England in the time of Henry VIII, a nun who attended Katherine of Aragon at the time of her death, several intriguing mysteries, a search for a crown which belonged to a king from the 900’s and a curse which is believed to have struck down several kings in their prime – each of these would make a great plot for a novel. In The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau we find them all.

This is a page turner that held my interest for more than 400 pages. The details of life in the 1500’s in a Dominican priory about to be closed by a ruthless king as well as the history of the religious order as it is dismantled by the King’s men added much to the atmosphere of mystery and intrigue.

Joanna Stafford is a fascinating protagonist. When she hears that her beloved cousin Margaret is going to be burned at the stake because of her part in a rebellion against King Henry VIII, Joanna sneaks out of her priory with the knowledge that her action will surely end her future as a nun. Every move she makes from that moment leads her on a journey that mires her more deeply into danger that may be her undoing.

Anyone who loves the Tudor period, historical mysteries, and religious intrigue will enjoy this book.

I received this book in a giveaway from the Goodread’s First Reads program.
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What a great fast-paced read! The characters are gripping, especially the courageous heroine /nun. Lots of colorful characters and the setting is a medieval nunnery. There is a murder mystery that is tied to a missing crown. I don't want to get too much into detail and ruin the plot. You feel as if you're immersed into medieval life. What a debut book! Can't wait to read her next one... ( )

I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down. It is Book 1 of a 3 part series. I didn't know that when I bought the book and I will be ordering the other two right after Christmas as I am sure that Santa has bought me all 15 books I had on my list! :) Many other people stated that it is part Divinci Code and part Philippa Gregory and I agree (although I never read the Divinci Code).

Although Joanna Stattford is a fictional character - it didn't matter to me. The story is intriguing and there are a lot of twists and turns - I did figure out a major plot issue but again it didn't matter as the story was so engaging. I look forward to the other two books!

This was so good I read it in one day! ( )

good book ( )

DNF @ 23%.

I was quite excited about starting The Crown. Usually I don't seek out historical fiction set in Tudor England but the prospect of reading this with a book club was too good to miss.

This is the first installment of a series following Joanna Stafford, a daughter of a Catholic family that has been regarded a threat to Henry VIII, a novice at Dartford Priory, and an accidental adventurer it seems.

The beginning of the book was really promising as Joanna sets out to London to witness the execution of her cousin and to offer her moral and spiritual support. What I liked about the beginning was that Joanna's character and motivations seemed very similar to those of Antigone in the play by Sophocles, and I was hoping to see if her character would develop in a similar way.
From then on, the story gathered a lot of pace and Joanna seemed to be thrown from one task to another in no time.

I don't know what my expectations were with respect to the story but there seemed to be an imbalance between the task of writing to move the plot and writing to convey the historical aspects of the story.

And this is where the book lost me. There is a lot of detail about life in Tudor England, but it didn't somehow manage to create Tudor England in my imagination. Partly, I think this is because the author has been very ambitious to show that she really understands the times and this sometimes comes across as info-dumping and sometimes as plain name-dropping of historical figures. I know that Cranmer etc. were around at the time, but this has nothing to do with the actual story at hand. And while the political and religious tensions of the time are a catalyst to Joanna's story, I feel it would have better served the story to replace the constant name dropping with an investigation into the characters motivations and thoughts and a little more detail of their spaces they inhabit. To replace it with writing that makes the reader feel like they have been transported through time and that provides a near visceral experience of what it would have been like to walk in Joanna's shoes.


Moving on... ( )