Wife to Charles II
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Product Description
Product Description
Politics, sex, lies, religion and misunderstanding meant that their marriage was never going to be what she hoped. A wonderful story making you feel for Catherine, but understand Charles. A really good read if you're into Restoration history, and even if you're not.
About the Author
Hilda Lewis was one of the best-known and best-loved of all historical novelists. She was born in London and lived for much of her life in Nottingham. She wrote over 20 novels, most published in hardback by Hutchinson and paperbacked by Arrow. Hilda Lewis died in 1974.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book tells the story of the marriage of Catherine to Charles. Politics, sex, lies, religion and misunderstanding meant that their marriage was never going to be what she hoped. A wonderful story making you feel for Catherine but understand Charles. Really good read if you're into Restoration history, and even if you're not.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book a slow starter which improved when Catherine eventually arrives in England.
Hilda Lewis has really researched her characters well, but I did feel that Catherine was portrayed in a rather self-pitying light and she came over as a bit of a whinger. Fiercely religious, I don't believe she was like that. She was a good woman and possessed wit. After the initial shock of discovering Charles's infidelity, I don't think she would have bore grudges against Charles's mistresses quite as intensely as Hilda Lewis portrays. Afterall a married man taking mistress was commonplace in the Stuart times.
I feel that Charles's mother's character (Henrietta, wife of Charles I) should have been brought more into the story as when Catherine refuses to accept Charles's mistress he feels as if his new bride is going to be a controlling, domineering woman just like his mother. It is this that makes him hostile towards her.
Hilda Lewis writes that Catherine never feels that her husband never really loved her. I think, although always unfaithful to her, he loved her in his own way. Charles II was a very affectionate, loving man, father, son and brother. His vast sexual appetite meant that no one woman would ever satisfy him. His capability to form a rather unusual family that included both mistresses, illegitimate children and his wife around him mirrors the life of his grandfather Henry IV of France.
Charles II always appreciated the loyalty of those he loved, and Catherine in particular he sought to risk Civil War in order to protect her. I have read that it wasn't until the end of their marriage that Catherine felt able to display open affection towards her husband, a man who suffered much and was hungry for affection.
Hilda Lewis has really researched her characters well, but I did feel that Catherine was portrayed in a rather self-pitying light and she came over as a bit of a whinger. Fiercely religious, I don't believe she was like that. She was a good woman and possessed wit. After the initial shock of discovering Charles's infidelity, I don't think she would have bore grudges against Charles's mistresses quite as intensely as Hilda Lewis portrays. Afterall a married man taking mistress was commonplace in the Stuart times.
I feel that Charles's mother's character (Henrietta, wife of Charles I) should have been brought more into the story as when Catherine refuses to accept Charles's mistress he feels as if his new bride is going to be a controlling, domineering woman just like his mother. It is this that makes him hostile towards her.
Hilda Lewis writes that Catherine never feels that her husband never really loved her. I think, although always unfaithful to her, he loved her in his own way. Charles II was a very affectionate, loving man, father, son and brother. His vast sexual appetite meant that no one woman would ever satisfy him. His capability to form a rather unusual family that included both mistresses, illegitimate children and his wife around him mirrors the life of his grandfather Henry IV of France.
Charles II always appreciated the loyalty of those he loved, and Catherine in particular he sought to risk Civil War in order to protect her. I have read that it wasn't until the end of their marriage that Catherine felt able to display open affection towards her husband, a man who suffered much and was hungry for affection.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
A Mixed Bag
29 Mar 2007
Format:Paperback
Wife to Charles II, naturally, is about Catherine of Braganza, and is told in the third person. Most of the events are seen from Catherine's point of view, though occasionally the narrator will report on events at which Catherine wasn't present, such as the goings-on at Parliament, or listen in on a conversation between other characters.
This novel could have stood some judicious cutting, I think, particularly in the first half. Charles II takes a new mistress. Catherine is bothered by it and talks to her ladies about it. Charles II takes another mistress. Catherine is bothered by it and talks to her ladies again. Catherine frets about her inability to carry a child to term and wishes that Charles paid her more attention. After a while, this becomes wearying to the reader as well as to Catherine. Only with the arrival of the Popish Plot does the novel pick up its pace.
