Crown in Candlelight

by Rosemary Hawley Jarman

Book Overview

Katherine of Valois, raised amidst the madness and lechery of the French court, wed to a conquering English king, alone and afraid in a world of treachery and violence. Owen Tudor, incredibly handsome... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316457825
• ISBN13: 9780316457828
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 477 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

`Something must always die.'

Katherine of Valois was born in 1401, the youngest daughter of King Charles VI of France (Charles the Mad) and his wife Isabeau. Katherine was married to King Henry V of England, and then to Owen Tudor. From these two unions descended the royal houses of Lancaster (King Henry VI) and Tudor (King Henry VII). The novel opens in France where Katherine has been brought up more by her sister Isabella (the widow of King Richard II) to detest the usurping Lancastrian king (Henry IV) and to dread the prospect of marriage to his son. A shift of scene takes us to Wales, and the home of Owen Glyn Dwr (the last Welshman to be styled Prince of Wales). His godson, Owen Tudor, defies him to join Henry V's invasion of France. After the Battle of Agincourt and as part of the Treaty of Troyes, Katherine is married to Henry V in 1420. This is really the beginning of Katherine's story: her love for Henry until his untimely death (in 1422) is followed by her love for Owen Tudor. The history looms over this story: the annexation of Wales and the invasion of France provide a rich and at times complicated setting for what can be read as essentially romance in an historical setting. Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. I found it took me a few chapters to start to enjoy this novel: while the Valois detail is necessary scene setting, it was far less familiar to me than the history of Owain Glyn Dwr and Henry V. This novel was first published in 1978, and was republished in 2008. If you are interested in this period of history, or in well-written romance in an historical setting, and you enjoy comparatively complicated stories, you may well enjoy this novel. Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Wonderful novel

I really fell in love with Jarman's style, very lyrical; I'd never read anything by her before. It's a fine novel. I was only a little disappointed at times with the character of Owen Tudor, who was a selfish bastard, but that only made the novel more realistic. Putting aside my strictly personal disappointment with aspects of Owen's character, it is the growing love story between Owen & Princess Katherine, and the tender description of her marriage to Henry V, which are wonderfully realized and well-written. Why isn't this novel still in print??

What a terrific read!

I am really surprised that I picked a winner in this book. I got it through a Month of the Book club because I am fascinated by any tidbits of Henry the Fifth. Little did I know how wonderfully written this book is! Too bad it is hard to find a copy of this book because I really think people should shoot this on to the top of the bestsellers list!!For those of you who do like history and historical fiction based on true facts ... I would recommend that you run and get a copy of this book. It's wonderfully written and you will be enrapatured by the author's story.People often has mistaken notions about royalty especially in the middle ages. Jarman points out that not all is cake and jewelry for royals, especially for royal princesses who later become queens. This book is about Katherine, Henry V's bride, who later spawned the Tudor dynasty. This book takes Katherine through her rough and lonely childhood. She is the daughter of a mad king of France and a perverted queen, always caught in the middle of the tug-of-war between her parents. Then it details her marriage to the king of England who comes over to reclaim England's ancient claims on lands in France. Then after the king died and while as queen mother of Henry VI, she finds love again with Owen Tydier, later named as Owen Tudor. What a fanastic read through the cobblestones of historical reading! It just makes me want to read more on English and French royalty. I would definitely hate to be a royal ~~ it's not easy as it sounds. But hey, it's like a glimpse into the past and one can dream, right? I recommend this book highly! I hope that you'll be able to find a copy of this book. It's one that is full of surprises and you can't help yourself reading it all in just a few days. 2-15-02

Search out this book if you can, it's a real winner!

Quite simply, "Crown in Candlelight" is one of the very best historical novels I have ever read. I do not know why it is out of print. In any event, it is well worth searching out."Crown in Candlelight" tells the story of the love between Katherine of France, daughter of the mad king Charles VI and widow of the hero of Agincourt, Henry V; and Owen Tudor, her Welsh servant who was also a poet and musician. These two are not rendered as cardboard "romance novel" cutouts. Katherine grows and evolves from being an abused child and lonely young woman used as a marital pawn, to being a strong, passionate wife and mother; and Owen goes from being a shallow womanizer to devoted husband to Katherine and father to their sons. Owen and Katherine are wonderful, sympathetic characters and you will be rooting for them all the way.Jarman also hews very, very closely to actual historical detail (all the main characters and most of the minor ones actually lived!) and brings the 15th century in all its glamour and squalor to life. With one major and a few very minor exceptions, the events in this book actually happened (as closely as they can be reconstructed). One thing that is played for drama in the book, but did not actually happen - Humphrey Duke of Gloucester did not send Katherine to Bermondsey as punishment for marrying a Welshman; Katherine actually retired to Bermondsey to die of metastatic breast cancer. However, that is really the only falsified event in the book. (Incidentally, for an English or French woman to live with or marry a Welshman in that time period was equivalent to a white woman marrying a black man in the 1950's.)Buy, beg, borrow or steal a copy of this book, sit back and enjoy! I had tears in my eyes at the ending - yes, the lovers led tragic lives but remember, their great-great-granddaughter was Elizabeth I, so they triumphed in the end!

A STUNNING historical romance

I found a copy of this historical novel in my mother's attic. What a find! Rosemary Hawley Jarman's attention to historical detail is amazing. Plus, it's gripping reading -- the (real-life) passionate love affair between a dowager queen and a welsh page/musician. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.