Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

Maria is the daughter of a minor Norman “robber baron” in southern Italy in the 11th century. She is married off to a knight, Richard d’Alene, but finds his brother Roger more attractive – an attraction that is mutual. As the Christians and Saracens battle for control of the region , Richard acquires more land and power, becomes somewhat friendly with some of the “heretics” and struggles to hold onto what he has.

It took a while for me to warm up to this book. For the first 75 pages or so I kept wondering what in the heck the point of the story was as there doesn’t appear to be any real plot. It’s more of a “this is Maria’s life” narrative that focuses on Maria’s relationship with those around her – and in particular with her husband.  Richard is not a likeable person but he is a man of his time. In his domain his word is law yet he also tries to instill some sense of justice. He hits his wife – often. But at the same time, he values her opinion more highly than he would ever admit to anyone, including himself.

Maria is a strong young woman who manages to come off as feisty, independent minded and intelligent without sounding too modern. She can be ruthless when necessary but is also very compassionate. She definitely knows her place and takes Richards physical and verbal abuse rather nonchalantly. What I came to appreciate about Maria and Richard was Holland’s ability to make them 100% believable as human beings. They are both far from perfect and even their relationship is less than ideal. Despite a rocky start, it becomes clear that Maria and Richard come to love and respect each other in their own way. They argue and joke with each other. They say things they don’t mean – sometimes with the intent to hurt each other and sometimes not. They have sex and they make love (most of which is not graphic). They find stolen moments and raise their children.

Having recently finished Holland’s latest novel, The Secret Eleanor, and enjoyed it, I was wondering how this one would compare. Written 35 years earlier, Great Maria’s writing style is definitely different and took some getting used to. There are no flowing, elaborately worded passages; no beautifully descriptive landscapes or paragraphs devoted to clothes, food and the like. Yet somehow, through its short, often choppy sentences, I got the essence of what it truly must have been like to live nearly a thousand years ago. Some of it comes for the monotony of everyday life – there are babies to be fed, children to keep from squabbling and a myriad of other domestic situations that must be dealt with. This is not an action-packed story and not much seems to happen, yet somehow, much does. I didn’t care much for the ending as I thought it was rather abrupt. I turned the page expecting more and was like, “that’s it?”

Although I liked the book, I wasn't blown away by it and it took me a little longer to read it than I would have liked as it wasn't one of those "can't put it down" books for me. 


Anything worth having:  “Why does being good have to be hard?” “If it were easy, it would be worthless.” Maria and her young son Robert.

Richard the politician:  “Say what people want to hear, and do as you please. No one will ever notice the difference.” Richard to their second son, Stephen.


In case the FTC asks: The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this book to review.