casebound
Fiction
1989
376 pages
ISBN 0-88984-095-4
$22.95
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Author
Elizabeth,
Duchess of Somerset
Volume Two
Marianne Brandis
On the fifth of August, 1673, a packet boat from France docked in London
with much shouting and slapping down of cables. Among the disembarking
passengers was a small group of cloaked and hooded women and a little
girl, escorted by three male servants.
The little girl, Elizabeth Percy, is already notable from the moment
of her birth. Heiress and descendant of a famous family of Northern border
lords and politicians, she becomes the focus of machinations among relatives,
strangers, and even Charles II himself. Later she takes part in the
major events of her time such as the Revolution of 1688 and the fierce
fight over who should succeed Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch. Married
three times by the age of fifteen and manipulated by the powerful, Elizabeth
reflects on the sources and uses of power and matures to achieve it
herself, defeating such opponents as Jonathan Swift and Sarah Duchess of
Marlborough and, in the end, becoming Queen Anne's friend and confidante.
But there is another story apart from the public one. The growing up of
this duchess took place not only in the world's eye but also among tenants
and servants -- the women and men who populated the great houses and estates
owned by the Percy family. Elizabeth participates in the life of her people,
interested and involved. In the end she becomes a servant herself: as a
distinguished middle-aged lady, Duchess of Somerset and ruler of her own
large household, she is appointed lady-in-waiting and Mistress of the Robes
to Queen Anne -- attendant, upper-management executive, and politician.
This book is in some ways a new type of biographical novel. As well
as being highly readable, it is serious history and explodes several
conventional assumptions about Restoration society and the reign of
Queen Anne.
`Historical novels seem to be making a comeback, after temporary eclipse.
Elizabeth is a lengthy biographical novel of considerable beauty and power.
Through the life of one powerful woman, it deals with the stirring events of late 17th-century
Britain, including the Revolution of 1688 and the reign of Queen Anne. It is carefully
researched, yet highly readable. Marianne Brandis has, through her sympathetic heroine,
captured much of the period's colour and high drama.
`Brandis introduces Lady Elizabeth at the age of six in 1673. The red-haired girl,
perceived as being "uncommonly quick", is heir to the great Percy estates
on the northern border. The death of her father and the nature of his will lead
to her being married three times by the age of 15.
`As a girl she is manipulated by powerful politicians. As a woman she comes to
reflect on the nature of power and comes, in maturity, to wield it herself as the
friend and confidante of Queen Anne.
`Brandis shows us the private story as well as the public one, by taking us
into the houses and estates of the Percy family. Like Marion Fowler, in her portrait of the
Blenheim Palace of the Marlborough family, Brandis stoops to conquer. She skows us the stuff
of daily life among people of every class and transforms the dust of history into the
texture of human existence and passion. This epic canvass is bound together and
animated by one superb creation: Elizabeth.
`Brandis, author of four earlier novels, was born in the Netherlands and came to
Canada as a teenager after the Second World War. She has retired from teaching
literature and writing at university in Toronto, and is now a full-time writer.'
- Patricia Morley, the Ottawa Citizen
Publisher's Note: Volume One of this two-volume set is currently out-of-print but may well be available from an antiquarian dealer.
Marianne Brandis is the author of the much-loved `Emma' trilogy - The Tinderbox, The Quarter-Pie Window, and The Sign of the Scales - originally published by the Porcupine's Quill, and now available from Tundra Books. The Porcupine's Quill also publishes Brandis's young adult novels Fire Ship and Rebellion.
