Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

Restoration England is not a period that I normally read about but when I was offered the opportunity to review a 2011 release about Nell Gwynn (mistress of Charles II), I decided to give it a shot.  I mean, a king with a wife and several mistresses – all at the same time – could be quite interesting, right?

As a young girl, Eleanor “Nell” Gwynn doesn’t have an easy life.  Her mother runs a whorehouse and her sister works for another madam and inevitably Nell finds herself deciding to enter the family profession – after selling her virginity to a teenaged boy on the street in order to get money for something to eat.  Nell is pretty and charming as well as being a natural born seller and it doesn’t take her long to get herself established and with some regulars.

But being a whore isn’t all she thought it would be and Bagwell doesn’t hesitate in showing the degradation, humiliation and nastiness of the business.  Nell is eventually “saved” by one of her regulars but to the still young girl, domestic simplicity is boring and she is soon looking for other ways to occupy her time.  From whore, Nell works her way up:  she sells oranges at a local theatre, becomes a popular actress, a courtesan, and then, the king’s mistress – all by the time she is eighteen. 

Nell’s years with Charles are a stark contrast to her previous life and that difference translated into what I thought was a less interesting story. In the first half of the book, Nell’s life, although harsh, is fascinating.  A born actress with a presence and wit about her, she tries to make something of herself using whatever gifts God gave her.   She’s fun and funny, a bit of a party girl and not content to live in the poverty that defined her childhood.  The toast of the theatre community, her personality practically sparkles off the page and I couldn’t help but like her, rough edges and all.

But once Nell becomes a part of Charles’s world, the lightheartedness and aura of frivolity that was so much a part of Nell’s charm disappears.  Politics and the shifting loyalties of the nobility become the primary focus, and even though I usually enjoy learning about that kind of stuff, I really didn’t in this case.  I can’t put my finger on exactly why other than that Nell was an “outsider” and not part of the events themselves, and even though the story has a third person point of view, the events are told to Nell after the fact.   

Given Nell’s profession, sex is bound to be a part of the story.  The sex is graphic, and crude and although that didn’t itself bother me, the repetitiveness of it did – especially once Nell's clients are the nobility.  How many detailed descriptions of Nell’s “oral” talents d0 we really need?  But overall I enjoyed reading about Nell and learning more about this time period.

Telling it like it is:  “I am your whore your Majesty.  And whores must be paid.”  Nell to Charles after the birth of their first son as she tries to secure her financial future.