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THE LOVE KNOT In 1297 Joanna of Acre was bundled into a nunnery by her father Edward I after he had found out about her secret affaire with penniless squire Ralph Monthermer. The two lovers write to each other from their respective prisons for he has been taken to Bristol Castle while the king instigates an investigation. The lovers’ letters are full of empassioned outpourings to each other about their undying love and throughout the noel, which is written in the form of letters they remain the star-crossed lovers of romantic fiction down the ages and therefore rather uninteresting as characters. Enter the king’s investigator the long-faced, sad-eyed clerk Henry Trokelowe and the story takes off. Did Joanna’s brutal husband fall or was he pushed, and if so who did the pushing? Secret chambers where black magic is practised, comely witches, robust Chaucerian nuns, coded missives…fans of P C Doherty will be on familiar ground here and as Trokelowe was a real person maybe he was also the inspiration for Doherty’s sleuth Hugh Corbett. It is his letters that touch the heart as he tells of his only friendship and how it ended and his dogged determination ever since to understand the nature of love. Is it a disease, or something else? I enjoyed the device of the letters although the lovers’ words became repetitive after a time and their powerful personalities remained elusive. Henry was beautifully delineated and as sharp as a tack in his investigations – the rest is history. This author doesn’t waste a word in this brief novel which is worth reading for its insights into a famous love affaire and the people who were touched by it. |