SHADES OF WINTER (Mass Market Paperback)

As SHADES OF WINTER opens, Genevieve de Macy, daughter of Sir Jaufre and Melyssan, is 16 years old. Her mother died seven years earlier from childbirth complications while delivering her third child, a stillborn son. After Genevieve receives a marriage proposal from the flighty Henry III and is intrigued by a wastrel knight, Sir Jaufre sends her away to her brother's French keep, the Chateau Clairemont le Fleur. Smitten by the lusty, blonde Amaury de Launville, she returns home to find her father has arranged a marriage for her with Sir Hugh of Bassenport, grandson of a wealthy merchant.

Sir Jaufre's health is teetering and he worries for Genevieve's future welfare. Without a legitimate son, Winterbourne will be bequeathed to her. The wife of his French illegitimate son has other ideas and looks to make Winterbourne theirs. In the meantime, Genevieve realizes she's pregnant and is at her wit's end wondering what she is going to do.

Not only does Coppula convincingly portray life in a medieval castle, but Genevieve's arrogance fits the character well. To portray her as sweet and submissive would be inconsistent for a successful noble during this period. Her arrogance is combined with the naiveté of a 16 year old, and her character growth as the story unfolds is well done.

One aspect this reviewer frowns on in both this novel and its predecessor is its pairing of women with men who are so much older than them. A thirty-something man who falls in love with teenagers is either emotionally unstable or looking for someone he can easily manipulate. In one case, Sir Tristan, knew his wife before she was even born, and he was over the age of 30 at that blessed event. However, during feudal society, marriage was not about fulfilling emotional attachment. For royalty, nobles, and gentry, it was about alliances and procreating. (Such train of thought even affected the lower classes, to a smaller degree.) The average life expectancy for a woman was half that of a man's because childbirth was one of the deadliest risks women took at the time. In explaining Melyssan's early demise, Coppula used the most likely scenario for a woman's premature death of the period. As distasteful as the age difference between the lovers is, it's unacceptable to fault Coppula's storytelling for this detail. Older husbands were a common practice in the 13th century because wives were so "dispensable." And today's women forget that wives were expected to be obedient in the days of yore. Despite this, Genevieve is still a strong, yet believable protagonist and the attachment she develops toward her husband does make this relationship more palatable. On the other hand, it be wonderful to see more writers defy genre conventions and make more women a little older or more experienced than their lovers.

Coppula does a great job exploiting the dangers of living in a fuedal society, especially when the people interact in court. There was always intrigue around the reigning monarch (which still occurs today to some extent, with less fatal consequences). A king's popularity was extremely critical to avoid rebellion. If their people's attention wasn't focused on an unpopular king, courtiers would plot against each other for the merest slight or royal favor.

Coppula has also done her research describing castle life. Sir Jaufre was supposed to be wealthy and indeed he must have been to have a fortress made of stone when the kingdom still had several castles constructed with timber. Terms such as a castle's bailey, donjon, oubliette, et cetera, are used as required by the story, although it's questionable whether the jailers would courteously provide their prisoners a ladder in the case of the latter. In Ireland's Leap Castle, an oubliette was found with a large spike embedded upright from its floor, indicating the cruel fate of captives thrown down these deep, narrow shafts.

SHADES OF WINTER is an excellent continuation of the de Macy saga. Too bad there is only two novels. Susan Coppula's British history, characterization, and plotting is, as always, impeccable. Fawcett is overdue in reissuing this book as it did WINTERBOURNE.