Title: The Girl in the Glass Tower
Author: Elizabeth Fremantle
Goodreads Rating: 3.75
Release Date: June 2nd, 2016
My Rating:
Genre: Historical fictionGoodreads Synopsis
Arbella Stuart is trapped behind the towering glass windows of Hardwick Hall. Kept cloistered from a world that is full of dangers for someone with royal blood. Half the country wish to see her on the throne and many others for her death, which would leave the way clear for her cousin James, the Scottish King
Arbella longs to be free from her cold-hearted grandmother; to love who she wants, to wear a man’s trousers and ride her beloved horse, Dorcas. But if she ever wishes to break free she must learn to navigate the treacherous game of power, or end up dead.
It’s easy to see that most of my reviews are of YA fantasy books, but I do also love a good historical tale, fiction and non, especially ones set in this particular era as I was a huge history lover in school and college and spent many years studying the Tudors and Stuarts. So I was very intrigued to have a read of this book and it was exciting for me to align events in the book with the stuff I’d studied in the past. I know that the tale itself is fictional, however the character was based on the life of Arbella Stuart, who despite my many years of studying this era, I had never heard of. It’s actually been a while since I’ve delved back into the world of Tudors and Stuarts, but this has reignited my interest, so for that I thank Elizabeth Fremantle.
There was this constant, so near yet so far feel pretty much running from beginning to end, where Arabella was so close to getting what she wanted, before it was then snatched away. I really felt for her and her struggles that came as part of her life because of who she was born. To see the contrasts, where on both ‘sides’ people would see others as having the better life, Arabella longed to not be royalty, and others would have given anything to be her. A common theme no matter what century you were born in.
I enjoyed the way it was set out with the chapters split between Ami and Arabella, and with Ami reading Arabella’s writings and her reflections on what she was reading, and then the gaps she was filling in. Little slow to get into it, especially with this format because just as you were beginning to become immersed into Arabella’s story you’d be jerked out to Ami’s present day, and vice versa. But once I got into the feel of it then it flowed much better.
All in all an encapsulating and enlightening read, would certainly recommend it and is one I’ll be buying for my mum too, as I believe this book will be right up her street.
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