Figures in Silk audiobook

This was the third book I read in close sucession of the War of the Roses time period in medieval England. The other two were The White Queen by Philippa Gregory and The King's Grace by Ann Easter Smith (see previous review). Reading all three provided an interesting perspective on Edward V, Richard III, Queen Elizabeth Woodward and the future Queen Elizabeth, mother of Henry the VIII. Each book presented the main characters as villians or heros while sticking to the historical facts surrounding the War of the Roses. My favorite by far was Figures in Silk because although these historical characters were front and center, the book focused on the merchants of London--especially the female silk workers, who often were declared freewomen in their own rights and were allowed to make deals, take out loans, and hire their own workers. Loosely based on real characters, the plot focused on a scheme to bring silk weaving to London, as well as the craft of silk embroidery. It brought 15th-century London alive in a way that a novel focusing soley on the nobility cannot and showcased the strength that these women had to petition for their livelihoods and work to better their lives. A good read if you are interested in learning more about this time period, or in the lives and trials of women trying to make their way in the world. With characters such as the formidable Queen Elizabeth, her cowed but crafty daughter, one of the King's mistresses and silk women ranging from apprentices, to rich merchants, you get an in depth look at how the mideival world viewed women and how they survived in a male-dominated society. The best part, however, is the discussion of the silk. You will fall in love with it, just as the main characters do.

Set in the second half of the 15th century London, during the time when Edward IV is restored to the throne and later his brother Richard III takes the reign.This story brings to light the world of silkwomen of the 15th century London and their partnership with mercers to do business together. Inevitably, training in the same households and marrying.Isabel, a daughter of silk merchant, gets married to Thomas Claver, a son of wealthy silk family/dynasty. In Isabel’s father’s eyes embroidery of church vestments is the only appropriate thing to do for women her station. Once she marries Thomas, her role changes. She gets to learn the business of silk. She starts from the very bottom, learning “repetitive, menial tasks of retail silkwork first.” Next she accompanies Alice, Thomas’ mother, “to meetings with foreign silk merchants and aristocratic clients.” Then, she travels with Alice “to the trade fairs at Bruges and Antwerp,” where she learns “how to make the large-scale wholesale deals considered the pinnacle of achievement for a silk merchant.” With time her experience expends as well as her dream. She dreams about the secretive silk-weaving business for which Venetians are famous for.The first part of the book seems to be more concentrated on the story of Alice and her ambitions. The second part brings more history of the ending conflict of the Wars of the Roses. Isabel is a fictional character, but her sister Jane is based on a true character of Jane Shore, mistress to King Edward IV. The house of Alice Claver, Thoma’s mother, is heavily based on “wills and bills of sale and other documentary evidence in the archive of the Merchers’ Company.”This beautiful story sheds light on two things, the secretive world of the silkweaving and the character of a strong woman who goes below her status to gain her freedom in the world dominated and controlled by men. And the only way to gain that freedom was once woman became widow, she had her choice.This is a story for those who have appreciation for arts, especially handcrafts. If you liked The Lady and the Unicorn or Girl with a Pearl Earring both by Tracy Chevalier, then you most likely will appreciate this book.@FB/BestHistoricalFictionhttps://bestinhistoricalfiction.blogs...

O perspectivă interesantă asupra ultimilor regi din Casa de York, Eduard al IV-lea și Richard al III-lea, din afara curții regale. Totuși povestea are ca fundal viața mătăsarilor din Londra secolului al XV-lea, iar dacă lumea mătăsii nu te interesează, atunci această carte nu e pentru tine. Dacă ești un cititor de romane de ficțiune istorică, atunci cartea merită să-i dai șansă.Am scris mai multe pe blog https://dorinadanila.com/2017/05/01/r...

Another vivid, engrossing historical novel from Vanora Bennett, chock full of period detail and fascinating characters.

While I was on the treadmill this afternoon, I watched as Gordon Brown, his wife, and his two children took their leave of 10 Downing Street. Brown stood in front of the hoards of photographers, smiled, then climbed into a car, streaking through London toward Buckingham Palace to give his resignation to the Queen. I’m not British, nor have I paid much attention to British politics since I spent the spring of 2007 in Scotland, but I got a lump in my throat watching his car make his way down the city streets. It’s amazing to me that some of us are lucky enough to live in countries where the our leaders step down after public elections when history has shown us that it’s just as easy to hold your position through battle and murder. Say what you want about politics and politicians, but there are times when the system is beautiful. I just finished another one of my historical fiction novels, one that shows us what happens when the established system just breaks down. Vanora Bennett’s Figures in Silk — yet another novel based in the Ricardian period—centers around Isabel, a wealthy girl turned silkwoman after the death of her young husband during one of the many skirmishes of the War of the Roses. As she labors to break the Italian stranglehold on the silk market and establish a manufacturing center in London, she enters into a relationship with a secretive man, Dickon. To say any more would be a spoiler, so I’ll let things go here.What I find so interesting about this period of Plantagenet decline is how people lived with what was essentially the same war through several generations. Yorkists and Lancastrians faced each other on the battlefield time and time again, two sides of a single family warring for the throne at the cost of their country and their people. In this novel, we experience the deaths of three kings (four, depending on whether you’re counting kings that made it to their coronation or not), each time throwing England into a tizzy of changing dynasties and loyalties. Such instability stifles intellectual and industrial growth; I don’t think that I can be faulted in thinking that England’s renaissance happened mainly due to the relative calm of the Tudor period. When our governments are stable, so are we. A good percentage of our politicians know this and graciously remove themselves from a seat of power when called to by the people. Figures in Silk is not a novel that will go will be touted in literature classes ten years from now, but it bears a read if only to appreciate what we have now.

