"The Crown" by Nancy Bilyeau~Book & Author We've Just Heard the First Of!!

An aristocratic nun, a crown and a mysterious omen...

all this captured in a novel that's heart-stopping!

Published by: Simon and Schuster

Pages:  402

Genre:  Fiction/Christian/Historical

Author's blog: http://www.nancybilyeau.com/ 

Synopsis :

An aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her father—and preserve the Catholic faith from Cromwell’s ruthless terror. The year is 1537. . .
Joanna Stafford, a Dominican nun, learns that her favorite cousin has been condemned by Henry VIII to be burned at the stake. Defying the sacred rule of enclosure, Joanna leaves the priory to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with the king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, is sent to the Tower of London.
The ruthless Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, takes terrifying steps to force Joanna to agree to spy for him: to save her father’s life she must find an ancient relic—a crown so powerful, it may hold the ability to end the Reformation. Accompanied by two monks, Joanna returns home to Dartford Priory and searches in secret for this long-lost piece of history worn by the Saxon King Athelstan in 937 during the historic battle that first united Britain.
But Dartford Priory has become a dangerous place, and when more than one dead body is uncovered, Joanna departs with a sensitive young monk, Brother Edmund, to search elsewhere for the legendary crown. From royal castles with tapestry-filled rooms to Stonehenge to Malmesbury Abbey, the final resting place of King Athelstan, Joanna and Brother Edmund must hurry to find the crown if they want to keep Joanna’s father alive. At Malmesbury, secrets of the crown are revealed that bring to light the fates of the Black Prince, Richard the Lionhearted, and Katherine of Aragon’s first husband, Arthur. The crown’s intensity and strength are beyond the earthly realm and it must not fall into the wrong hands.
With Cromwell’s troops threatening to shutter her priory, bright and bold Joanna must now decide who she can trust with the secret of the crown so that she may save herself, her family, and her sacred way of life. This provocative story melds heart-stopping suspense with historical detail and brings to life the poignant dramas of women and men at a fascinating and critical moment in England’s past.

Meet the Author :

Nancy Bilyeau has worked on the staffs of Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Good Housekeeping. Most recently, she served as deputy editor at InStyle magazine. Her screenplays have placed in several prominent industry competitions. Two scripts reached the semi-finalist round of the Nicholl Fellowships of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Her screenplay "Loving Marys" reached the finalist stage with Page International Screenwriting Awards and Scriptapalooza. A native of the Midwest, she earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan. The Crown is her first novel, and she has finished writing the sequel to The Crown, which is called The Chalice.

Interviewing Nancy :
Hello, Nancy! Welcome to A Bookish Libraria!
I’m so delighted you’ve agreed to allow us to get to know you and your book better. I have several questions:
　1) First, please tell us a special something about what makes you "tick." When you aren’t writing, what are you doing? (Aside from being a dad/mom) That is a big aside, because I have two children. Ha. Well, I love the movies and will see anything. Despite the overpriced popcorn and 10 minutes of commercials, I still enjoy that feeling of anticipation when the lights go down. I also like to take long walks in the park, listening to music on my shuffle. I especially thrive on walks in the snow; for some reason I get a lot of ideas then. But this winter has been so mild, I hope that doesn’t mean I never got good ideas! And I adore going to art museums and photo exhibits. I just saw a wonderful exhibition at the International Center of Photography—it was of the work of New York City 1940s crime-scene photographer Weegee. I liked it so much I bought a T-shirt in the giftstore with his photo and the words "Murder is My Business." I tried to wear it on our recent vacation in Florida, but my children wouldn’t allow it.
2) You chose a specific genre, a place and time to write about, what made you choose it? I’ve always been fascinated with Tudor England, so when I decided to write a novel, I had to choose that time. I also love thrillers, so I came up with the idea of a historical thriller set in the late 1530s.
3) Bronte or Austen? Hemingway or Hawthorne? Why? OK, I have to stop everything and say that Bronte versus Austen is the toughest question anyone has asked me! How can I possibly choose? Since you’ve given me no option, I will say Austen by a hair. I get a bit more enjoyment from re-reading her novels, though arguably the Bronte sisters have influenced me more. As for the second, that is easier. I am a huge Hemingway fan. I just re-read "A Farewell to Arms," his descriptive passages are masterful. He is very very good with first-person narrative.
4) In your opinion, what makes a book a great one? If it transports you into the mind and emotions of characters and creates a feeling that you’ve walked through the rooms or wandered the fields of the story, then it is great. You should still be thinking of the themes and surprises of the novel weeks, even months, later.
5) Which author(s) most influenced your love of books from childhood? That would have to be Norah Lofts and Daphne du Maurier.
6) Read any good books in the past 6 months? I just finished Robert K Massie’s Catherine the Great biography and it’s fantastic. I enjoyed Anne Barnhill’s "At the Mercy of the Queen: A Novel of Anne Boleyn." I’m halfway through The Sister Queens, by Sophie Perinot, which is a riveting historical novel of sisters who sat on the thrones of England and France in the 13^{th century.}
7) Choose 4 guests from any era for dinner. Who would they be and what would you choose for a topic of conversation? I’d choose Queen Zenobia, Bouddica, Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great. Topic: Can a woman rule as well as a man?
8) Which of your characters is most like you? Gosh, I guess it would have to be Sister Joanna Stafford, my protagonist. She has my strengths—I love learning and I can think on my feet when I have to—and my weaknesses. I have been known to speak too quickly, and I have NO sense of direction.
9) If you could cast your book for a movie, who would you choose? I just can’t pick an actress for Sister Joanna, I’ve tried to imagine one. Impossible. But I would like Ralph Fiennes for my antagonist, Bishop Stephen Gardiner.
10) Worst habit you have?Getting up too early in the morning. I’ve got so much on my mind lately, I can’t sleep past 5 a.m. but then there’s often a terrible crash in the afternoon.
11) How much research did you do before and during writing? I had a home library of books on the 16th century before I started writing because of my obsession with the Tudors. But I needed five years to research the people and practices in The Crown, as well as write it. I also corresponded with curators and historians in England.
12) Tell us a secret about your book we wouldn’t otherwise know, please!I used the last name of my first college boyfriend for one of the friars in the book. Which is a little messed up.LOL  That's the best use I can think of for that!  So great to meet you and to get this opportunity to know the woman behind your novel, Nancy.  Thanks for joining us on The Bookish Libraria!

*Listen!!  To read an excerpt of "The Crown"~go to http://www.nancybilyeau.com/   Nancy also has a video trailer there that's amazing, and more information on her book    :]

The Dame's Review: 
It was apparent immediately that I had the makings of a time-drifting adventure ahead of me when I opened the pages of "The Crown."  Do you know what I mean when I talk about a writer's voice?  Well, Nancy Bilyeau's voice rings out in storytelling definition from her first sentences, just listen:

" When a burning is announced, the taverns off Smithfield order extra barrels of ale, but when the person to be executed is a woman and one of noble birth, the ale comes by the cartload.  I would ride in one of those carts on Friday of Whitsun week, the twenty-eighth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, to offer prayers for the soul of the condemned traitor, Lady Margaret Bulmer."


I could hear the lisp of the narrator's English accent, the conspiratorial tone of her voice as she revealed the secret story's beginning, and I settled down in my chair for the reading.  I'm mad for a book and an author who can not only write an interesting historically referenced book, but one that can transport me in time and give me characters to love and cheer for along the way.  This is the strength and beauty of "The Crown" and Nancy Bilyeau.


This book has some of the elements that originally brought me to reading historical fiction in the first place.  It has the secretive qualities of a Daphne du Maurier novel (and I know the poor woman's name has been tossed about too much lately, so I don't use that reference lightly), and it has substance.


I think "The Crown" will be noted on all the best lists this year. It will appeal to many on several levels.  And, I personally can't wait to get my hands on the sequel, "The Chalice."  I also have a feeling this won't be the last we hear of Nancy Bilyeau by a longshot.  I predict she will become one of the major historical fiction writers of this decade.


Highly recommended with a 5 star review.


Please see the Historical Fiction Virtual Tour website for  more reviews and insights into this book: http://hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/

Thanks for spending time with Deborah/TheBookishDame

"At the Mercy of the Queen" by Anne Clinard Barnhill~Historical Fiction Epitomized!

