THE WINTER CROWN, by Elizabeth Chadwick

Historical Fiction -- 3 1/2 stars



Eleanor of Aquitaine Trilogy - Book 2
Eleanor is now Queen of England. For much of the book, she is busy bearing sons to inherit the crown and daughters to be bargained for political alliances while struggling with Henry's infidelity and being unhappy to find herself locked out of Henry's fight for superiority over Thomas Becket.  The story of Eleanor of Aquitaine has always fascinated me.  Painstakingly researched, this book follows Eleanor from the first heady days of being Queen to her eventual exile to Sarum.  While enjoyable and interesting, much of the book reads like a genealogy with palace intrigue, relationships and religious upheaval only as background.  The focus on Eleanor's increasing isolation is interesting and sympathetically portrayed, but somehow there is a feeling of emotional disconnection for much of the book.  Not until two-thirds of the way through, as the children grow up, is there any sign of the vibrant and volatile personalities that made book one of the trilogy, THE SUMMER QUEEN, so readable.