Lewis's prose style, though not what I'd call purple, takes a bit of getting used to. It's quite dramatic, and sadly, it's also devoid of humor, which is a liability as far as historically witty characters such as Charles II and Nell Gwyn are concerned. On the plus side, Lewis makes us share Catherine's and Charles's frustration and anger as the so-called Popish Plot holds the nation in thrall. There are some good set pieces here, such as the trial of Stafford and Charles II's deathbed.
The most fully realized character in this novel is Charles II himself, who for all of his faults comes across as being genuinely likable. Catherine herself is done well, her flashes of spirit saving her from the thankless role as put-upon wife. The rest of the characterizations are less than successful, and in some cases border on caricature. The only thing vivid in Lewis's presentation of Titus Oates is his physical description. Other villains in the novel, like Shaftesbury, don't even get that much. With the exception of Nell, who's curiously colorless, Charles II's mistresses are depicted as so hateful and greedy that it's impossible to understand what Charles sees in them, other than good looks. We certainly don't see any of the charm they must have exuded. Monmouth is another character who should have been interesting, but wasn't. We never get a hint of his motivations for acting as he does.
So should you read this novel? I liked it more than I disliked it, but I'd have to say on the whole that it's a mixed bag. I enjoyed the depiction of the relationship between Charles II and Catherine, and I give Lewis points for not glamorizing Charles II's adultery at the expense of making Catherine into a shrew or a cipher. Lewis also depicts the terrors of the Popish Plot period with verve and outrage, and her Charles II is well rounded and sympathetic. I just wish Lewis had found a way to champion Catherine's cause without sacrificing the complexity of her other characters.
Really more of a 3.5 star than a 3-star because of its strengths.
This novel could have stood some judicious cutting, I think, particularly in the first half. Charles II takes a new mistress. Catherine is bothered by it and talks to her ladies about it. Charles II takes another mistress. Catherine is bothered by it and talks to her ladies again. Catherine frets about her inability to carry a child to term and wishes that Charles paid her more attention. After a while, this becomes wearying to the reader as well as to Catherine. Only with the arrival of the Popish Plot does the novel pick up its pace.
Lewis's prose style, though not what I'd call purple, takes a bit of getting used to. It's quite dramatic, and sadly, it's also devoid of humor, which is a liability as far as historically witty characters such as Charles II and Nell Gwyn are concerned. On the plus side, Lewis makes us share Catherine's and Charles's frustration and anger as the so-called Popish Plot holds the nation in thrall. There are some good set pieces here, such as the trial of Stafford and Charles II's deathbed.
The most fully realized character in this novel is Charles II himself, who for all of his faults comes across as being genuinely likable. Catherine herself is done well, her flashes of spirit saving her from the thankless role as put-upon wife. The rest of the characterizations are less than successful, and in some cases border on caricature. The only thing vivid in Lewis's presentation of Titus Oates is his physical description. Other villains in the novel, like Shaftesbury, don't even get that much. With the exception of Nell, who's curiously colorless, Charles II's mistresses are depicted as so hateful and greedy that it's impossible to understand what Charles sees in them, other than good looks. We certainly don't see any of the charm they must have exuded. Monmouth is another character who should have been interesting, but wasn't. We never get a hint of his motivations for acting as he does.
So should you read this novel? I liked it more than I disliked it, but I'd have to say on the whole that it's a mixed bag. I enjoyed the depiction of the relationship between Charles II and Catherine, and I give Lewis points for not glamorizing Charles II's adultery at the expense of making Catherine into a shrew or a cipher. Lewis also depicts the terrors of the Popish Plot period with verve and outrage, and her Charles II is well rounded and sympathetic. I just wish Lewis had found a way to champion Catherine's cause without sacrificing the complexity of her other characters.
Really more of a 3.5 star than a 3-star because of its strengths.
Waste of time
31 Dec 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I enjoyed the way this novel was written. The prose was very elegant and with the times, without being difficult for the modern reader. The subject matter, however, was tedious. Presuming, this novel is accurate in the telling, Catharine of Braganza married Charles the second and led a miserable existence, not unlike Catharine of Aragon, wife to Henry the Eighth. She spends the first 150 pages and then some simply vying for her husband's attentions. He spends all his time in bed with his mistress and then has no attentions left for his wife (we are reminded of this every fifth page) and while his mistress is having his fourth child right under Catherine's nose, she is having a second miscarriage. I was hoping for a more in depth novel about more than gossip and court intrigue and what the mistress has done now and whose bed the King is in. Unfortunately, it all pretty much about a king that cannot keep his knickers on. This book recieved a lot of eye rolling on my part.
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