A Marriage of Lions

De: Elizabeth Chadwick

Narrado por: Helen Stern

England, 1238

Raised at the court of King Henry III as a chamber lady to the queen, young Joanna of Swanscombe's life changes forever when she comes into an inheritance far above all expectations, including her own.

Now a wealthy heiress, Joanna's arranged marriage to the King's charming, tournament-loving half-brother William de Valence immediately stokes the flames of political unrest as more established courtiers object to the privileges bestowed on newcomers.

As Joanna and William strive to build a life together, England descends into a bitter civil war. In mortal danger, William is forced to run for his life, and Joanna is left with only her wit and courage to outfox their enemies and prevent them from destroying her husband, her family, and their fortunes.

"Elizabeth Chadwick has taken the few facts known about Joanna’s life and turned them into a rich, detailed portrait of a woman attempting to survive brutal court politics." —The Times

©2021 Elizabeth Chadwick (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK

Not terrible but…

Not impressed. I much prefer Sharon Penman’s character work.
Honestly, the main character (Joanna) is….annoying and intolerable. At first, when she’s a child, you kind of sympathize. But even then, she’s lecturing her brother. Not sharing information (which she gets from him). This…isn’t how it worked. Family status and defense was the number one priority of the time.
But she rapidly grows into a woman that is /exhausted eyeroll. She’s an 80 year old in a 16 year old body.

She nags and preaches to everyone, except those socially above her.
Oh, she even blames her husband for what his BROTHERS do.

Frankly, I’m 17 chapters in and not sure I want to continue, if this whole book is just Miss Goody 2 shoes lecturing everyone. Who the author obviously thinks is the epitome of perfection.
I mean geez Eliza has more personality than the main character.
Joanna has no actual humour, but is constantly serious, morose and patronizing, snapping and lecturing eeeeeveryone. Constantly.
It’s intolerable.
Literally the person you’d ever want to be around.
Like the mom that takes her 3 year old to a birthday party then won’t let him eat cake because “sugar is a poison” and lectures not only the kid but everyone else.
Someone who can never hear an offhand comment or a joke without making up a homily about something.
She’s also constantly “biting her lip” to convey emotion.

The author also has a weird worship of Isabella, former queen of England. It’s like she didn’t even bother to read the history. Isabella was a piece of work. She was wildly extravagant, arrogant, and spent insane amounts, even by medieval royal standards.
She betrayed her own son TWICE. She flounced out on the French King and pushed her husband to start a war on her behalf, because SHE felt the Queen snubbed her at a gathering.
She didn’t go into a nunnery because she was devout, or wise and saintly (as she is represented). She went because she spent all her money on wars and was running away from her creditors, and hiding from them and the French. Nobody wanted her around. Hearing her described as some kind of victimized, matronly saint made me laugh out loud.
Chadwick also ignores the history of Henry III, and de Montfort, ESPECIALLY the issues with Gascony.

“Blood is thicker than water” does NOT mean family is more important than non family. The saying ACTUALLY is “the blood of the battlefield is thicker than the water of the womb”. In other words, found family is more important than blood relations. They would know that.

Oh, and don’t take a shot every time the author uses the word “shrewd”. You’d die.

And I could really do without an update EVERY single time they have sex. 🙄

Aaaaaaaah. I just found out the author gets her ‘research’ from the psychic ‘Akashic records’. No I’m not kidding. Well….that makes sense then. No wonder the people and events were so poorly handled. She literally believes spirits are telling her facts, and she needn’t bother with actual research.

I can safely say I’m unlikely to read any more of her books unless forced.

Worst Narration

I honestly can’t review past chapter 4 - the narrator had no ability to manage voice-variations and squealed horribly in high pitch utterances for the king when thundering-anger inflections were required. Badly done.