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The SwanDaughter A fascinating portrayal of the intricate lives of incredible women previously overlooked throughout history The Daughters of Hastings Book 2 edition by Carol McGrath Literature Fiction eBooks

Download As PDF : The SwanDaughter A fascinating portrayal of the intricate lives of incredible women previously overlooked throughout history The Daughters of Hastings Book 2 edition by Carol McGrath Literature Fiction eBooks

The SwanDaughter A fascinating portrayal of the intricate lives of incredible women previously overlooked throughout history The Daughters of Hastings Book 2 edition by Carol McGrath Literature Fiction eBooks

The Swan-Daughter follows the life of Gunnhild, daughter of Elditha and King Harold. Following Harold’s defeat by William the Conqueror, his young sons scattered to various foreign courts while the noble ladies (wives, widows, daughters, mothers) took refuge in convents. Gunnhild was brought up in Wilton Abbey. The church is anxious to keep her there, to keep hold of the lands that were once her mother’s and might, conceivably come to her as an inheritance. However, Gunnhild has no calling and dreams of escaping. An opportunity arises from an unlikely corner. Count Alan, a powerful knight from Brittany, an enemy of her father who once courted her very beautiful and wealthy mother, appears with a proposal and a plan. He wants her to elope with him.
McGrath has brought to life a forgotten woman from a distant time and place. Facts from this period may be sparse, particularly facts about women, but the author uses what information is known to weave an emotionally gripping love story and very satisfying tale.


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The SwanDaughter A fascinating portrayal of the intricate lives of incredible women previously overlooked throughout history The Daughters of Hastings Book 2 edition by Carol McGrath Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

My Review
I hated to see this book end and tried to read ever more slowly, which is hard for me. Happily when I reached the end I found the first chapter of The Betrothed Daughter, as well as a very fine collection of facts in the author's notes. This is my very favorite era to read about, for a variety of reasons, and a very favorite author as well.

Normans, and their castles, and their rationale as they tried to excuse their conquest of this land, may begin to explain what a poor husband Alan of Richmond was to Gunnhild daughter of Harold the vanquished King. A thousand years of mercenary soldiers in my personal family history intrigues me, and so of course I cannot wait for the next Carol McGrath book about this family.

Lovers of accurate Medieval history just have to read this book, a novel based on years of research and quite serious educated speculation.Cum Laude, what a great read!
This historical fiction takes place in 1060-1100ish, in England, Denmark, Russia, a period of history in which I am not well acquainted (especially once the series takes us to Russia). The work is well researched, well cited, and when literary license is rendered, which must always be the case when one is giving voice to people long dead, who did not leave "recordings" of their words, the rationale is well explained. Sexuality is more eluded to, than described (they did need to produce heirs). The greatest violence is the description of what is necessary to identify the people killed at the Battle of Hastings, as the leaders were mutilated, as was often the case in that era. There are hangings and beatings, but the author is delicate in describing these; there is nothing graphic beyond knowing they occurred, and sometimes, the intent of The Bastard King William. I enjoyed the characters and can easily picture them, both those who existed historically and those created by the author to fill in needed parts. Well worth reading.
I felt like this book was lacking a lot of things, but despite that it wasn't badly written, and the dialogue was believable. It's the only thing that made me bump it up to 2 stars instead of 1.

One of the things I felt it was lacking was good characterization, I didn't always completely understand the main character's thoughts or emotions. For example, when the main character makes an incredibly bold and rash decision that will massively change her life forever, and doesn't really have any idea whether this will turn out to be a good decision or the worst thing she's ever done, there appears to be no trepidation or second guessing. She blindly accepts what she is told without consideration to the fact that she might be being lied to. She does seem to have some moments of convincing herself this is the right decision, but that's the only inkling we get that she deep down might have an idea that this could go horribly wrong. I could maybe attribute it to youthful naivety, and the thrill of being a woman taking control of her own destiny in 11th century England, but I also felt like I never got a good sense of what she was feeling during it either. We hear her thoughts, but we don't feel her emotions. In the midst of this crazy decision she makes on a whim, the only mention of her feelings are "sublime exhilaration". But was her heart pounding? Was her stomach in knots with both excitement and fear at the same time? Were her hands shaking? Who knows? The author never tells us. She should have been boiling over with some kind of emotions but we barely get any mention of it whatsoever.

The complaint I had about the first book in this series was that I didn't really agree with or understand the main character's decisions. I thought that was primarily because the plot demanded those decisions, and so I thought the second book with a different plot would be different, but I think now my issue with both books is a flaw in the author's characterizations. In this book, I didn't necessarily disagree with the characters decisions, I just didn't understand her thoughts and feelings about those decisions.

The plot was also lacking as well. My other complaint about the first book was that it was anti-climatic and again, I attributed this to the nature of the plot, and hoped the second book would be different but unfortunately, I feel the same way. There's so much that could have been done with Gunnhild's life, for example bringing her face to face with King William, whose army killed her father. But Gunnhild's world was very limited to her home life, which may arguably be an accurate representation of the life of a countess at the time, but it felt like it could have been a story about any noble woman at the time. And not that home life can't be interesting, but other authors have done it better. There was a fabricated event near the end which was an obvious attempt to give it a climax or have something interesting happen with the plot, but it just felt deliberately planted.

On a side note, as a rider myself, I have to point out the scene where Gunnhild is travelling on horseback in her best dress she inherited from her beloved aunt, even though she had the opportunity to change into something more practical. Sorry, but that precious dress would have gotten filthy, even with a outer layer covering it, no one would wear their best clothing to ride a horse if they have another option. I could excuse the first time it happened because they had to rush to escape, but the second time it happened, there was no such excuse. The author made a point of the dress being put safely away while they were on a ship, so the salty sea water wouldn't ruin it, but there is no concern for it with the dirt one gets covered in while riding? This is perhaps nitpicking a bit, and I admit this alone wouldn't be enough for me to dislike a book, as it's not very important, but I still felt the urge to mention it.

Needless to say, I will not be continuing with this series.
The Swan-Daughter follows the life of Gunnhild, daughter of Elditha and King Harold. Following Harold’s defeat by William the Conqueror, his young sons scattered to various foreign courts while the noble ladies (wives, widows, daughters, mothers) took refuge in convents. Gunnhild was brought up in Wilton Abbey. The church is anxious to keep her there, to keep hold of the lands that were once her mother’s and might, conceivably come to her as an inheritance. However, Gunnhild has no calling and dreams of escaping. An opportunity arises from an unlikely corner. Count Alan, a powerful knight from Brittany, an enemy of her father who once courted her very beautiful and wealthy mother, appears with a proposal and a plan. He wants her to elope with him.
McGrath has brought to life a forgotten woman from a distant time and place. Facts from this period may be sparse, particularly facts about women, but the author uses what information is known to weave an emotionally gripping love story and very satisfying tale.