- Hardcover: 432 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd; First Edition. Hardback. Dust Jacket. edition (28 Aug 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743251040
- ISBN-13: 978-0743251044
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 16 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 705,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Hannah Pakula, author of "The Last Romantic" and "An Uncommon Woman"
Catherine de' Medici and Diane de Poitiers -- the unattractive wife and the beautiful mistress of King Henri II of France -- were both ancestors of the author, H.R.H. Princess Michael of Kent, who has constructed a brightly colored, ever moving kaleidoscope of love, pomp, and politics in the fascinating courts of the Renaissance and Reformation.
Product Description
Henri was bartered in marriage to Catherine de Medici, an unattractive commoner and despised foreigner who stood miserable by as Henri became Dauphin and later King, all the while growing more devoted to his famously beautiful mistress. Together Henri and Diane ruled France as one, their intertwined monograms appearing on everything from official proclamations to palace doorknobs. Only Henri's accidental death at the age of forty-tow ended his love for Diane - and Catherine's all consuming envy of her rival. Princess Michael of Kent, herself a descendent of both Catherine and Diane, imbues this seldom-told story with exquisite detail and an insiders grasp of royal politics. THE SERPENT AND THE MOON is a fascinating love story as well as a richly woven history of an extraordinary time.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
AS the sun filtered through the autumn mist shrouding the harbor of Marseilles, three hundred cannons boomed from the ramparts of the ch?teau d'If and all the bells of the city rang out to announce the arrival of the papal flotilla. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
AS the sun filtered through the autumn mist shrouding the harbor of Marseilles, three hundred cannons boomed from the ramparts of the ch?teau d'If and all the bells of the city rang out to announce the arrival of the papal flotilla. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Princess Michael of Kent had written several books already. I have most of them and I liked them, but without being too impressed to be honest. However, her new book is excellent. One sees and feels how much work has been spend on this book.
It is far more than just a biography of Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medici and King Henry II of France. It is a book about a whole period of French and European history. The Princess manage to paint in vivid colours a picture of the whole time in which the three main characters acted. She puts things into perspective.
I liked especially that Princess Michael does not start the description of the life of Diane de Poitiers or Catherine de Medici as soon as they become mistress or wife of Henry of France. Both had a life before that which formed them and explains very much how they managed their lives at Court and filled their positions. But of course one has to understand Henry of France as well and why Diane became his soulmate, wife in all but name and why he denied Catherine her rightful position. So this book had to be about three people. Otherwise it would not have been complete. Princess Micahel gives you an idea what these people were about but leaves you enough space to form your own opinion (which I believe is important).
Princess Michael has an unique grab for the royal symbolism of the time - the ceremonies which played such an important role at the time, lots of mones time and energy were spend on them. But they were not mere entertainment but carried a much deeper impact. Maybe partly because of her own position but properly due to an instinctive understanding Princess Michael of Kent can transmit this understanding to the readers.
Some words about the layout of the book: I liked very much how the chapters were structured, how much love and care were spend on details and pictures. It is just a beautiful book.
All in all a book I highly recommend! 5 stars well deserved.
Format:Paperback
The title really tells you everything about this book: Catherine de' Medici is the serpent, while Diane de Poitiers is the moon: light, divine, almost chaste - apart from being an adultress, of course!
This is a really good read but of the fun, light, almost novelistic kind, always engaging but undoubtedly `popular' history, so if you're looking for something more academic then look elsewhere. That said, HRH writes really well and brings the decadent C16th French court to vibrant life.
There's quite a long run-up to the Henri/Diane relationship which re-tells the story of Francois I (who, personally, I find far more fascinating that Henri), but then that's inevitable given the impact of Henri's childhood on his psyche, and the age difference between him and Diane.
I have to admit that I've always found the age difference between Henri and Diane quite disturbing: not because she's old enough to be his mother (although she is, of course) but precisely because she actually plays the role of his mother during parts of his disturbed childhood. If the gender roles were reversed and a man who had been a pseudo-father to a girl child then went on to become her lover, would the story still be quite so innocently `romantic'?
In any case, romantic is definitely the key-word for HRH's take on Diane: she's dignified, clever, quiet, suitably loves her old husband in an appropriate manner but never falls `in love' till she does with the adult Henri. And even then, according to HRH's version, she never interferes with his political life and is never interested in power for herself... hmm, not quite the version of Diane de Poitiers' political influence that I've had from other sources.
That said, this is a really good read, and worth switching off your more critical faculties for and treating as a novel in the Philippa Gregory school. So overall a really good read but really rather dubious history.
This is a really good read but of the fun, light, almost novelistic kind, always engaging but undoubtedly `popular' history, so if you're looking for something more academic then look elsewhere. That said, HRH writes really well and brings the decadent C16th French court to vibrant life.
There's quite a long run-up to the Henri/Diane relationship which re-tells the story of Francois I (who, personally, I find far more fascinating that Henri), but then that's inevitable given the impact of Henri's childhood on his psyche, and the age difference between him and Diane.
I have to admit that I've always found the age difference between Henri and Diane quite disturbing: not because she's old enough to be his mother (although she is, of course) but precisely because she actually plays the role of his mother during parts of his disturbed childhood. If the gender roles were reversed and a man who had been a pseudo-father to a girl child then went on to become her lover, would the story still be quite so innocently `romantic'?
In any case, romantic is definitely the key-word for HRH's take on Diane: she's dignified, clever, quiet, suitably loves her old husband in an appropriate manner but never falls `in love' till she does with the adult Henri. And even then, according to HRH's version, she never interferes with his political life and is never interested in power for herself... hmm, not quite the version of Diane de Poitiers' political influence that I've had from other sources.
That said, this is a really good read, and worth switching off your more critical faculties for and treating as a novel in the Philippa Gregory school. So overall a really good read but really rather dubious history.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An enthralling, factual, read which makes history a pleasure. The author has produced wonderful research information and moulded it into a book of immense interest, and one that I had difficulty 'putting down'.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Love is a many splendorous thing !
I am currently reading this book and recalling a few historic details long forgotten. And enjoying it very, very much.
Published on 18 Jun 2009 by Pearl
A good read
A good read, the details of the French court and it's life were fascinating. The image portrayed of the outwardly smiling but secretly resentful, brooding, Catherine was graphic. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2005
Very uneven but still a nice read
The flow of this novel was sometimes hard to grasp. I was never quite sure if the focus was meant to be on Diana, Catherine, or Henry. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2005
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > 1501-1700
- Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Europe
- Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > France
- Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > Europe
- Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > France
- Books > History > Europe > Renaissance, Reformation, Thirty Years War 1501-1750
- Books > History > World History
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
