Eleanor by Douglas Boyd, 0750932902, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Very good

What makes this book on Eleanor so good is rather than be defeated by the fact that we don't know what Eleanor looked like the author, who lives in the region, did a bit of detective work and found some stone heads and statues that could well be Eleanor and goes into detail about it at the end chapter.
I have taken away a star as he refers to her as the April Queen and says he wants to describe the world, (sights and smells), around Eleanor, but only does it in the first half of the book and not the second which I found disapointing.

Queen of Hearts

For someone seeking a readable guide to the period and its dramatis personae I thoroughly recommend this book.

Not being an expert I cannot comment authoritatively on its accuracy but it appears well researched - it's certainly well written.

What's more, the author has the courage to suggest adventurous meta-strategies where he feels these are needed to explain enduring mysteries of the period.

My one criticism is that Eleanor consistently emerges as the virtuous Marian heroine, while her sons and husbands are the permanent bounders and cads of the piece. For all I know this may be true, but I wonder if, just possibly, in seeking to redress the various calumnies Eleanor has suffered over the last 800 years the author has gone a little too far the other way.

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