Blondish And Bookish's Reviews > Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine

Alison Weir’s fiction and her non-fiction is normally exceptional—this book didn’t quite hit the mark her work normally reaches. It was good, just not great.

I think Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of the most interesting women in history. She was married to two different kings, and the mother of more. She quite likely had an affair with the father of her second husband before meeting and falling in love with his son. She almost certainly had other extramarital affairs. She inherited and ruled a huge amount of land. She felt betrayed by her second husband Henry, and in turn betrayed him in favor of her children—and was imprisoned by him for years and years. Despite being 11 years older than Henry, she outlived him by 15 years (and outlived most of her children—she had either 10 or 11 children in total). She was passionate and outgoing, an equestrienne and a patron of the arts, and both loyal and scheming.

Alison Weir’s version starts when Eleanor’s marriage to King Louis of France is crumbling. Eleanor has wanted to annul it for some time, and after becoming lovestruck by Henry, she convinces Abbot Bernard that Louis needs to annul the union so he can remarry and have sons. She claims that she and Louis are too closely related, and this is why they have only 2 daughters and no sons. She immediately remarries Henry, despite him being even more closely related, lol. Most of the book covers the period of their tempestuous marriage.

I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning and middle of this book, but it dragged a bit after Henry starts clashing with Eleanor and their sons, and while Eleanor is imprisoned. But maybe I just don’t find that part of Eleanor’s life as exciting as some of the others…

I recommend to anyone who is a fan of Eleanor of Aquitaine, or anyone who enjoys historical fiction, or who liked Weir’s non-fiction books about Eleanor.