September 15, 2007

Portrait of an Unknown Woman - Vanora Bennett

This doesn't qualify for the Unread Authors challenge, as it is her first book. And what a first novel it is! It is rich in historical detail, with characters that seem to come alive. I found her style to be very natural, although the frequent changes in point of view were distracting at first. It's always risky to use actual historical figures in a book, but Ms. Bennett makes Thomas More and Hans Holbein come to life, and weaves in a delightful conspiracy theory about the two princes as well. I do hope she writes more, and not necessarily historical fiction. She has a gift for natural dialogue and realistic characters that would be wonderful in any type of fiction.

No comments: