Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book proved to me - much to my surprise - that it is possible to write a historical novel in the present tense without it becoming unreadable. The quality of the writing probably had something to do with it, but after struggling a little bit at the start I was drawn in.

Thomas Cromwell may seem an unlikely hero. He's almost invariably the deep-dyed villain of any novel in the era so it's a pleasant change to see things from his POV and he comes across as a very sympathetic character. In fact he seems to go out of his way to accommodate people. Thomas More, for example, gets thrown lifeline after lifeline, which of course he rejects.

It is sometimes just a little hard to work out who is speaking. There's a lot of conversation in this, and the author likes her personal pronouns. 'He' is however, not always Thomas Cromwell in these exchanges.

One oddity - it's stated that Elizabeth Woodville gave Edward IV a (remote) claim to Castile. News to me. It may be true, but if so it was vastly inferior to his own claim, which he made in heraldry from the start of his reign. (See the Edward IV Roll for proof). La Woodville had many qualities, but claims to thrones was not one of 'em.

This apart no historical issues jumped out of me, and the author juggled a very large cast of characters with great success. Having said all that, I still don't like present tense for HF and beg and plead with all authors out there to refuse to use it!!!

I do recommend the book, and I don't think it's a hard read. In fact, if it's classed as a literary novel, which it seems to be, it's a lot more accessible than most of that genre.


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Not how the Despensers lived

Sometimes one finds something on the internet that's so amazing it just has to be shared. One such is this: Folklore Essay

It's certainly news to me that Humphrey Duke of Gloucester was murdered by Henry V.

I'm also a bit puzzled as to how a man born in 1390 could have a son also born in 1390. I know they started early in the middle ages, but that is going some.

A pain-free way of rasing money for charity

Some of you may know of this already but I am recommending it because it's a new discovery for me: Easyfundraising

You register with the site and pick your charity. I have picked Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue
but there's a wide range to choose from and you can even register a new one.

Now, when you want to buy something online - and again there's a massive list of choices including Amazon, Tesco Direct, Waterstones, P. C. World, etc., etc., - you go through the Easyfundraising site. Then a small percentage (it varies) of what you pay for your purchase goes to your chosen charity. There's no cost to you.

Potentially this could give your charity a lot of money over the year without costing you a bean. Great idea, I thought.

Injured Greyhound Lucy Lu Needs Your Help

I am sick, absolutely sick, of excuses for humanity who abuse greyhounds.

That was a hard sentence to write, because the temptation to add numerous expletives was overwhelming. But it wouldn't have done any good.

The greyhound in question, a beautiful two-year-old bitch was so badly beaten that she has had to have months of expensive veterinary care. And the good people who are looking after her have to go on Ebay to try to raise funds for the cost.

If you want to read more go into Ebay UK and search on Injured Greyhound Lucy Lu Needs Your Help or go to item http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270580287199&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

If you can bung a fiver into the pot, so much the better. But it shouldn't be necessary, it really shouldn't. The 'people' who caused this suffering should be made to pay, and in an ideal world they should also be chucked in jail for a very long time. Alas, even if they're caught it'll be the usual case of a ten bob fine and 'don't do it again'.

Civilised society? I think not.

The Pendle Witches

I am delighted to see that a new novel has been published on the Pendle Witches, Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt. As someone who has long been interested in the subject I look forward to reading this version of the story.

The classic novel on the subject (The Sunne in Splendour of Pendle Hill) is Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill, which is now rather long in the tooth. But it has sold lots of copies and is still worth a look if you're interested.

For factual background my tip is The Lancashire Witchcraze by Jonathan Lumby. It was this account that made me realise just how much of Neill's novel is fictional!

The context of Lancashire in the 17th century is worth remembering. For a start, the population was about one third Catholic, unexceptional in our more tolerant times but seen as a potential threat to the state in the 1600s. Robert Neill's heroes are always moderates in politics and religion and Roger Nowell of Read the investigating magistrate in Mist Over Pendle is a middle-of-the-road Anglican, not particularly devout and, if anything, on better terms with his Catholic neighbours than with the Puritan ones. In reality Nowell was definitely at the Puritan end of the religious spectrum; several of his relatives were Calvinist divines with a national reputation.

In addition, Nowell had a great-nephew, Nicholas Starkie, whose children were allegedly possessed by demons as a result of witchcraft. In his community, the gentry of Pendle and Craven, there were several alleged cases of witchcraft, including the 'suspicious' death of Mr Thomas Lister of Westby at a wedding which Nowell attended. Moreover, the 'boss' of the County, William Stanley, Earl of Derby had had an elder brother allegedly murdered by witches.

I am sure there are natural causes for all these events. Lister's death, for example, was almost certainly the result of a heart attack or stroke. But in a world where even King James himself fervently believed in the reality of witchcraft we can scarcely be surprised if an obscure squire like Nowell was persuaded that evil was afoot in his back yard.

