This is probably one of the best historical fiction novels I have read in awhile. I loved it! The author gives the reader an inside view of what may have been going on inside Juana "la loca's" head. I had always heard that she was crazy, that she dragged her dead husband's body around Spain, that she was psycho and possessive of her husband when he was alive, but this gave me a new perspective. The author showed Juana as an intelligent woman who was deceived by the people who she loved and trusted the most. Her husband, father, and son. She was forced to go along with things she did not believe in simply b/c the men in her life willed it so. In this novel she is shown in a new light, where the reader respects her as well as feels sorry for her. A lot of the book is based on facts, which I always appreciate in a historical novel! I had trouble putting this book down. It was the first novel I've read about Juana. I've read a few novels that included stories about her, but they all portrayed her as completely nutty, so it was refreshing to read a novel that made her out to be a heroine, and not just some crazy chic who lived 500 years ago!
You are right on the money Kimberly, this is one of the best HF novel I have ever read. You should check out Robin Maxwell if you get the chance. I came by to tell you that if you want to enter in the giveaway you have to fill out the google form with flowers, I thought I might mention it rather than count your entry out.
ReplyDeleteNice place you started up here.