Dawnlands

by Philippa Gregory

Overall: I loved Philippa Gregory’s series about the wives of Henry VIII (The Other Boleyn Girl is the best-known) and her series about the Wars of the Roses (The Cousins’ War series). She’s deservedly one of the top authors of historical fiction about England, and her latest series, Fairmile, takes on the reign of the Stuarts. Dawnlands, the third book, can be read as a stand-alone novel, as its events take place 15 years after those of the second book, and Gregory provides plenty of background information, but it’s best read as a continuation of the series.

Likes: The research is impeccable. I learned about transportation of prisoners: King James II sold people captured during the uprisings of the 1680s to Caribbean plantations for periods of indenture (usually 10 years) as their punishment, which I didn’t know much about prior to reading this book. The book does not shy away from how slavery and the slave economy became interwoven with many different lives and industries in England. Even otherwise sympathetic characters, like Alys and Alinor, make bags of tea for the slave ships, and the book contains a section about the brutality of life on the plantations of Barbados. The reader returns to the court with the character of Livia in attendance on Queen Mary Beatrice; Gregory shines when describing high-level political intrigue and the pressure on royal women to produce an heir. One of the characters, Rowan, is one of the People of the Dawnlands, the Pokanoket of New England; although the advance copy I received did not contain an author’s note, the second book in the series has details about Gregory’s extensive research and her gratitude to the members of the Pokanoket Nation who shared their history and helped shape the Pokanoket characters.

Dislikes: There is a lot going on – it can be hard to keep track of everyone at times. I’m not sure the introduction of two young women from Italy added much to the book. And the question of a character’s parentage combined with the machinations around his betrothal became unnecessarily complex, in my opinion.

FYI: violence, imprisonment, slavery, infertility, difficult pregnancy, infidelity

Thank you to Netgalley & Atria books for my advance copy. All opinions are my own.