The time of the Norman Conquest is a setting rich with history. There is a built-in conflict between an invading conqueror hero and an indigenous heroine. Carol Townend puts a slight twist on these two prototypes, making them less stereotypical and giving them a nice external conflict.
Lady Cecily isn't your usual Saxon noblewoman. Her mother is Norman and she speaks the Frankish language. She spent the last six years in a convent, destined for the church, but singularly unsuited for the life and putting off taking her final vows. Her father and brother were killed at Hastings and their lands awarded to Sir Adam Wynmark. Cecily is visited by her sister Emma, running away from King William's order to marry Sir Adam Wymark. Emma also gives the news that their mother died in childbirth, but the baby, a son, survives, though Cecily fears for his life if the invaders learn that the rightful heir lives. Cecily agrees to take her sister's place and marry Sir Adam, to do what she can to protect her brother and her people.
Sir Adam isn't even a Norman, but a Breton who threw in his lot with William as a way to find meaning in his life after the death of his beloved wife several years ago. Adam arrives at the convent, happy to take Cecily in her sister's stead, and feeling himself fortunate to be marrying a beautiful, intelligent, sensible girl. (And she is a girl, only 16, but then Adam is only 22. I know these young ages in Medieval romances are historically accurate, but they still give my 21st c. mindset a niggle of discomfort.) Adam doesn't expect to find love again, but he hopes to find companionship, friendship, and passion, and he and Cecily hit it off right from the start, despite being on opposite sides.
They are quickly married and travel to Fulford Hall, Adam's new, and Cecily's old, home. When it is just the two of them, their interactions are sweet and full of promise, but they must live in this new world, full of old hatreds. Can Adam really trust Cecily to give him her loyalty when he sees how she hurts for her people's suffering, and can Cecily trust Adam with her brother's life, if she can overcome her fear enough to tell reveal his identity?
Adam is about as Beta as a Medieval knight can be. He wins over Cecily - and me - with his fairness toward her people and his gentleness with her. There are suspicions and plots afoot instigated by men formerly loyal to Cecily's father, and she is placed in some difficult positions which test her old and new loyalties.
I liked Adam and Cecily quite a bit and found their falling in love to be believable even under such difficult circumstances. The setting felt well done and accurate, the chaos of Winchester as it changes hands from Saxon to Norman rule, and the everyday life at Fulford Hall was gritty and rang true. Townend gets the atmosphere and world-building right.
The middle dragged a bit for me and got repetitious as Cecily kept being approached by plotters and Adam kept fretting about trusting her. The ending tended toward the melodramatic, but overall I enjoyed The Novice Bride's setting, conflict and characters enough to recommend it and to await Townend's next novel.
Sensuality: Warm
Publication Date: 2007
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