Sarah Bower

January 1067. Charismatic bishop Odo of Bayeux commissions a wall hanging, on a scale never seen before, to celebrate the conquest of Britain by his brother, William, Duke of Normandy. What he cannot anticipate is how utterly this will change his life-even more than the invasion itself.

I have to admit I struggled a bit with this book and it took me a lot longer than a book of this length should have. There is nothing per se "wrong" with it, I just had difficulty completing it. Not a book for those who take offence in a certain type of graphic language (which doesnt cover me), this is the story of Bishop Odo (brother of William the Bastard aka William the Conqueror) and the woman Gyltha, who he takes as his mistress after she is one of the women hired to start work on what will become the Bayeux Tapestry. There is opposition on all sides to the relationship, not least because of her lower status and the fact he is a member of the clergy (and the brother of the King) and therefore should be celibate. In the end decisions have to be made....… (altro)

This story follows a young Jewish conversa who becomes a trusted handmaiden of Lucrezia Borgia. There's a lot of fun stuff here, though it's not quite as trashy as the cover might seem to indicate.
However, although it's an enjoyable read, I also found it a frustrating one at times. We're talking about a time period and cast of characters dominated by political intrigue, and the POV character is not a main player in any of that. On the contrary, she's a naive young woman who spends the majority of the book blindly and stupidly in love with Cesare Borgia, and there're no spoilers involved in saying it is obvious all along that he does not love her in return. The whole affair is really fairly horrible - which is not to say it's unbelievable; sadly, it really is - but it can be frustrating, as I said, to follow the travails of a dumbass for nearly 600 pages.
It also creates an awkward situation for the author, because one gets to the end of the story and since the POV character was an ignoramus, you don't know What Was Really Going On All That Time. So the author ties things up with an extended narrative confessional by Lucrezia, which stretched my suspension of disbelief.

I do think the fact that I'm currently following the TV show The Borgias enhanced my enjoyment of the story; although it does give away some historical spoilers! I'm all into the time period right now; so I'm also planning on re-reading the truly excellent "Duchess of Milan" and I've ordered Puzo's "The Family" on an internet recommendation.… (altro)