Review: The Forever Queen - Helen Hollick

Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 622
Published: November 2010 Sourcebooks Landmark

Married to a king incompetent both on the throne and in bed, Emma does not love her husband. But she does love England. Even as her husband fails, Emma vows to protect her people-no matter what. For five decades, through love and loss, prosperity and exile, Emma fights for England, becoming the only woman to have been anointed, crowned, and reigning queen to two different kings, the mother of two more, and the great aunt of William the Conqueror.

Plot:

Emma of Normany married King Aethelred when she was 13. One son would become Edward the Confessor. But the Swein Forkbeard of Denmark invaded together with his son Cnut, and all was lost. But Emma was one strong woman who after her husband's death married Cnut, and once again reigned as queen of England.

My thoughts:

I loved it, the story was so rich in history and details, and it was exactly like a good historical novel should be like. Following the facts, but still inventing and creating a book utterly wonderful.

Emma was a truly fascinating woman. Mother to two kings, wife to two kings, stepmother to kings, because yes England saw a lot of kings during her time there. I was enchanted by the story. The first part was about her horrible marriage to Aetheldred, not fit to be king, seeing her distancing herself from her kids was heartbreaking. The second part was about her other marriage and I do hope that it was true that they had a loving marriage. That she finally found joy with Cnut. It was certainly more romantic.

This book is filled with history, what else to expect, the book spans 40 years of her life. And I could even start to tell about all the things that happened. There are vikings raiding,  there is fighting over the crowns, a lot of times. Treachery, jealousy, kings dying, fighting between English earls, you get the point. There is never a dull moment. Because something is always happening, and when nothing is happening it is just nice to relax and enjoy her life for a bit.

Awww, I do love good historical fiction. It just warms me right up. So fun to google later too and discovering more.

Recommendation and final thoughts:

I am giving this book 4,25 because I could not put it down, even though this was one big book! I would with all my heart recommend it to lovers of historical fiction, and to the rest of you, this is a woman worth reading about. It had everything, but mostly it had her, and I do wonder why not more books are written about her. She certainly deserves a spotlight for her interesting life. The book itself was well written, and was never cluttered with facts or dull. It was a joy to read.

Reason for reading:

Long ago I read a book by a Swedish author and that was the first time I met Queen Emma, I never forgot her and I even wrote a paper about her in uni, so when I heard about this book I jumped at the chance to read about her again.

Cover thoughts: Ok

The book was previously published under the name: A Hollow Crown: The Story of Emma, Queen of Saxon England

I received the book from the publisher