Joanne Limburg

Autism and feminism, in the form of letters to Virginia Woolf, Adelheid Bloch, Frau V and Katharina Kepler. Bloch was “a German Jewish woman who had learning disabilities following a bout of childhood meningitis,” killed because of her disabilities (Limburg notes that Woolf, an anti-Semite and eugenicist, would not have thought her worthy of life). Frau V was the mother of one of Asperger’s patients, whose own characteristics as reported by Asperger are suggestive of autism. Katharina Kepler was Johannes Kepler’s mother; he defended her in a witch trial. “Katharina had an unfortunate habit of rubbing people up the wrong way. She did this by being assertive, forthright and persistent, by preferring rational argument to tears, and by refusing to bestow sympathy on someone just because they asked for it.” Without diagnosing them, Limburg writes about their weirdness as a way of understanding autism and women. Eloquent about humilitation, eugenics, motherhood, and other topics. A key note: “Weirdness is not the same as conscious rebellion or resistance, though it may come to inform it.”… (altro)

The title of this book is A Want of Kindness - A Novel of Queen Anne. Don't be deceived by the title and expect a story as such of the life of Queen Anne as this novel is not written in this way. The book is written more along the lines of a sort of 'third person' journal or diary, interspersed with letters (mainly, the author states, real documents mostly quoted verbatim) written by Anne herself.

The chapters run chronologically through Anne's life from when she and her sister Mary were children. The chapters are mainly quite short and offer various snippets of Anne's thoughts and feelings along with specific occasions in her life. The prose itself is well written and it gives an insight into the history of the time (albeit rather superficially) and Anne's place within it, but I personally didn't feel totally engaged with the 'characters' as I may have done if it had been written in a classic novel style. One thing that did frustrate me was the fact that the book does not actually contain any information regarding Anne as Queen, save for one short paragraph as an historical note at the end of the book. Perhaps the author plans to produce a sequel to this novel, in which case this book should have had a different title as Anne was only a princess for the entirety of the piece.

After reading of Anne's trials and tribulations as an heir to the throne it would have been nice to learn about how she ruled and also how the country fared in the years after she finally became Queen.… (altro)

Joanne Limburg’s A Want of Kindness is an intriguing mix of fact and fiction combining to create the very poignant story of the life of Queen Anne, last of the Stuart monarchs. We learn of her close friendships and reliance on those who serve her, particularly Sarah Jennings/Churchill, who use their position to further the advancement of family and friends (often for a price!).
The intrigues of the court and the eventual overthrow of Anne’s father, King James 11 because of his Catholic faith, mean that Anne’s sister Mary became joint monarch along with her husband William and move Anne one step nearer to the throne. Mary appears to be barren so it is up to Anne to produce the next Stuart heir and the saddest element of the story is to read of constant stillbirths, miscarriages, babies living for a short time and just one sickly son (who eventually dies aged 11) to show for 18 or 19 pregnancies. One can only imagine the devastating sadness at losing so many children despite, or maybe because of, the different ‘cures’ she tried over the years. And perhaps even sadder is her thought that it was God’s punishment for her condoning her father’s overthrow.
Throughout the book Anne comes across as a rather needy, but kind and generous women, who would have been much better suited to being a middle class matron with a nursery full of healthy children. However she also shows extraordinary courage and resolution when coping with illness, loss of many children, the replacement of her father by her sister and brother-in-law and the unkindness of others. Her over-reliance on others such as Sarah Churchill is perhaps understandable given that she was often ignored or sometimes even persecuted by the King and Queen so friends were hard to find.
The book contains many genuine letters both to and from Anne which interweave nicely with small vignettes of daily life building an interesting and very believable story of a sad and rather pathetic Queen in waiting. I’m sure it will appeal to fans of historic fiction (life myself!) and is an informative and enjoyable read.… (altro)