A diplomatic tale that’s rich in history and filled with enticing drama.
A novel celebrates the life of a brilliant European power broker of the early 16th century.
Born in 1480 in Brussels, Margaret, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, is raised to be a queen. But destiny has other plans for the young princess. Betrothed to Charles, the Dauphin of France, when she is 3 years old, she is sent to that country to study its language and culture. Readers meet her in 1491 at the French court, just before the 11-year-old girl is told by Charles, now king, that he has married another. It takes several years but Maximilian, determined to increase the Habsburg influence in Europe and protect his empire from France, forms an alliance with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain via two marriages. Maximilian’s son Philip gets paired with the monarchs’ second daughter, Princess Juana, and Margaret with the royal couple’s only son, Prince Juan. Margaret and Juan’s wedding in April 1497 is followed by a frolicking six-month honeymoon. But tragedy strikes in October of that year, when the young heir to the Spanish throne is stricken by illness and dies. Four years later, Maximilian arranges another marriage for Margaret, this time to Philibert, Duke of Savoy. Unlike most royal marriages, this one is a passionate love match. Plus, with Philibert only minimally interested in the affairs of state, Margaret, “organized, practical, and sure of her position,” begins managing the Duchy “with a council to guide her.” The experience prepares her for her life’s diplomatic work, especially after 1504, when she is once again widowed. Gaston’s prodigious research brings the early 16th century alive, taking readers inside backroom negotiations and family wranglings over wealth and power. Although the novel is burdened with a plethora of royal names and fluctuating titles, carefully scripted dialogue creates a sometimes poignant and at other times feisty narrative. The intricate minutiae of a multitude of marriage contracts—those broken and those honored—are head-spinning, and Gaston’s prose occasionally displays the rectitude of a history textbook. Fortunately, the cadence becomes delightfully lighter during those sections brimming with the trials and triumphs of Margaret’s personal life. She emerges as a charming, savvy, and wily hero, capable of manipulating Europe’s political chessboard.
A diplomatic tale that’s rich in history and filled with enticing drama.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781732589995
Page Count: 412
Publisher: Renaissance Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.
A year in the life of the No. 2 boarding school in America—up from No. 19 last year!
Rumors of Hilderbrand’s retirement were greatly exaggerated, it turns out, since not only has she not gone out to pasture, she’s started over in high school, with her daughter Shelby Cunningham as co-author. As their delicious new book opens, it’s Move-In Day at Tiffin Academy, and Head of School Audre Robinson is warmly welcoming the returning and new students to the New England campus, the latter group including a rare midstream addition to the junior class. Brainiac Charley Hicks is transferring from public school in Maryland to a spot that opened up when one of the school’s most beloved students died by suicide the preceding year. She will be joining a large, diverse cast of adult and teenage characters—queen bees, jealous second-stringers, boozehounds young and old, secret lesbians, people chasing the wrong people chasing other wrong people—all of them royally screwed when an app called Zip Zap appears and starts blasting everyone’s secrets all over campus. How the heck…? Meanwhile, it seems so unlikely that Tiffin has jumped up to the No. 2 spot in the boarding-school rankings that a high-profile magazine launches an investigation, and even the head is worried that there may have been payola involved. The school has a reputation for being more social than academic, and this quality gets an exciting new exclamation point when the resident millionaire bad boy opens a high-style secret speakeasy for select juniors in a forgotten basement. It’s called Priorities. Exactly. One problem: Cinnamon Peters’ mysterious suicide hangs over the book in an odd way, especially since the note she left for her closest male friend is not to be opened for another year—and isn’t. This is surely a setup for a sequel, but it’s a bit frustrating here, and bobs sort of shallowly along amid the general high spirits.
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9780316567855
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Vintage Follett. His fans will be pleased.
A dramatic, complex imagining of the origins of Stonehenge.
In about 2500 B.C.E. on the Great Plain, Seft and his family collect flints in a mine. He dislikes the work, and the motherless lad hates the abuse he gets from his father and brothers. He leaves them and arrives at a wooden monument where sacred events such as the Midsummer Rite take place. There are also circles of stones that help predict equinoxes, solstices, even eclipses. This is a world where the customary greeting is “May the Sun God smile on you,” and everyone is a year older on Midsummer Day. Except for a priestess or two, no one can count beyond fingers and toes—to indicate 30, they show both hands, point to both feet, then show both hands again. Casual sex is common, and sex between women is less common but not taboo. Joia, a young woman who becomes a priestess, wonders about her sexuality. After a fire destroys the Monument, she leads a bold effort to rebuild it in stone. To please the gods, they must haul 10 giant stones from distant Stony Valley. Of course neither machinery nor roads exist, so the difficulties are extraordinary. Although the project has its detractors, hundreds of able-bodied people are willing to help. Craftspeople known as cleverhands construct a sled and a road, and they make the rope to wrap around the stones. Many, many others pull. And pull. Meanwhile, the three principal groups—farmers, woodlanders, and herders—all have their separate interests. There is talk of war, which Joia has never seen in her lifetime. Soon it seems inevitable that the powerful farmers will not only start one but win it, unless heroes like Seft and Joia can come up with a creative plan. But there is also the matter of love for Joia in this well-plotted and well-told yarn. The story has a lot of characters from multiple tribes, and they can be hard to keep track of. A page in the front of the book listing who’s who would be helpful.
Vintage Follett. His fans will be pleased.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781538772775
Page Count: 704
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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