THE CONFESSOR'S WIFE by Kelly Evans #RBRT

4 out of 5 stars

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How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: 11th century historical fiction

As more and more historical novels hit the virtual shelves, authors of the genre are digging deeper to find the lesser known characters to write about.  Edith was, as the title suggests, the wife of Edward the Confessor, one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England.  Edward was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, who was famously defeated by William of Normandy in 1066.

I enjoyed this - it's a light sort of historical fiction that flows well, an 'easy read'.  I don't know much about the factual details of this time, but I did have a brief look online and it appears to be well-researched.  Also, the domestic details are presented well, with just enough information—I liked that there was none of the endless descriptive passages straight from the research notes that is present in some histfic; I never felt that I was reading the author's research at all, which is always a plus.

On the slight downside there were times when I felt the dialogue was too modern, with the odd mild Americanism such as 'snuck' instead of 'sneaked', though they weren't bad enough to make me stop reading.  My only other negative was problems with punctuation; either the author or her proofreader, or preferably both, need to learn about run-on sentences/comma splices; there were quite a lot of these, and the odd missing comma.  But, again, this was only mildly irritating.

This isn't a book for the historical fiction purist or buff, but for those who are after an enjoyable, light novel with some well-drawn characters and an interesting look back in time, I'd say it's just the thing.