Plaint for Provence
The third in the Troubadour Quartet is a beautiful labour of love. The plot is complex and nicely laid out. It involves royal marriage plans and their political implications, court rivalry and some personal secrets. Never dull for all of these reasons, the novel has also an abundance of well researched details of life in the 12th century in Provence: customs, sports and court etiquette.
While the book manages to cover such a wide array of topics, the central characters are utterly engaging. Estela and her lover, Dragonetz, cannot get married to each other, a situation that brings him into an unwanted spotlight and puts some strain on their relationship. I am not a keen fan of historical romance but here everything comes together just perfectly.
Very accomplished historical fiction.
