Non-fiction style hampers fascinating historic novel

Captive Queen

A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine

By Alison Weir

Ballatine Books, 400 pages, $30

ALMOST every historian has dreamt about going back in time to find out "the real story" behind the dusty records.

The successful medieval historian Alison Weir is no different. Two of her more recent books have been novels, fictionalized accounts of the lives of Queen Elizabeth I and Lady Jane Gray, claimant to the throne of England.

Now, in Captive Queen, Weir has fictionalized the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, a queen of two countries and the matriarch of a royal dynasty that ruled England for decades.

The story itself is fascinating -- a tale of queens and kings, political intrigue and a warring family, tied around a passionate central character linked to them all.

Sadly, though, Weir fails to escape the style and tone of non-fiction, making Captive Queen a merely readable story rather than a page-turner.

The novel focuses on Eleanor's account of her marriage to Henry of Anjou, later King Henry II of England. Weir picks up Eleanor's tale at 29, when she'd already been married to Louis VII of France for close to 15 years and had borne him two daughters. Eleanor is portrayed as a smart and sensuous woman, ruled more by her heart than her head.

When she meets Henry, the 18-year-old Duke of Anjou, she is instantly smitten. It is here that things move quickly, as Weir races from their first meeting to bed. The annulment of Eleanor's marriage to Louis is only briefly touched upon before Eleanor and Henry marry.

The dialogue is rather stiff and formal, and Weir seems more comfortable with historical details and descriptions than with the emotions of her characters.

Even for fiction, some of those emotions are framed unrealistically, such as when Eleanor and Henry marry.

"Eleanor was fully aware, as Henry took her hand and raised her to her feet, that this was an important moment in history, and that she was a participant in a deed that would have far-reaching consequences for her, for her new husband, for their descendents and for the world at large."

Grandiose thoughts for a new bride, even for one who had been Queen of France and was now Queen of England.

After her marriage to Henry, Eleanor has nine children, two of whom died in childhood, and two who later became kings of England. Henry's ongoing affair with the young Rosamund de Clifford led to their separation, and she returned to Aquitaine to rule as Duchess.

Drama ensues when she supports the desire of her sons to have a larger role in governing the lands their father gave them, and the politics between King Henry, Eleanor and his sons fly fast and furious.

Much of the action happens off-stage -- Henry rides off to fight battles, the outcomes told to the reader and not part of the main action.

Throughout, Weir places a heavy focus on the relationship between the king and queen. The two characters often battle each other, Henry fighting for control and Eleanor fighting to maintain her independence and equality, which doesn't always ring true to the time.

The writing is solid, if a bit stiff, and the story itself is eminently interesting. But Weir's strong non-fiction inclinations make Captive Queen less of a novel and more like a fictionalized history text.

Julie Kentner is a Winnipeg writer.