Queen of Shadows, by Edith Felber

As I’ve said in the past, finding British historical fiction these days that isn’t about the Tudors can be a challenge.  That’s why, when I picked up Queen of Shadows, by Edith Felber, I was looking forward to the telling of the story of King Edward II’s era.

Now, as a British historian, I have the line of succession (inadvertently) memorized from Henry VIII through the first handful of Georges, but ask me about the Edwards and earlier Henrys, and I’m almost at a complete loss.  Consequently, I knew little about Edward II, and what I did know was half-remembered folklore that I didn’t know related to him.  So this read was something of an education for me.

Of course, how much of historical fiction can a reader assume is true?  In Queen of Shadows, Felber portrays Edward as a cavalier homosexual who, while a good father, was more interested in being with his lovers than his wife.  Isabella, his queen is depicted as vulnerable, yet also as having an iron will, and something of a nag.  As Felber acknowledges herself, she’s created dynamic personalities for these historical figures whom she’s turned into her characters.

The plot of Queen of Shadows revolves around Gwenith, a descendent of Welsh nobles.  Edward is the king under whom Wales was joined to England, and it was a bloody experience for the Welsh.  Raised on tales of the king’s barbarity, Gwenith is sent to Court in hopes of destroying the King.  However, assigned to the Queen’s household, Gwenith becomes very close with Isabelle and becomes completely devoted to her; as such, she’s in the unenviable position of setting out to hurt Isabelle’s husband, which would only hurt Isabelle.  However, Gwenith’s goal is caught up in the larger political happenings at Court, and her story merges into being that of an observer of high-politics.

This leads me to the major complaint I had about this book.  The tile, Queen of Shadows, is accompanied by the subtitle “A Novel of Isabella, Wife of King Edward II” on the front of the book.  However, Felber sets up Gwenith to be the main character of her book.  The title of ‘queen of shadows’ still applies to her, as her motives are not all that that seem.  While Felber does pass the narrative voice around her characters, the first 2/3 of the book seem to cast Gwenith as her main character, and the last 1/3 Isabella.  All this is very confusing, and very unsatisfying.  I was expecting a book about Isabella, then became interested in Gwenith’s tale, then had to switch back to Isabella.  

So, final verdict?  Menh.  This book is ho-hum.  I was expecting good things from it, but in the end it just didn’t deliver.  While the characters were interesting and dynamically presented, the plot was interesting, and the writing style readable, I just found this book to be mediocre; I won’t be seeking out more of Felber’s works.  If, however, you’re a devoted fan of historical fiction, then I can see you enjoying this book – and if you do, please feel free to point out what I missed!