Figures in Silk

• Publisher:   Oakhill Publishing Limited
• Number Of Pages:  
• Publication Date:   2008-12-12
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   1846485096
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9781846485091

A sumptuous wedding feast, two advantageous marriages and a blessing from the golden king When silk merchant John Lambert marries off his two beautiful daughters, their fortunes are set to change forever. Elder daughter Jane starts a notorious liaison with Edward IV, while her sister, Isabel, as the new silkweaver to the court, becomes privy to its most intimate secrets. Could they hold the keys to power in this time of uncertainty? Vanora Bennett brings to life a time of passions and politics, a time of turmoil and tension, a world in flux and a country up for grabs.

I found this novel a little disappointing as it was not what I initially thought it was going to be about. I thought that there would be more focus upon Edward IV and his charasmatic mistress Jane Shore. However this story was about her fictional sister Isabel and her love affair with the soon-to-be Richard III. Therefore this novel turned out to be very fictious, and a little more fact would have been prefered.
Having said that, I did enjoy the portrayal of Isabel's inner turmoil in trying to reconcile the Richard that she loved with Richard the King. It was very well-written, and the reader actually experienced Isabel's pain.

I was really looking forward to reading this. It's the first Historical Fiction I've read that takes place before the reign of Henry VIII, so I was excited to get a glimpse of London before the Tudors came into power. I knew the story revolved mainly around sisters Isabel and Jane, and not so much on court life, but I was ok with this as well...a look at life on the streets of London during a very tumultuous time in it's history. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a BIG disappointment. I read all the reviews here before hand, figured the pros outweighed the cons, and decided to go for it...it was a mistake. I'm not going to summarize this book since it's already been done here many times, but let me rattle off just a few reasons why I'm giving this only two stars. 1. The synopsis says this is about two sisters, Isabel and Jane...WRONG! About 95% of the story is about Isabel and her silk weaving job, and only about 5% is focused on Jane (who, in my opinion, seemed to have the more interesting story). I knew there was a lot of focus on silk in this story (hello, the title!), I just wasn't expecting THIS much. While the author clearly developed a sincere appreciation for the craft, I found myself bored with all the 'shop talk'. 2. I found it VERY hard to believe that Isabel, who was portrayed as an intelligent, sharp business woman, who had a knack for sniffing out the honest merchants in her field, would be so easily duped by Dickon. I know she loved him, but really? In the 10+ years she spent as his mistress, she never ONCE opened her eyes to his blatant lies? And what's worse, when she DID find out he had lied, she didn't care! After all he did to her sister, I found it extremely distasteful that she would continue to carry on with him, and I pretty much stopped caring about her at that point. 3. Now, this may just be me being nit-picky, but I've read a lot of books from this era (15th/16th century), and I was a bit perplexed as to how both Jane (mistress to King Edward IV) and Isabel (Mistress to Richard III), were able to carry on with these men for over 10 YEARS, and not ONCE end up pregnant? Yet, when Jane marries and settles down, BAM!, she's pregnant within the year. It was just MUCH too convenient for me. There was no birth control back then, and mistresses usually bore numerous illegitimate children by their lovers. However Jane and Isabel seemed to have lucked out there...hmmmm. Not very authentic, especially given just how long they carried on their relationships. I could go on, but I suppose I'll leave it at that. I gave it two stars and not one because I did finish the book, so that's something, and I did enjoy some parts of the story, such as the setting, the princesses and the battle for the throne...and anything involving Jane (it's really a shame she wasn't given a bigger part). Overall though, I'd have to recommend skipping this. It's just not much of a page-turner, and while Isabel started out with much promise, her character became so flawed that I could barley stand to read about her anymore.

This is a very good book, easy to read, and the plot moves well. It tells about sisters living in London during the rise and fall of Richard III. Jane lives the court life; Isabel marries into the world of the silk trade. Venetians are the masters of silk at this time and Isabel wants to change that. She works to outwit the controllers of the market but also finds herself embroiled in the personal matters of Richard III. The author does a great job of bringing the markets to life, making the reader see the colors of the silks, feel the passion of Isabel for Richard, and sense the fear of the Venetians who will do anything to control the market. I recommend it highly.

Look, I like the idea of Vanora Bennett's "Figures in Silk" just fine. The story of Richard III as told by an enigmatic figure who is both an outsider and intimately connected to the Yorkist court, this book had the potential to shed new light on a tumultuous period in history. Sadly, it settles instead for a mish-mash of romance, light political intrigue, and the same tired rehashing of the R3 myth that we've heard before. Perhaps I'm selling Bennett short. Not every writer can be Sharon Kay Penman, unfortunately. And at first, it seems like she's almost going to pull off a Richard who is complex, human, and full of both flaws and virtues. There are a few promising scenes between Richard and Isabel, particularly one about halfway through the novel when Isabel realizes that the man she loves is also a man whom many in the realm consider a monster, not unjustifiably. However, Bennett fails to make sense of much of the mystery surrounding Richard, and as such, its impossible to take this novel seriously. The manner in which she dealt with the execution of Hastings, for instance, was so incomprehensible and so utterly bizarre that I couldn't make heads or tails of what she wanted us to take away from it. The scene - and its depiction of Richard - seem to have been lifted from another book entirely, so out of character is it. Other historical puzzles - the disappearance of the princes in the Tower, for example, and the relationship between Richard and his niece Elizabeth - are layered in so much wink-winking and innocently expressed ignorance that one can almost - almost - miss the fact that Bennett has completely dropped the ball on them. Look, you don't have to come down on the same side of the R3 debate as I do, but you do have to come down on one side or the other! To do otherwise is just laziness. Look, I'm sure there are many, many readers for whom none of this will be an issue. They could care less about Richard, the War of the Roses, or Bosworth. That's fine, and I wish them pleasant reading. If you prefer more history in your historical fiction, however, I think you'll be disappointed.

I was looking forward to this novel as I have read very little on the War of the Roses period but I was disappointed. The author did not make the characters come alive for me. They kept doing things that made little sense to me. The story hangs its hat on a love story involving the main character, Isobel. The love affair is nonsensical. This woman who was supposedly a bright, innovative, fearless business woman would not have put up with her lover's actions especially those involving her family. Without the ability to believe that story line, the books just doesn't hold together for me. When the ending happens and you find that she has been manipulated by a close member of the court, it is just not believable. Anyone with a brain could see that coming. All in all, I was disappointed. I am looking forward to seeing if Phillipa Gregory's new book on almost the same subject will be better.

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