Eleanor's Army

'The Revolt' by Clara Dupont-Monod (Quercus, 2020)

As long term readers know, I love historical fiction.  I'm also a sucker for a beautiful book, so when Quercus Books tweeted the gorgeous Chris Wormell cover for 'The Revolt' by Clara Dupont-Monod, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy.

'The Revolt' is a story of medieval rule-breaker Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, told largely by her favourite son, Richard, the eventual King Richard the Lionheart.  A woman aware of her status and worth as Duchess of Aquitaine and heir of Poitiers, she expects to rule beside her husband, not be owned by him.  After her disappointing first marriage is annulled, she believes she's found a better match in Henry Plantagenet, later King Henry II of England.  Unfortunately, he has other ideas, and by the time their children are grown, he has taken control of her dominions, subjugating her people and ransacking the land.  Eleanor, her sons and ex-husband King Louis of France band together to revolt against the hated ruler, but can they defeat the warrior king?  And if they fail, what punishment will be devised for this bold and beautiful queen?
Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of history's most interesting and controversial figures.  She's a medieval queen who had power in her own right, and didn't see why she should give it up just because she married, putting her at loggerheads with everyone from the Pope downwards.  Her story is full of power and passion, battles and bravery, intrigue and excitement.  Unfortunately, 'The Revolt' isn't.

For me, this book's fatal flaw is that it tells rather than shows the reader much of the story, so I found it a really dull, difficult read.  There's very little texture, so it lacks depth and is hard to relate to.  The characters, even those narrating, felt two dimensional and all had exactly the same voice.  I'm even puzzled as to why the main narrator is Richard the Lionheart.  Why not Eleanor herself, or another character (fictional or otherwise) actually able to witness and describe events?  All Richard seemed to have to say was how much he admired Eleanor, broken up by reporting events that he hadn't seen.  We don't even get told how he knew this stuff or how he felt about much of it.  To me, 'The Revolt' came across like 187 pages of "Then this happened.  Then this happened.  Then this happened.  I admire my mother!  Then this happened..."

The title is also a bit of a misnomer.  The revolt and its build up only really take up the first part of the book.  This is a real shame as it sounds like they could've provided more than enough material for a full novel if written about with more depth.  Because the tone doesn't change, no tension is created prior to the revolt, and while the latter chapters, covering Richard's crusades, are interesting, they had nothing to do with it, making them feel a bit surplus.

Overall, 'The Revolt' reminded me why authors like Philippa Gregory and Bernard Cornwell are so brilliant.  They manage to combine enough fact so that the reader is informed, and enough fiction so that they are entertained.  Above all, they create characters that are vivid.  You understand how it feels to be these people, at this particular time in history - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the culture, the language.  I can't help but wonder what they would have done with the story of Eleanor and her fractious family.  It's such a shame, because I really wanted to like 'The Revolt', but, in the end, much like its namesake, it failed.

Now, what next...?

'The Revolt' by Clara Dupont-Monod was first published in France in 2018.  The English version, translated by Ruth Diver, was published by Quercus in 2020.  This review is based on a hardback kindly provided free of charge by the publisher.  Sorry...