The Book of Eleanor

Reader reviewed by Mairi

Eleanor of Aquitaine's father has died, leaving her his sole heir in a world controlled by men. The assumption is that Eleanor's husband will rule Aquitaine, and manipulations begin. No one is prepared for Eleanor's plotting, though, even when she realizes that she will not be able to marry an Aquitainian as was her father's wish.

I cannot really say that I felt one way or the other about this book when I got it out of the library- it certainly looked better than most of the books I saw, but I did not have very high expectations. Oftentimes books featuring historical women as main characters are all the same, telling of unimportant events in minute detail and glossing over what actually matters because "everybody knows that". The Book of Eleanor isn't like that- it describes Eleanor's life with humor and wit, creating a book that is hard to put down.

The humor does tend to be a bit adult at times- think Shakespeare.