Mistress of the Art of Death – Ariana Franklin
As the author states at the end of Mistress of the Art of Death:
It is almost impossible to write a comprehensible story set in the twelfth century without being anachronistic, in part at least.
Nevertheless, Ariana Franklin has managed to do just that, and irrespective of anachronisms, has produced a fabulous tale with pace, great characters and a fascinating storyline. The story is set in Cambridge in the late 1100’s. When one of the town’s children is found brutally murdered, the blame immediately falls upon the town’s Jewish community. Several are killed in the backlash and the entire community is shut in the town’s castle for their own safety while the townsfolk bay for their blood. Several more children are discovered, and the fact that the Jews are in forced captivity does nothing to assuage the accusations. King Henry II, who earns a lot of money from the countries Jewish population is very unhappy. While the Jews are locked away, his source of income is stopped and he wants something done about it.
Arriving in a manner which harks back to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, an odd trio sent by the King of Sicily to investigate the murders. Entering the city with a large and disparate group of pilgrims, one of whom (the author suggests) is the murderer, the team are still unusual.
Heading up the team is Simon of Naples, a shrewd interrogator and a Jew himself. With him are a doctor from Salerno who specialises in examining dead bodies in order to determine the cause of death, and the doctor’s assistant. What is unusual though is that the doctor is a woman, and her assistant is an Arabic eunuch. She is the mistress in the art of death of the title and she is a fabulous character.
I love strong heroines, and Adelia fitted my idea of the perfect heroine beautifully. She was intelligent, not overly prone to emotion, strong and sure of herself. Her career had meant that she had forsaken the usual feminine desires of marriage and children, but sure enough – her arrival in England and examination of the crimes soon finds her falling in love. However, doing so doesn’t mean that she relinquishes her freedom to become the submissive wife, which is why I loved the ending. Adelia remains strong and she refuses to give up the job she loves.
Unless you really know medieval English history, the anachronisms which the author mentions make no difference whatsoever. I don’t see them as errors in history – I see them as poetic license. This is fiction and there are no rules that says historical fiction must adhere to the facts of that period. What the author has achieved is a balance between the true history of Cambridge in the 12th century, and the required imaginative affectations to produce a great story. I enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the humour and although I had worked out who was the perpetrator half way through (sadly, I have a habit of being able to do that, but it doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story), I really enjoyed the conclusion. Adelia was a marvellous character, although I think the author’s best portrait was of the king, Henry II, whom she gives a shrewd and clever personality and an ability not just to awe, but to fool completely. When you read a lot of dry history, discovering a personality for a major player, albeit fictional, is a plesure.
I’d be curious to know if Franklin was planning on continuing with Adelia as a character, but it would be nice if she did.
Rating: 8/10
ISBN: 978-0-553-81800-0
Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: 2007
Date Finished: 15 December 2008
Pages: 505
