Portrait of an Unknown Woman
A Novel
by Vanora Bennett
Vanora Bennett has made a fine debut book in Portrait of an Unknown Woman. She sets herself a high bar to
follow up and go over with her next book. It is superbly written, and you totally get caught up in the story of
the Eighth King Henry of England and the Court and all the subterfuge and thinking of the time. This is the time of
the Protestant Reformation and Cromwell and Anne Boleyn and the Plantagenets and the Plague and the Sweating Sickness
and the beatings and killings of the Heretics. It is a time of overwhelming learning and exuberance over good
things happening within the palaces of Europe while the Church is facing extinction and the ordinary people of
Europe are frightened and scared and hiding and starving and dying. It is a time of great wealth and building of
Universities and the learning of cures so the sick of the Courts will live and be well forever, learning about the
solar system and the benefits of having medicine and remedies that are tested and proven. It is a time of great
struggles for people who want to believe in God, but the Church is under such strain to hold its credibility in
England because of a King who needs an heir, a boy child to carry on the Crown.
Meg Giggs is an adopted daughter of Sir Thomas More, who is the one of the most influential of the Courtiers of
Henry VIII. She is learned and wise beyond her years, as all of the children of Sir Thomas have been educated by
Tutors and teachers throughout their lives. Hans Holbein is a noted portrait artist who has proven himself worthy
of a seat at the home of More to do several paintings of the family, on two different occasions, five years apart.
He also did a few separate portraits of Miss Meg with whom he secretly fell in love the first time he painted the
family, before she married John Clement. Meg was brought up to ask questions and learn, and she did those things
well, as well as delving into the healing arts of the time and then learning to question some of the practices,
such as leaching or "blood letting."
In this novel by Ms. Bennett, Meg Giggs falls in love with and marries John Clement who many over the last
five hundred years have secretly considered might be the last remaining Plantagenet - Richard, one of the two sons
of Edward IV that were supposedly killed by Richard III after the takeover of the throne. John Clement was featured
in a book that was written by Sir Thomas More and a painting done by Hans Holbein about ten years prior to the time
period of this story. He and Meg were not allowed to be married until Clement proved himself to his mentor, Sir
Thomas, by getting an appointment at the College of Physicians in London and therefore proving that none of the
Court would put his right to life in jeopardy by revealing his true parentage and right to the throne. After they
marry, she takes to apothecary and doctoring those sick and hurt in London in the section of the town where her
home is located and near Chelsea during the Sweating Sickness. She has an intriguing interlude with Holbein during
that time because she and Clement have grown apart due to the political climate that the family has been thrown
into. This is just before Sir Thomas More is forced to remove himself from the Court of Henry VIII because of his
opposition to Anne Boleyn and the marriage to come. Of course, you know what happened to those who opposed Henry,
such as Anne, they lost their heads... And the family of Sir Thomas More was in serious jeopardy during the period
when Anne Boleyn was making her religious preferences known.
If you love the history of the Courts and especially of England and King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine, this
is a very fascinating book to read and is greatly recommended for the authenticity and honesty in the telling of
this story, the times and the tolls of the Reformation on all who had a part in the upheaval of the Catholic Church
and the showing of the Portrait of an Unknown Woman. It is a long book, but well worth taking the time to
sit down and become glued to it, the way I did. I have the Kings Henry I and III and the Plantagenets I, II and
III in my family tree so this book had some revelations to me and also proved several things in my genealogical
tree. Very interesting things... and it has spurred me to study more about my tree of history with the Royals of
England. Parts of the story around Meg’s husband John Clement may be fiction, but it may also be the real truth of
the Plantagenet end, or is it the end, for Meg bore a son of John Clement. Oh, the possibilities. |
The Book |
William Morrow/Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers |
April 3, 2007 |
Hardcover |
0061251836 / 978-0061251832 |
Historical fiction 1527 reign of Henry VIII and the Tudors |
More at Amazon.com |
Excerpt |
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The Reviewer |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf |
Reviewed 2007 |
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