Published by:  St. Martin's Press

Pages:  432

Also: Reading Group Information~About the Author, Behind the Novel

and Keep On Reading

Review: In cooperation with:  Historical Fiction Virtual

Book Tours

About the Book :

"At the Mercy of the Queen" is a sweeping tale of sexual seduction and intrigue at the court of Henry VIII, a rich and dramatic debut historical about Madge Shelton, cousin and lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn.

At the innocent age of fifteen, Lady Margaret Shelton arrives at the court of Henry VIII and quickly becomes the confidante of her cousin, Queen Anne Boleyn. But she soon finds herself drawn into the perilous web of Anne’s ambition.

Desperate to hold onto the king’s waning affection, Anne schemes to have him take her guileless young cousin as mistress, ensuring her husband’s new paramour will owe her loyalty to the queen. But Margaret has fallen deeply in love with a handsome young courtier. She is faced with a terrible dilemma: give herself to the king and betray the love of her life or refuse to become his mistress and jeopardize the life of the her cousin, Queen Anne.

Meet the Author:

Anne Cli­nard Barn­hill has been writ­ing or dream­ing of writ­ing for most of her life. For the past twenty years, she has pub­lished arti­cles, book and the­ater reviews, poetry, and short sto­ries. Her first book, AT HOME IN THE LAND OF OZ, recalls what it was like grow­ing up with an autis­tic sis­ter. Her work has won var­i­ous awards and grants. Barn­hill holds an M.F.A. in Cre­ative Writ­ing from the Uni­ver­sity of North Car­olina at Wilm­ing­ton. Besides writ­ing, Barn­hill also enjoys teach­ing, con­duct­ing writ­ing work­shops, and facil­i­tat­ing sem­i­nars to enhance cre­ativ­ity. She loves spend­ing time with her three grown sons and their fam­i­lies. For fun, she and her hus­band of thirty years, Frank, take long walks and play bridge. In rare moments, they dance.

For more information, please visit Anne Clinard Barnhill's website @ http://www.anneclinardbarnhill.comwebsite/W

The Dame's Review:

A sparkling account of the Tudor court, accompanied by the love story between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, as well as her cousin and lady-in-waiting, Margaret Shelton, will give you many hours of enjoyment.  This is a familiar story, but it's couched in the intrigue of Margaret or Madge Shelton's coming to the court and finding her life  compromised in vastly unexpected ways.  Ms Barnhill's research is apparent throughout the novel in details that enhance the reading.  I was surprised by some of the finest details I hadn't known, even after having read many a historical novel about the 1500's and the Tudor era.  This is a novel that held my interest and kept me reading, though it absolutely falls within the historical fiction category and not historical romance.

While we get a passing description of each person involved in the story, I believe they could have been filled out more.  I think this may be due to the focus which seemed more on historical interest.  What happened is that I didn't get strongly attached to any one figure, but rather became more involved in the court intrigue and details of the life there than in the characters themselves.  The romance between Madge Shelton and her sweetheart Arthur Brandon was courtly, but never quite reached a point that convinced me of anything passionate, for instance.  And, I didn't feel the desperation of Anne Boleyn as she struggled to keep her king, her child or her head.  

Though it absolutely held a sense of the language and cadence of the times, I found the dialog rote.  However, strangely enough, that was also one of the things I enjoyed most in the reading.  I cannot emphasize too much the translation of historical detail.  So while this might be annoying in a novel meant to engage one in both history and romance, it just worked to create an atmosphere of the times for me.  I found it easy to overlook a diaglog that was matter of fact or predictable in light of the truth it was telling.

I will say this, in closing, I thoroughly enjoyed "At the Mercy of the Queen" as a glimpse into the Tudor court's outwardly sumptuous, but terrifyingly political ways.  It was a walk I loved taking in the historical fiction genre.  I cannot recommend it as a book with emphasis on the romantic or character driven aspects, as I've said.  Although it does include these elements, the best of the book lies in the author's ability to transport us to another time and the reality of the queen's and a lady-in-waiting's lives.

3 1/2 stars

Deborah/The Bookish Dame

For more information and other reviews of "At the Mercy of the Queen" go to:  http://www.hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/

*A copy of this book was given to me for a review of my honest opinion