Merivel: A Man of His Time - Rose Tremain - Guest review

Sir Robert Merivel is a deeply-flawed but loveable character, whose early life was chronicled in Tremain’s Booker short-listed novel Restoration. Born to an honest, God-fearing haberdasher, Merivel trains as a medic before becoming a favourite in the court of  King Charles. A life of debauchery and sexual excess is funded by the crown, Merivel’s reward for being a paper-groom to the king’s youngest mistress. But he makes a big mistake, and pays dearly for it; destitute, he is cast out of his beloved home Bidnold and is forced to beg his Quaker friend Pearce for shelter. And there is worse to come…

By the time we meet Merivel at the beginning of this sequel, his fortunes have once again changed. Restored to the King’s favour and to Bidnold, he is cared for by his devoted staff and adored by his beautiful daughter. Happy, but restless, he undertakes a journey to Versailles and the court of Louis, the Sun King.

I have had a copy of Restoration on my shelf for some years and it was only the arrival of a review copy of Merivel that made me lift it down. Although Merivel can be read as a stand-alone novel, it helps to have an understanding of the relationships that have evolved in the earlier novel. Although I’ve read a range of historical novels from Phillipa Gregory to Elizabeth Chadwick, from Georgette Heyer to Anya Seton, I’m not a great connoisseur of the genre. I enjoy some, but very often I find an author’s need to adhere to historical accuracy results in lacklustre storytelling and unimaginative characterisation.

Not so with Tremain. Sir Robert Merivel is a gem. His story is told in first person in a journal that he calls The Wedge. His observations on life are suffused with self-deprecating humour; even at his most debauched and reckless he maintains a comic and painful self-awareness. For all his faults, he is loyal to both his monarch and his staff, cares for his patients with tenderness and insight, and constantly strives to be a better man. It is easy to feel a certain fondness for Merivel, especially having followed his changing fortunes as a young man.

The settings are richly detailed, whether Tremain is describing the excesses of the English and French courts, the poverty of the Whittlesea Asylum or the steamy (in all senses!) laundry owned by the voluptuous Rosie Pierpoint. The language is sufficiently archaic to be credible as a Restoration text without being inaccessible to a modern reader. The supporting cast of characters is diverse and interesting: the lovers, the courtiers, the servants, the craftsmen, the Quakers and their insane patients – each has his or her own story, contributing to a densely textured evocation of the Restoration period.

Highly recommended – but if, like me, you have a copy of Restoration on a dusty shelf, do yourself a favour and read that first. 

Published by Chatto & Windus

Reviewed by Angi Holden - guest reviewer.

Many thanks to Angi for kindly reading and reviewing this novel for The Little Reader Library.

The Ambassador's Daughter - Pam Jenoff

'Nothing is ever quite the same after you've been elsewhere, is it?'

We meet Margot Rosenthal and her father in London, and follow them to Paris in 1919, where her academic Papa Professor Rosenthal is assisting in an advisory capacity as a diplomat with the conference where the world's leaders have come together to try and move forwards after World War I. The bulk of the story is set in Paris and Versailles, and the final part is set back in Berlin, where Margot's Jewish family is from.

It is her days in Paris that will change Margot's life and her view of the world. There she meets Krysia, an enigmatic pianist who Margot is drawn to, feeling lonely and seeking friendship in this unfamiliar city where she is still regarded by many as the enemy. She also meets Captain Georg Richwalder, a handsome young naval officer who served in the war and is now working with the German delegation at the conference. There is an immediate and strong mutual attraction between Margot and Georg, but Margot holds back, feeling guilty that back home, her wounded fiancé Stefan is waiting for her. She is torn between her duty and commitment to him, made in haste pre-war, and the newfound, more passionate emotions she feels for Georg. She spends many hours working with him, assisting with translating some key documents.

Through the changes in Georg, as observed by Margot, Pam Jenoff writes perceptively of how innocent young men were irrevocably changed by their experiences in the war:

'"I was studying at university when the war broke out." His eyes have a faraway look and his voice sounds like mine when I speak of travel. I see him then as a boy, wide-eyed and bright with a future in front of him. He is so broken now, like so many others. I am seized by the urge to take him into my arms. Can he be healed or is he too far gone?'

Georg is only in his mid twenties now, but feels like an older, broken man in some ways. His work at the conference has given him some purpose again, as he searches desperately for some good to have come from the war; 'It has to have meant something, doesn't it?' The story also touches on the restrictions on a woman's life and choices back then. 

Margot is very close to her father, her mother having passed away years before as she understands it. Yet she suspects that her father keeps things from her, as she herself has now begun to keep things from him. Their relationship is subject to much change and damage as the story unfolds. 

'There is no one in the world to whom I feel closer than Papa. Yet despite our deep affection, there are vast areas of darkness, things unsaid, parts of ourselves that we cannot share. Once upon a time the idea of keeping secrets from Papa was unfathomable...Our trust is a thread that, once pulled at, is swiftly unraveling.'

Margot makes for a flawed, passionate, interesting and at times frustrating lead character. The narrative is written in the first-person, so we have only her take on everything, and she is at times very independent, yet at other times quite naïve and uncertain of herself. Her inadvertent mention to new acquaintances introduced to her via Krysia of matters that she ought to have kept to herself leads to her being blackmailed and becoming embroiled in deception involving those she cares about, leading to a heavy sense of guilt and anxiety.

Her relative youth and inexperience is reflected in the way she struggles to commit to one course of action, and a lot of the narrative has her debating internally as to what course she ought to take. When her fiancé Stefan re-enters her life, there is a sense that he is a 'long outstanding bill, now come due', a rushed commitment in her past, made too quickly due to the war, that she now feels obliged to fulfill, not through feelings of love but through duty and guilt. I could sympathise to some extent about her indecision though, and her conflicting feelings; after all, she is only twenty years old. By the end of the story though, she begins at last to find her own strength.

Although I wasn’t sure about aspects of the events towards the end - one in particular felt just too convenient in a way - overall I did really enjoy becoming immersed in this historical tale with its romance and mystery; I was intrigued as to what path Margot would take, and how the different plots that made up the novel would develop and conclude. In particular it was interesting to read something set at this pivotal time in history, and in these history-laden cities, facing up to the aftermath of the Great War. There is a hint that Georg, so unhappy by the conference’s conclusions, is leaning towards certain sympathies in Germany at that time, and bearing in mind Margot’s religion, I wonder if this is taken up again in Kommandant’s Girl, to which this novel is the prequel, and which I will try to read one day.

This is a good tale weaving together a key point in history with romance, mystery, desire and love versus loyalty and duty, with lies and secrets, dangerous encounters, and self-discovery; a young woman finding herself, making friends, learning who she can and cannot trust, and falling in love. It boasts an attractive, atmospheric cover design, too.

Published by Harlequin Mira

Thanks to Sophie at ED PR for kindly sending me a copy of this novel to read and give an honest review.

You can find the author on twitter @PamJenoff and visit her website here.