Godiva by Nicole Gallant is a novel of historical fiction that the author based on the legend of Lady Godiva and her naked ride through the village of Coventry. I really enjoyed this story and admire how the author was able to place prominent people of the day in such a way that the drama that played out was realistic and had purpose.

Although historians now believe that this ride never took place, it is firmly planted in our minds. In this story, the author depicts Godiva, Countess of Wessex as a powerful, politically astute woman who has received the displeasure of King Edward for her meddling ways in the affairs of men. He is not strong on his throne and in an effort to gain some control of Godiva and her husband, Leofric, he demands they turn the village and lands of Coventry over to him, when they refuse, he then demands that Coventry pays a severe tax and when they again refuse, he, wanting to humiliate both Godiva and her husband, demands that she rides through the town naked. When she successfully does so, Edward has one more trick up his sleeve, and tries to have Godiva excommunicated.

Although the author freely admits that much of this book was taken from her imagination, she certainly breathes live into the legend by making Godiva a believable person who is independent yet secure in her love of Leofric. She and her husband are opposing the payment of an unjust tax imposed by an insecure king who had a personal vendetta against this couple. I was captivated by the story and will certainly be on the lookout for more historical fiction by this author. ( )

I won this in the Early Reader program way back in 2013, but it never arrived. I was very disappointed, because I loved the idea of the book. When It showed up as a sale eBook recently I paid the $1.99 and jumped it. It was an OK book, but not the in depth character exploration I was expecting. I generally like bold women in history and historical fiction, but this Godiva didn't grab me. There was enough plot to keep me reading, but the characters felt a bit on the stereotyped side.
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I really enjoyed this one. It's a much lighter read than the author's previous book, I, Iago, and I like the way it focuses so well on the relationship between the two women, Godiva and Edgiva. Although you know, going in, that she's going to make the naked horseback ride, the journey to that point is still interesting. ( )

http://www.girllostinabook.com/2014/08/review-godiva-by-nicole-galland.html ( )

I'm having a shockingly hard time writing this review given that I had a great time with it and was provoked and amused by our heroine, Godiva.

Set in 11th century England, the novel follows two friends: the titular heroine Godiva, a flirtatious landowning noblewoman; and her best friend, Edgiva, niece of King Edward (the Confessor) and abbess of Leominster Abbey. Both girls grew up together in Leominster, but Godiva knew she would eventually marry while Edgiva, whose possible offspring could be contenders to the throne, was dedicated to the church. She became abbess at 18 without having the chance of deciding if this was her vocation.

It's this lack of choice that Godiva fights, for she is as active and commanding a ruler as her husband Leofric. One of the three most powerful lords in the kingdom, Leofric's wealth and army is a threat to the king, who maintains a harsh tax to pay for a foreign mercenary army to keep England under his rule.

Ostensibly, it is this tax that provides the catalyst for the novel's events. Shifting the legend a hint -- rather than her husband refusing to remove this tax, it is now Edward who levies it -- Galland posits that it might have been Godiva's frank sexuality and political manoeuvrings that provoked Edward into making his shocking demand: that Godiva ride naked thru Coventry.

Godiva, as we see from the opening scene, using her sexuality boldly, wrangling unruly lords into submitting to decisions they might otherwise fight. She will be, I suspect, a polarizing heroine for people because of this. Even I had a very uncomfortable response to her coquetry and impetuous use of her charms to get things done. And yet, as I discussed with Jessie of Ageless Pages Review on GoodReads, I don't believe that wives of rulers didn't use their skills to enact change as needed, wresting power as they could. Godiva's flirtatiousness is no different a strategy for control than a ruler's physical prowess or immense wealth.

Tangled in with Godiva's story is Edgiva's. A competent abbess and Godiva's closest friend, she has her own scandalous challenge, one that is worsened by Godiva's meddling. The two women have a loving and emotionally rich friendship, which is tried when Edgiva learns of Godiva's involvement in, well, I don't want to give away the details. But Galland doesn't shy from having these two fight -- painfully! -- and it brought tears to my eyes.

One of the things that delighted me most about I, Iago was Galland's emotionally resonate exploration of Iago. For Godiva, Galland took her own naked ride on a horse which influenced how she wrote Godiva's own nude ride. That section was particularly poetic, pretty, and moving, I found, and now I understand why!

The style of this book is 'lighter' than I, Iago, which isn't a bad thing; in many ways, the narrative style echoes Godiva: quick, pretty, flirty, surprising depth. Galland takes a brutal era and two stories -- one legendary, one historic -- and creates a novel that touches on surprisingly deep themes. ( )