
Pages: 352
Rating: 2.5/5
Bought/Borrowed/Loaned: On loan from Kensington Library.

SUMMARY
The rise and (deadly) fall of Thomas More under the reign of Henry VIII is the central spine upon which the story of Jean Plaidy's Saint Thomas's Eve is constructed. More is first seen having left a life in the monastery for the possibility of starting his own family. We follow him from humble but respected lawyer and man of learning untile he becomes one of the King's most trusted advisors. The More family grows and changes as Thomas's first wife dies and he marries - children are born and adopted and we can see the love Thomas has for all of them, but particularly affectionate is his relationship with his older daughter Margaret who becomes his confidant and best friend.

For this is Margaret More's story as much as her father's. She goes from little girl to young woman, a loving and loyal companion to Thomas More. But then Henry begins his battle to divorce Queen Katherina and pursue a relationship with Anne Bolyen. The King becomes obssessed that nothing comes in the way of his desires and Thomas More becomes more and more fanatical in his religious views, the two of them colliding in a clash of faiths and wills that would send More into his unfortunate and infamous end.

REVIEW
Having finally read one Jean Plaidy book I can easily see the appeal of her novels to a wider audience. The simpleness of her prose makes for a quick, swift read and it's easy to devour the book in a couple of days. The story was easy to follow and provided with enough interest to make you want to turn the page.

That said, I must admit this kind of book wasn't my cup of tea. I read it, and I enjoyed it well enough while at it but it also frustrated me. I love historical fiction but too often I despair at how much of it is historical fiction for the sake of historical fiction and there's not enough literature in it. I will always seek literary value and style above anything else in what I read, that's why Jean Plaidy couldn't satisfy me. She is just not that much of a great writer. There is a diference between having an unintrusive voice and being colourless, and this book's prose didn't fly. A fun but underwhelming read.

The other thing that annoyed me was the use of an ommniscient narrator at times; I have real trouble with that sort of point of view, and the novel would have been much more interesting without the added psychology and the paragraphs and paragraphs about the character's inner thoughts. I liked the idea of the switching POVs but sometimes they weren't consistent and the telling of the story slipped into this omniscent narrator.

There are things I enjoyed about the book, nonetheless: I liked the portrayal of Margaret's relationship with her father, and that's the heart of the book. I felt they had good and touching scenes. It was a good thing to see how, while her feeling of devotion towards Thomas More remained untouched in Margaret as he grew up, she started questioning some of his more fanatical actions. As a side note it was a curious read, this book that portrays More as a very likeable and sympathetic character, after having read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, with its view of More as a dangerous extremist. Most of the story is seen through Margaret's eyes and I always have a soft spot for an external-to-the-action point of view and here it really works. The book makes good and constant use of parallel and opposite scenes - for example the scene where Henry VII decides to make Thomas More his enemy out of a grudge and the scene where newly-crowned Henry VIII warmly welcomes More and his poetry.

Bottom line, even though I had a good enough time reading this I'm not very likely to pick any other Plaidy in the future, unless the subject really interests me.

In any case, be sure to check out Jean Plaidy's Royal Intrigue (and its blog), an excellent site dedicated to the author that continues to delight.