The Adven­tures of Alianore Aud­ley (1995) by Brian Wain­wright was a fun his­tor­i­cal romp set in 15th Cen­tury Eng­land. It’s obvi­ous that the novel is very well researched and also a page-turner. The author does an excel­lent job of weav­ing fact with fic­tion and mix­ing in bits of bit­ing humor and wit. This book was rec’d by Jayne from Dear Author. I enjoyed it immensely.

Much of the nar­ra­tive is tongue-in-cheek and the plot moves at a swift pace. Our nar­ra­tor is Alianore Aud­ley and she shares many of her adven­tures that include her spy­ing for her cousin, King Edward IV and for the York­ist cause. She also shares her dis­dain for those “Woodvilles” and spares noth­ing in her opin­ion of the War of the Roses that secured that “Tudor Slim­bag”  Henry Tudor to the throne.

The author’s wicked sense of humor included many exchanges like this one where Lady Tegolin comes to the Aud­ley home and takes Alianore as her pupil for her teach­ings because she believes she has a gift.

“One night, as we sat by the fire, she asked what I could see in it.

“Sticks burn­ing. Smoke. Flames. Ash.” I said.

or this one where Alianore is unwill­ing to see her gift, Lady Tegolin gets angry with her:

“If only you could over­come your hand­i­cap! I can see your power. It glows around you. Do you not feel it?

I feel a draught from the door.”

And here’s my favorite scene, where Alianore is at the con­vent, dis­cov­ers a body lying in the grass and sus­pects that there has been foul play made ” by a heavy blow from a blunt instrument.”

“This proves noth­ing,” said the Pri­oress, air­ily. “You are wast­ing time, child, which could be bet­ter devoted to our prayers for this unfor­tu­nate man’s soul.”

“There’s one other small piece of evi­dence, ” I con­tin­ued, stand­ing up again. “You obvi­ously dressed in some degree of haste. No doubt that’s why you’re wear­ing his draw­ers on your head instead of your wimple.”

The Pri­oress ripped off her unsuit­able head­dress and threw it as far away from her as her strength allowed. Do you know, she was not the least bit amused.

This book is avail­able as an ebook in Adobe for­mat (boo!) or as a paper­back novel from Ama​zon​.com. If you’re a fan of his­tor­i­cal fic­tion, this novel is not to be missed.  While read­ing this novel, I was reminded of another favorite author, Diana Nor­man. Both authors have com­plete author­ity of their facts and can cre­ate a cap­ti­vat­ing tale that doesn’t feel like a his­tory les­son. The Adven­tures of Alianore Aud­leywas a very good read and a strong rec­om­mend for his­tor­i­cal buffs. My grade, A.

Tech­no­rati Tags: , ,