Showing posts with label Charles II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charles II. Show all posts

Thursday, July 25, 2019

The King's Favorite by John Vance

Not all books are meant for all readers. Many months at the library book club my husband and I are the "thumb up, thumb down" opposites. 

Deciding to not to finish a read a book is very personal. Although I chose not to finish these books, I hope to do justice to their merits as well as their flaws.

Having read Samuel Pepy's diary twice--abridged and in full--I was curious about John Vance's first novel set in the court of Charles II. His father Charles I was murdered under Oliver Cromwell during the militant Puritan revolution. The new government hoped to create a holy society on earth but instead instituted a religious dictatorship. In 1660, the Brits were ready to reinstate the monarchy and brought Charles II home to rule. 
People were no longer forced to follow the Puritan lifestyle. With the end of the Blue Laws, the playhouses were reopened. For the first time, women acted on the stage. Fancy clothes could be worn again. Adultery and blasphemy were no longer against the law. The pendulum swung, and it swung hard. And Charles epitomized his time with his profligate lifestyle--fancy clothes, many mistresses, love of the theater, and as Pepys often complained, neglect of business.

As a scholar of this time period, John Vance shows his deep familiarity in The King's Favorite, a historical mystery involving Charles II's many mistresses, the newest found dead in the king's bed. Regicide is afoot. Getting a close look is an American in London for the first time.
Charles II, showing off his admirable leg
The Restoration, what a time it was! And Vance brings in all the sexy scenes, the dirty dialogue, the raucous activity in the theaters, streets, and court. We meet Lady Castlemaine, the king's longtime mistress, as well as his other favorites vying for his attention. 

The novel is slow going plot-wise because there is so much Vance wants us to know. All these people and history and relationships he figures (rightly) that readers won't know. But he falls into the trap many writers fall into of too much telling. Many readers enjoy these kinds of details. Others find it a dull slog. I was somewhere in the middle. Until I wasn't.

155 pages in I decided to not finish the novel. The mystery just was not grabbing my attention. 

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The King's Favorite
by John Vance
Black Rose Writing
Publication July 2018
ISBN: 9781684331031
Ebook $6.99 (USD)


Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Restoration Love Story: Exit the Actress by Priya Parmar

Nell Gwynn
When I was reading Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar I noted that many marked it as 'want to read' because they enjoyed Parmar's previous book Exit the Actress about the Restoration actress Nell Gwynn.

I had read about Nell in Samuel Pepys' Diary. At university I kept hearing about this Samuel Pepys dude. I bought an 1890s three volume set of Pepys Diary edited by Henry S. Wheatly and read it; later my husband gifted me the complete diary published by University of California.

"And so to bed." (how Samuel Pepys ends his diary entries)

I went to bed with Pepys for years. And it was my husband's idea.

Pepys loved the theater (read excerpts of his diary about his theater going here.) Under Oliver Cromwell's government the theaters had been closed. With the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles II on the throne, the country made up for all those years of enforced Christian perfection. Bawdy and sexy and profligate things were happening. (Starting at the top with Charles, The Merry King himself!)

Men had traditionally played female roles. One famous actor, Edward Kynaston, or Teddy in Parmar's book, was complimented by Pepys as being 'the loveliest lady that ever I saw in my life." Now females were pushing their way into the theater. Of course they were all prostitutes. Why, Nell Gwynn danced on stage and SHOWED HER LEGS. Scandalous!

"Creed and I walked out to see what play was acted to-day and we find it "The Slighted Mayde"...we saw it well acted, though the play hath little good about it, being most pleased to see the little girl dance in boy's apparel, she having very fine legs, only bends in the hams, a I perceive all women do."
Samuel Pepys Diary, Monday, February 23, 1663

On March 2, 1667 Pepys and his wife went to see the Mayden Queen by Dryden. Pepys wrote, "there is a comical part done by Nell, which is Florimell, that I never can hope ever to see the like done again, by man or woman...so great performance of a comical part was never, I believe, in the world before as Nell do this, both as a mad girle, then most and best of all when she comes in like a young gallant,; and hath the notions and carriage of a spark the most that ever I saw any man have. It makes me, I confess, admire her."
Charles in 1653 when in exile
Nell Gwynn was famous for being rising from an orange seller in the theater to becoming one of its stars. Nell was also admired by theater lover Charles II and she later became his mistress. Catching the eye of Charles II was not the hard part. He had seven mistresses and they bore his only living children. Nell remained a favorite and on his death bed he remembered her and hoped they didn't let "poor Nell starve."
Charles II. The model for Captain Hook.
Parmar's version of Nell's rags to riches story is full of ambiance and details about the 17th c.
The book is written in the form of diary entries by Nell, interspersed with letters, recipes, and gossip columns. The reader 'hears' Nell's voice first person. (It was during this time period that personal 'closets' allowing privacy became fashionable--leading to diary writing.) Letters between Charles II and his sister offer readers some insight into the royal world. Readers will enjoy the camaraderie of the theater denizens and their lively antics. 

I had so much fun with Nell and The Wits. They are better company than Vanessa and Virginia could ever be. I suddenly want to revisit Pepys and Fielding and Restoration drama. 

Exit the Actress
by Priya Parmar
Simon & Schuster
Publication 2011
available in ebook, paperback, and hard cover