As to the 'witches' themselves, they were country 'healers' and 'wise-women', but undoubtedly they believed in their own powers and such was the state of the law that such beliefs and practices were dangerous. It seems likely that some of their 'incantations' were nothing more than mangled versions of Latin prayers.

There is a common misconception that witchcraft was more severely punished in the middle ages. In England at least, this is not true. It was under Elizabeth I and James I that the statutes were tightened to their most severe level, with death as the usual penalty.

Nowell and his fellow magistrates subjected the accused to question and answer sessions. These were not recorded verbatim, and probably not contemporaneously. In effect, Nowell could write down his interpretation of what had been said. For example one woman rode to a meeting on a pony, but in the evidence this animal became a familiar spirit!

It is not necessary to see Nowell as a wicked man by the standards of his time - like some detectives of the 1960s, he 'knew' the accused were guilty, and so provided the necessary 'evidence' to ensure they were convicted. (Despite the rather dodgy standards of justice in these times it was by no means unknown for an alleged witch to be acquitted by a jury.) Nowell probably thought he was doing his public duty by ensuring there were no loose ends.

One of Nowell's witnesses was a nine-year-old girl, another a youth with what we would now politely call 'learning difficulties.' This, with the written 'confessions' Nowell had created from the interviews was quite enough to ensure that all the accused were hanged, most at Lancaster, one at York.

The Glory Of Chicken Curry

Here is a recipe for Chicken Rogan Josh you may like to try. I have added my own refinements to the basic dish and the product is lip-smackingly good, though I say so myself. If you don't like chicken you can substitute lamb fillet and I dare say it would work with beef or pork as well though I haven't tried these so they're on your own head.

Ingredients - should serve four easily, may stretch to six.

About 900 grams chicken breast/pieces.
1 decent-sized onion, finely chopped.
250 ml natural yoghurt - plain.
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt.
4 garlic cloves (crushed).
1" piece of fresh ginger. (Use a bit more if you like.)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Half teaspoon cumin seeds. (You can use a bit more if you want.)
3 bay leaves.
4 green cardamom pods.
2 teaspoons ground coriander.
2 teaspoons ground cumin.
1 or 2 teaspoons of ground turmeric. (This is mainly to improve the colour.)
1 teaspoon fenugreek. (Reduce or omit if you dislike fenugreek.)
1 teaspoon cinnamon.
1 teaspoon hot chilli powder OR 1 red chilli pepper sliced. (The latter makes it hotter.)
1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato puree
About two thirds a cup of water.
Plain boiled rice - or basmati if you prefer
Optional extras - small tin of baked beans or chickpeas; sliced mushrooms; 1 sliced pepper.

Method.

1. The night before - mix the yoghurt, salt, two garlic cloves, and the ginger which you should grate. Stir in the chicken - or other meat. Leave in fridge until ready for preparation.

2. Slice your onion and add the remaining garlic. Extract the contents of the cardamon pods, set aside and discard husks.

3. Heat the oil in a large pan until hot enough for frying then add cumin seeds. When they start to splutter add the bay leaves and the contents of the cardamom pods and fry for 2 minutes.

4. Add the onion and garlic and fry for about 4-5 minutes. Then add turmeric, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, chilli powder (or sliced chilli - preferred by me) and cinnamon. It may look pretty horrible at this point but it should smell OK. Fry for about 2 minutes.

5. Add the marinated chicken to the mixture and give it a good stir. Keep on stirring for about five minutes.

6. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and water. Also add small tin of baked beans or chickpeas; sliced mushrooms; 1 sliced pepper if you are including these extras.

7. Cover and simmer for one and a half hours. Note - do not go away and do something else. The curry needs an eye kept on it and regular stirring to prevent it from sticking and burning. If it gets too dry, add a cup or so of water.

8. Serve with rice, naans, and whatever other adjuncts you fancy.

Enjoy!

Acknowledgement - modified from an original recipe in Curries of the World by Mridula Baljekar, an excellent book which I recommend.

Book Review - In A Dark Wood Wandering by Hella S Haasse

I have been re-reading this wonderful book lately, and it reminded me what a quality historical novel looks like. It is the story of Charles, Duke of Orleans, literally from his birth to his death. The Orleans presented here is scarcely a conventional hero at all, and has some pretty obvious character faults, and yet he's somehow endearing and fascinating as well as a real human being.

Historical accuracy is generally very good - a couple of English titles are wrong, but apart from that nothing leapt out. (There are also a few cases of what I suspect to be dodgy translation - the book was originally written in Dutch.)

It's interesting to read of Agincourt from a French point of view, and the descriptions of the extraordinary 'court' of Charles VI are quite wonderful and, I suspect, close to reality.

I cannot praise this book too highly, and if you are at all interested in reading about the fifteenth century from a French viewpoint this novel cannot be bettered.