Command of the King - Hardcover

Lide, Mary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312063199 ISBN 13: 9780312063191

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1991

Synopsis

Phillipa de Verne innocently travels to Henry's court to petition the king for a blessing and meets a young knight who links her destiny to that of the Tudor family

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Reviews

Philippa de Verne is the spirited heroine of Lide's turbulent new novel set in England during the early part of Henry VIII's rule. After her mother's death, Philippa's heinous stepfather tries to force her to marry Master Simeon, an odious, boorish village lawyer three times her age. Philippa runs away, and on a country road collides with Richard Montecune, a mercenary soldier returning with his troops from battle. He becomes her mentor and lover as she naively makes her way to the king's court to win back her land. When she reluctantly becomes part of the inner circle of the king's vapid sister, Princess Mary Tudor, Phillippa must learn to survive the tenuous, tedious and treacherous world of court politics. The dense but quick-moving plot involves intrigue, espionage, betrayal and many misunderstandings. Lide's ( The Legacy of Tregaran ) eye for detail is impressive, she is a strong storyteller, and her historical research is evident but not obtrusive.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Another genre romance from Lide, this one more tied to the history books than her recent salt and heather-scented Tregaran duo since it concerns events during the early part of Henry VIII's reign. Here, in fact, it's 1512 when Lide raises the curtain on her downy-skinned Devonshire heroine, Philippa de Verne, daughter of a Yorkist traitor and just about to be married off to an elderly solicitor so that her wicked stepfather can steal her land. Coincidence throws her into the arms of one Richard Montacune, a Northumbrian lord returning from the wars in France. He saves her from a rape attempt; she offers up her lips, which he accepts while refusing to help her run away. Abscond she does, nonetheless, to Henry's court, where she plans to plead for the king's help. Instead, she lands in the middle of a Yorkist riot--where guess who shows up to rescue her again? (``Why, Lord Montacune, such a coincidence....'') Next, she winds up in the entourage of the king's sister, Princess Mary, a self-indulgent chit bent on resisting marriage to Emperor Charles. The princess has Philippa make her case before the king, resulting in another rape attempt, this one royal. Philippa's liaison with Mary continues to cause trouble in France when the princess marries Louis, elopes with an English duke after the French king's death, and finally betrays Philippa while trying to escape Henry's wrath. But all's well that ends well, since Montacune appears to fight for and win his lady fair at the lists. Surprisingly labored, characterless, and coincidence-plagued. In earlier books Lide's won the day out of sheer romantic panache. Not this time. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

When Phillipa de Verne, running away from her stepfather's forced betrothal, stumbles barefoot in front of Richard Montacune and his party of soldiers returning from the French wars along a Devon country road, she inadvertently is plunged into the intrigue and shifting alliances so rife at the court of Henry VIII. Through a series of incredible coincidences, this daughter of York becomes companion to Henry's sister Mary and abettor of her clandestine marriage to the Duke of Suffolk. One wishes for more background to the politics and events that shape the novel and more development of a hero and heroine who, though charming, lack depth. The author takes an unconventional view of the Princess Mary and some liberties with events. Only for avid fans of the Tudor period or historical novels.
- Cynthia Johnson Whealler, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312063199
• ISBN 13: 9780312063191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 287