Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett

Bennett’s fiction debut is an extraordinary, detailed account of the family of Sir Thomas More during the reign of Henry VIII. The narrator of the story is Meg Giggs, More’s foster child.

The book follows the life of Meg, a kind, generous young woman with a knack for the healing arts. The love of her life is a man named John Clements, former schoolmaster of the children in More’s household. Clements returns after an extended absence and asks Meg to be his bride. She is thrilled and accepts his proposal though she soon finds out that Clements has a past shrouded in mystery, and she may never know the whole truth about him.

Against the backdrop of daily life is the storm of religious controversy that begins to mount. The fighting between the Protestants and Catholics grows with Sir Thomas Moore caught between it all. The painter Hans Holbein also plays a major role in the story as he comes to paint a portrait of the More family. His keen observances into the life of the Mores’ are fascinating, and Bennett’s descriptions of his painting techniques are beautiful. Portrait of an Unknown Woman is a wonderful piece of historical fiction.

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