Review-The Countess by Rebecca Johns
Posted: 21 Jan 2012, 20:37
I really enjoyed this book. I liked the author's writing style and her research was very sound. The book reads very much like letters to her son and that is how the author wanted it. I found it easy to read and enjoy the story.
I felt bad for Elizabeth during certain points in this book because there were things that she could not help in her life. Being that she was the product of an arranged marriage and her husband Farenc was not the nicest or most attentive husband made her have to do her best to survive. This was especially true after he died. I think that the popular history of this historical character may be some fact, and also largely based on the ruling people of the time besides her. Was she cruel in her punishments of her servants? Yes she was, but this was the custom of the time and I think from the little research I have done, and after reading this book (even though it is a story based on history) that she may have been unjustly punished with being walled up in her castle. I am giving this 4/5 stars because I felt the author could have expounded on Elizabeth's mental state a bit or her emotional state a bit more with regards to giving up her first daughter and it did read a bit slow at times. I found the book to be good otherwise.
I felt bad for Elizabeth during certain points in this book because there were things that she could not help in her life. Being that she was the product of an arranged marriage and her husband Farenc was not the nicest or most attentive husband made her have to do her best to survive. This was especially true after he died. I think that the popular history of this historical character may be some fact, and also largely based on the ruling people of the time besides her. Was she cruel in her punishments of her servants? Yes she was, but this was the custom of the time and I think from the little research I have done, and after reading this book (even though it is a story based on history) that she may have been unjustly punished with being walled up in her castle. I am giving this 4/5 stars because I felt the author could have expounded on Elizabeth's mental state a bit or her emotional state a bit more with regards to giving up her first daughter and it did read a bit slow at times. I found the book to be good otherwise.