I am back with one of my favourite series - the Morland Dynasty - and this proved delightful as usual.
It also proved educative. I have quite a few more which are up for review.
The time is 1670 and the era is Charles I. The religious strife brought about by Henry VIII has never completely healed and under the accession of the Catholic James II conflict resumes. Alongside this Ralph has undertaken the stewardship of Morland place and under him things have flourished. Annunciata has taken the Court by storm - her beauty and intelligence are unchallenged. She has also not forgotton her family and they all benefit by her presence at the Court.
However things do not work out smoothly and Annunciata herself is charged and imprisoned. She gets by the merest chance but her passion for life can take her down a rather treacherous road this time around. Annunciata in all the books comes across as a self centred, selfish woman but she is very conscious of her position in the family and will not deliberately harm the Morland name.
The chief protagonist in this particular book is Annunciata with several other strong characters as well. What makes the series so good is that history is dealt with in periods of fifty to seventy years and each section of history is extremely interesting in itself. This is apart from the Morland clan which is intriguing to say the least. Once you start reading even a little bit about the Morland dynasty you get hooked and the marriages and inter marriages keep you going as you do want to know what is going to happen next.
This particular book deals with British history but I must say that the next couple of books dealing with the Crimean war and Sebastopol are equally interesting for history fans.
I will be again away from the blog till Sunday. Seen below are some photos of a kovil (Hindu temple) in Matale. The carvings are exquisite.
I really must improve my photographic skills as these do not do justice to those carvings.