Shadows in the Mist
Lady Rose Maltravers, the widow of a rebel against the new King Edward I, has seized a chance to reclaim her infant son from her obstinate father-in-law: accept the marriage proposal of an odious lord, Sir Gilbert, as well as his demand to bed her before the wedding. Yet the night comes, and when another mistakenly beds her in the dark, Sir Gilbert discovers them. So new author Virginie Marconato sets down the problem of Shadows in the Mist.
The lady and her lover overcome some other obstacles. The characters experience little development: Sir Gilbert remains as two-dimensionally loathsome at the 90% mark as at 2%. After the evocative opening, scenes where both characters tell us their thoughts and try to guess each other’s comprise most of the novel. But they still don’t communicate well. Rose, the more reluctant party, carries the same insecurities throughout.
Shadows in the Mist pulls the reader along despite its over-explanation, repetition, and lack of setting detail. By constantly telling the reader the characters’ thoughts, Marconato ensures that we feel sympathetic toward these two people. But the sympathy could have been deeper if she had explained less, described more, and let actions speak for themselves.
