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The Handfasted Wife by Carol McGrath7/8/2023 But it detracted from the overall enjoyment of the read for me. I’m sure this kind of detail about meals, travel, clothing, and customs would be gobbled up by some. On the other hand, there are places where I was completely bored by tedious detail about the everyday lives of the time period. And that was interesting to me since so much of England’s history is so often pro-Norman. This novel focuses on Edith, the handfasted (married but not by Christian clergy) wife of Harold Godwin who was briefly King of England after the death of Edward the Confessor.Įdith’s relationship with Godwin, their children, and their collective fates are portrayed through a pro-Anglo Saxon, anti-Norman lens. Though William is a peripheral character in this novel, his shadow obviously hangs over the book since it covers the years surrounding the Battle of Hastings in 1066. I picked up this book intentionally because, though I’ve read a lot of historical fiction, I had never read any about William the Conquerer. Interesting period, but WAY too much detail for me.
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