Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here
Rosamund Clifford, one of the most famous royal mistresses of all time—concubine to Henry II, the first Plantagenet King.
A young maiden ruled by a grasping father who will stop at nothing to promote his own cause with the King...even using his daughter's beautiful face and enticing body to gain high favour.
A fearful girl taken by a mysterious messenger from Godstow nunnery to a Tower surrounded by a grotesque topiary labyrinth, where she must wait for the arrival of the master of the maze—not the Minotaur of ancient Greek myth but the bull-like Plantagenet King Henry.
Drawn like a moth to a flame, Rosamund soon grows to love the charismatic King…but when her love is reciprocated, she makes a terrible enemy, Henry’s estranged wife, the powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine.
When Henry locks Queen Eleanor in Sarum castle and speaks of annulment, Rosamund thinks she has no more to fear from her rival.
But a spurned Queen is a dangerous foe…
Novel 57,000 words
Rose of the World: Rosamund Clifford-Mistress of King Henry II
J.P. Reedman ñ 1 DOWNLOAD
Enjoyable
A quick, easy and most entertaining read. I have enjoyed both books I have read by this author and would read others. Story flows smoothly with good balance between narrative and dialogue. English 05/04/2021 English Short historical work
I was wAiting for the novel to open up with story of Henry’s reign with Rosemunds Famiy . Rosamunds father worked with Henry and no mention English A light read. It was interesting but not terribly memorable. Nonetheless I am glad to have read it. English My copy has 157, NOT 118 pages and the cover is NOT the one shown. It was a pretty good tale, I enjoyed it. I wanted to add the current Amazon cover but the process is SUCH A PAIN IN THE ASS that I just gave up. English
I loved this book!
Let me start off by admitting I may be biased, as Rosamund Clifford is a distant relative of mine--24th great-aunt, to be exact. So are many of the other characters.
That being said, the author did an excellent job of weaving an hypnotic narrative that drew me fully into the story. Her prose is evocative and descriptive without being overly flowery, and transported me to the time and the places told in this tragic tale. Short and easy to read despite being flavored with archaic language appropriate for the time period, it allowed me to escape the modern world for a period of time to the England my ancestors inhabited in a most enjoyable way! English Great read! The author might have put too much of an emphasis of the legend of Rosamund's life, but that might be because she probably doesn't have much to work with. I like how she portrays Henry II- pretty fair and balanced in my opinion. English Very good read!
Whether or not the story is factual, I don't care. The story is good. The early Plantagenets are my most favorite of all British royals. Henry II and Eleanor had a very turbulent marriage; sometimes I wonder if that was why Henry played the field so much.
This is not the first book I have read by this author, and I anxiously wait for the next.
English This is a short (118 pages) book that retells the story of the most famous of King Henry II's mistresses. So, if you know little about her - this might be a good way to learn a bit more. However, it's a largely superficial look at their story, with little emotion or exploration of their thoughts and motivations.
For example, it was never clear to me why Henry might have fallen for Rosamund initially, aside from her famous beauty. Or why he set her up in her own household. Or why he found her captivating enough to maintain a multi-year relationship. Or even why Rosamund would fall in love with Henry. He comes across as brutish and bullying.
Their story, in this version, seems shallow, focused largely around their enjoyment of sex. Which is why I consider this more a sequential narration of their story, rather than a fully fleshed out historical novel that explores their inner thoughts and tries to make them multi-dimensional people. So just don't expect to learn more about or understand this couple any better from reading this book than you would by reading Rosamund's Wikipedia page. English Most people who have at least a little historical knowledge know about the king's mistress hiding at the other end of the maze to avoid the queen's wrath, but very few, I expect, know enough. Imagine Anne Boleyn, but a couple hundred years before, when mistresses were the king's stock in trade, and England controlled more of France than France did, and the English King was married to the French King's ex, with several sons, two of which would be the most famous of our history (the crusader king and the evil king...), and we can see why Henry II hid his favourite mistress from the queen who could remove virtually a quarter of France from him.
In this book, the story is told through the eyes of Rosamund Clifford (said mistress), and we see nothing of the court or the machinations of Eleanor and her sons (the devil's brood, they were known as), whose rebellion led to a 20 year sourjourn in a tower for Eleanor and a long wait for the crown for her sons (one of which, Henry, was crowned within his father's lifetime, yet never became king, dying before his sire). What would have been nice would have been to see a little of these happenings instead of a second-hand accounting, maybe a second point of view instead of a first person narrative, so this could be achieved. I remember my Creative writing classes at uni and how we were told how to 'show, not tell' and this is something I think this author might take note of for further reference.
Aside from this, the story of Rosamund, which I guess the author didn't want to detract from, hence the tell not show, is relatively interesting, but very little actually happens aside from waiting and then seeing and more waiting - seems there should at least be a poisoning plot to break up the boredom of her life, poor lady! A more exciting escapade and a little life blown into the character to bring her to life would have made this a more 4* book, but it's an interesting and informative view of a woman we know little about aside from the maze and the tower... English