If you are bored by descriptions of the 15th century European fabric industry, this is not a book for you.However, if you’re interested at all in the role thread and cloth played in the late medieval world, as seen by a character on an apprentice–to–master journey storyline, I think you would enjoy this book.15th century London teenager Isabella Lambert finds out in Chapter One that her father has engaged her to a man she hardly knows for economical-political reasons. She is advised by a new acquaintance that even though she is pawn – this marriage is just the first move, and there are many possible moves in the future.So, working with what she has at any given moment, Isabella continues to make moves, and very smart, strategic ones at that. After all, as she learns later on, a pawn can take a king. And this book could have just as easily been titled “Queen of Silk.”Meanwhile, her sister, Jane Shore – yes, that Jane Shore - has made different life choices in response to a patriarchal world, and is living a life of luxurious ease. Isabella has to come to terms with the fact she is jealous of her sister while at the same time benefiting from her sister’s connections. And we see Jane working as hard as Isabella, in quite a different way, as she makes things happen at court with a few carefully placed coos and kisses. What I thought was awesome was that these two sisters demonstrate This Is How Business Works. The economy is, at its heart, a meeting at a party, the right people taking a few minutes to discuss a proposition over a glass of something, a word here, a nudge there, and, at the very center, the courage to speak up with a New Idea.As the book moves forward, we also see how much business is influenced by politics, and everyone keeps a wary on the royal family, worried about what each regime change will mean in the very real form of taxes and riots.The main characters gets close to the heart of events that marked the end of the War of the Roses, but even she, with her insider trading, is left in the dark on a few issues, giving the reader some tantalizing theories to chew on.Amazing, really, how so many writers can take the same set of facts and every single one of them adds them up to a different sum. Fascinating. One last note - hard core fans of the “true love” romance of Anne Neville and Richard of York that pops up so often in a lot of the War of the Roses fiction will hate how their marriage is portrayed here. Just saying.

I had my doubts when I purchased this novel, having read some negative thoughts on it and having hated Anne Easter Smith's version of the War of the Roses. This suprised me, however, at almost every turn. Isabel and Jane are sisters who are married off to strangers while Edward is taking control of England's kingship. Isabel is widowed quickly and takes to her mother in law's silk business against her own father's wishes. Jane gets a divorce from her husband and becomes a harlot for the king and the king's men. While Isabel becomes a working woman and starts a lucrative silk industry right there at Westminster, Jane lives a frivolous life of luxury and sex. During all this, Isabel falls in love with Richard, whom she does not realize will one day be king. There are many surprising twists and turns and Isabel realizes that the man she loves is not so kind and wonderful after all as he fights "dirty" to attain the crown for himself. Can she continue to love and cherish a man that kills his best friend, imprisons her sister, disowns his own brothers, shames his mother, and plans to marry his own niece? I would have preferred Jane to have more depth. I thought she was almost an irrelevant addition to the novel. On the other hand, Isabel is an unforgettable character. There were times in her moral struggles over Richard (Dickon, I should say) that I lost respect for her, but she gained it back in the end. The choices and dilemmas she faces are not easy to solve. Little too much detail sometimes about materials and cloth. It is, however, a novel of the silk trade as well as war and love tho.

I have to say of all the war of the roses books this is going to be one of my favorites. While it does focus on the royals in some respects the main focus is the story of trying to get the silk weaving business brought to England. You learn all the ins and outs of the mercers guild and many others within England at the time. Isabel Lambert a fictional created sister to the infamous Jane Lambert, better known as Jane Shore Mistress to King Edward is the center piece in all of this silk world.Isabel after meeting with a mysterious stranger (who I guessed right on the first meeting) goes on to marry the Son of the wealthiest independent silkwomen in London Alice Claver. After the death of her Husband not very long after they were married Isabel is stuck with a question of what to do. She ends up becoming the apprentice of her Mother in Law. We follow these industrious women for a very long road of over 10 years as they have ups and downs and work towards a dream of not having to import woven silk from the various ports of the world. I loved learning about the silk world and following them along the path. The back story with the royal family fit as well because the merchants could not act without the royals and the royals often wanted loans from the merchants. It certainly is an interesting fiction and would I very much recommend.

Britain just announced to the world that King Richard III's remains have been found, with a reconstruction of his face even made possible. As coincidence would have it, this book features Richard as one of the principal characters. Richard III was not a well-loved monarch and Vanora uses the historical suspicions surrounding him to create this novel. Isabel Lambert is a fourteen year old daughter of a silk-weaver who unexpectedly meets 'Dickon' while they are both praying in a church one morning. She has no idea that he is actually the brother of the present King Edward, and she is immediately smitten. Their paths do not cross again for a few years at which time Isabel is a recent widow already and involved in the international silk-weaving monopoly. They start a liason again through the time that Dickon is plotting to gain the crown. This line from the novel speaks to the ultimate tragedy of the story: "And a man who couldn't stop manoeuvring couldn't feel the simplicity of love." Bennett is a powerful writer and she gives her characters a lot of depth. The book was highly enjoyable.