Rips off jane eyre a bit.can't decide if it's a bodice ripper or a mystery. Plot ok ( )

The implications in this work of fiction angered and disgusted me. I'm so disappointed in this author whom I've previously enjoyed reading and whom I assumed had a love and respect for British history. It seems her purpose here was to defame the memory of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and she did so ruthlessly.

Don't get me wrong, everything I've ever heard or read about Queen Victoria does not cast her in a good light. She seemed to be a self-centered, controlling woman and didn't appear to be very sentimental or compassionate toward her children. However, an older English friend of mine says differently and, being how it's her actual history in question, I try to give her the benefit of the doubt.


****Spoilers ahead****


The idea that Victoria being an illegitimate child offers the best reason for her son's hemophilia is a 19th century rumor that has long been dispelled by those who have thought it through logically and scientifically. A quote from Wikipedia states:

"Although an individual's haemophilia can usually be traced in the ancestry, in about 30% of cases there is no family history of the disorder, and the condition is speculated to be the result of spontaneous mutation in an ancestor.[2] Victoria's appears to have been a spontaneous or de novo mutation and she is usually considered the source of the disease in modern cases of haemophilia among her descendants. Queen Victoria's father, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, was not a haemophiliac, and the probability of her mother having had a lover who suffered from haemophilia is minuscule given the low life expectancy of 19th-century haemophiliacs. Her mother, Victoria, Duchess of Kent, was not known to have a family history of the disease, although it is possible that she was a carrier but among her children only Victoria received the mutated copy. The rate of spontaneous mutation is known to increase with paternal age, and Victoria's father was 51 at her birth."

Furthermore, to suggest that Albert was suicidal is preposterous. There's nothing in history to legitimately suggest this, and the author has skewed history in an even more disgusting way by further "revealing" whom was actually (fictionally) to blame for his death. I just couldn't believe it when I read this one implicating line: "I had to put him down like a sick dog."

I'm all for a great historical mystery but to besmirch the names of respected people from history is low. How much greater it would have been to write a story line in which these characters shine brighter than history records. That would have been a story worth reading. ( )

Apparently my favorite mystery writers decided to ke the last year to really delve into high end historical fiction unrelated to their previous series. This is very disappointing to me. It's an interesting enough book, but I couldn't love it and the pacing was held hostage to historical detail. ( )

Historical fiction of Queen Victoria and Hemophilia. Chapters were voiced from the perspective of Queen Victoria and fictional characters Patrick Fitzgerald and Georgia Armistead. I found it very interesting and enjoyable read. I have not yet read any of Ms Barron's other works but will add them to my reading list. If you like historical fiction and mysteries you will most likely enjoy the story that Ms Barron weaves. I picked this book up from the library based on the jacket description of the story. ( )

On the night of Prince Albert's death, Queen Victoria summons the lawyer Patrick Fitzgerald to court. Shortly afterward, the carriage carrying Patrick and his ward, the female doctor Georgiana Armistead, is brutally attacked. They both escape, but who is the attacker? Which one of them is being targeted? And why? They must solve the mystery, if they wish to live.
This is an OK period mystery, but I wasn't wildly in love with it. I liked the character of Georgiana, but felt oddly removed from her - perhaps I would've enjoyed the story more from her perspective?

I haven't read anything else from this author - apparently she is most well known for her Jane Austen fan fiction... uh... tributes?... and I have to admit to not being a huge Austen fan, so I'm not feeling compelled to seek out another of her books. ( )