Review & Giveaway: Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham

Once again, excellent historical novelist Susan Higginbotham brings the fourteenth century to life, this time with the story of Bess de Montacute and Hugh le Despenser. She told the story of Hugh's parents in her previous book, The Traitor's Wife (which I reviewed in April, click the title or here to read my review) and she seamlessly picks up the threads for this part of the tale.

Thirteen year old Bess de Montacute is very unhappy to learn that her parents have chosen a husband for her. Her misery is complete when she learns that her intended husband is none other than Hugh le Despenser, whose father and grandfather were both executed as traitors. On top of that, he is twenty years older than she is. She detests him before they ever even meet.

For his part, Hugh has had a hard time of it. He was a prisoner for years after his father was killed and has done his best to show the King that he is loyal and worthy. His saving grace has been Emma, his childhood friend and lover for many years. She hasn't got the birth or wealth he needs to help him regain his family's lost place and so she refuses to marry him herself. With an aching heart, Hugh and Emma agree to sever their romantic relationship but remain close friends.

Though their marriage is frosty at first, Bess and Hugh gradually warm to each other and their growing relationship has a lovely tenderness to it. The many obstacles they encounter serve to draw them close together until neither can imagine why they had the feelings they both did at first.

This book is quite different from The Traitor's Wife , it is both shorter and less complicated. There are fewer outside characters and the tangles of court life are largely avoided. The stars of this story really are Hugh and Bess and their relationship, so the title is completely appropriate. The reader gets a rich, focused tale of complex emotional weight that is has a totally different feel than her first book did but is just as satisfying. I love Susan Higginbotham's books and am so looking forward to her next one!

Please visit the author's website for more information on her books and her fantastic blog for all kinds of cool historical stuff (it is one of my favorite blogs, always something interesting there!).

Hugh and Bess is published by Sourcebooks. ISBN 978-1-4022-1527-8

This review is part of a blog tour. Here is a list of the rest of the participating blogs:

Musings of a Bibliophile (7/28)
Passages to the Past (8/1)
My Friend Amy (8/1)
Reading Adventures (8/2)
Jennifer's Random Musings (8/2)
Peeking Between the Pages (8/3)
Historical Novels.info (8/3)
Grace's Book Blog (8/4)
The Written World (8/5)
Mrs. Magoo Reads (8/5)
Historical Fiction (8/6)
Jenn's Bookshelf (8/6)
Beatrice (8/8)
Book Addiction (8/9)
Steven Till (8/10)
Medieval Bookworm (8/11)
Carla Nayland (8/11)
The Literate Housewife Review (8/12)
Diary of an Eccentric (8/13)
Bookfoolery and Babble (8/14)

I have an extra paperback ARC copy to give away! To enter, just leave me a comment here. This contest is open WORLDWIDE! The winner will be drawn at random, enter thru midnight eastern on August 22. Below are some ways for you to earn extra entries. Please leave ONE comment for each thing you choose to do. You can combine your comments together if you like but please do not leave multiple comments for the same extra thing (for example, one comment if you fave at Technorati or subscribe via Feedburner, not three).

+1 become a follower (current followers automatically included)

+1 tweet giveaway on twitter or blog about it

+3 fave this blog at Technorati (click on the little green box on the left sidebar)

+3 subscribe via Feedburner

Good luck everyone and many thanks to Sourcebooks for sending this to me for review!

Review & Blog Tour: The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham

Eleanor de Clare was a privileged young woman. Born into a titled family and the grand-daughter of Edward I, she was married at an early age to a young man with whom she fell madly in love, Hugh le Despenser.

In The Traitor's Wife, Susan Higginbotham tells the complex tale of the reign of King Edward II, through the eyes of Eleanor, his niece. Edward II has a very close, rumored to be intimate, relationship with a young knight, Piers Gaveston. Once Edward takes the throne, Pier's rise in wealth and power creates great hatred and jealousy among the other lords of the realm and Edward's Queen, Isabella. Before long they retaliate against the king, insisting on Gaveston's exile and eventually his death.

During these years, Eleanor and Hugh have managed to live a remarkably happy and fruitful life. They have several children and are satisfied with their lives, or so Eleanor believes. All that begins to change when King Edward falls in love with Hugh. Though he has never before been interested in another man, here Hugh sees his path to the pinnacle of power and he leaps at it.

For years Edward and Hugh are able to hide their physical relationship from the world in general and Eleanor in particular, whom they both love deeply. But their lack of ability to deny each other anything leads them down what should be a familiar path. Hugh's ambition and naked greed foster the same loathing and jealousy that was felt for the unfortunate Piers, with the same bloody results. Queen Isabella is a dangerous enemy to have and she plans her revenge with great care.

You would think the power grabbers of history would learn from the many bodies littering the path behind them. But, alas, they all think the same thing...I can do it, for ME it will be different.
(A misconception fostered in the hearts of many, to this very day).

This is an excellent historical novel. Complex and detailed, the author skilfully brings to life the court of Edward II and the personalities that populated it. The whole point of historical fiction is to reveal the humanity behind the dry factual accounts that remain, to help us to understand the motivation and reasoning behind the actions of those long gone. Susan Higginbotham does just that and more in this riveting story of love, avarice and vengeance.

If you love historical fiction, do not miss this one. I highly recommend it!

For more information, please visit the author's website and fantastic blog.

The Traitor's Wife is published by Sourcebooks. ISBN 978-1-4022-1787-6.

Here is the schedule for the blog tour, organized by Paul at Sourcebooks (thank you, Paul, for sending me the book!) Links with no dates have already been posted and the link will take you directly to the review:

A Reader's Respite

Passages to the Past

Reading Extravaganza

Carla Nayland Historical Fiction

S. Krishna's Books

HistoricalNovels.info

Jennifer's Random Musings (April 12)

Medieval Bookworm (April 13)

Steven Till (April 13)

Peeking Between the Pages (April 14)

A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore... (April 14)

Savvy Verse & Wit (April 15 & 16)

Sam's Book Blog (April 16)

Diary of an Eccentric (April 17 & 20)

My Friend Amy (April 17)