Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Countess Angelique



The Countess Angelique by Sergeanne Golon,

Once again Anne Golon and Serge Golon have written a wonderful story of adventure and
turmoil amidst the hardships of the early pioneering days of the New World set in the seventeenth century. I loved this story for the sense of romance, an authentic setting in a time -frame of early America and the descriptive quality of the writing.

A wonderful book to be recommended and I now look forward to reading the next Angelique book
in the on going saga of Angelique. A magical story in many ways, full of wonder, hope and
inspiration.
The Angelique books always
seem to add a new dimension to each and every book inspiring imagination and admiration for
Angelique and her husband, Joffrey de Peyrac, who against the odds, seemed to have an
uncanny ability to overcome the hurdles placed in their pathway of life, whether these be from the elements,
nature or people. The wonderful descriptions of the forests of the New World are also
quite magical. There is the beauty and also by contrast the harsh realities of the early existence
and battle for survival in these early pioneering days with so many variances of plot and characters
which are quite unexpected. There always seems to be something new and surprising to read as the story continues in each and every one of these books of Angelique.

I also enjoyed the book of “Angelique in Barbary” or the other title may be “Angelique and the Sultan” for the wisdom and
philosophies found in the pages when Angelique was in the east, in a desert and for a time at a harem.
This also brings to mind another wonderful book set in Old Constantinople, which today is Istanbul,
where the heroine of the novel was captured and taken to a harem. This was “The Aviary Gate” by Katie Hickman, set during the time of Elizabeth I, which I enjoyed reading last year. The beautiful love story always remained with me. This may also be the secret of the Angelique books, a unique and beautiful love story of the two main
characters, Angelique and her husband, Joffrey de Peyrac.

There is actually a loose thread in the story and I was slightly disappointed to read towards the end of the story that Joffrey
de Peyrac told Angelique that he could not risk a war with New France for the sake of a few
farmers' labourers, which did surprise me, as I remember from the book “Angelique in Revolt”
that Angelique took on the might of the French king, Louis XIV, to assist and give shelter to
persecuted Huguenots, and help them to escape from France. I hope to read more about
this incident in the next book, as from my reading, I cannot imagine that Joffrey de Peyrac would suffer
injustice and it would seem to be against his better judgement as he would wish to assist unfortunate captives. Angelique and her husband, with the assistance of another person did however, manage to prise away
one child who was relinquished to them, before the captors and their captives continued on their long walk through the forest, making their way to Montreal.

I will need to start reading the next book in the series to follow this quite compelling story,
which gives a wonderful insight into the lives and times of people from an earlier era.

My best wishes,
Sandra
p.s. the cover of the hard cover edition which I read was of a quite glamorous Angelique,
wearing brightly coloured beads and a colourful gown, with distant characters, one in long white
evening cloak, as though a bishop or priest,  and which evoked a 
different time and place.  Even the cover of this particular edition which I read was quite
spell binding, with a picture of a cavalry and horses included on the back cover.

2 comments:

  1. I don't think Joffrey took on the Huguenots out of kindness. He had two goals: get Angelique back and provide settlers for his land in the New World. By taking the Huguenots on board of his ship he simply killed two birds with one stone.
    I believe that Joffrey is much more pragmatic than we would like to think and also he has suffered a lot and unfairly, which has hardened him even beyond his time in Toulouse when he was a rich noble albeit persecuted by pretty much everyone for one thing or another.

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  2. Hello Olga,

    Thank you for your message.

    I always thought of Joffrey as a good kind man but of course,
    his adventures in the Mediterranean and tribulations in his life time may have altered his thinking patterns. He remained in love with
    Angelique over time. He was also quite noble of mind and spirit from my reading of the Angelique books, so this matter of the farmers' labourers
    in captivity was surprising as regards Joffrey's
    perception.

    I look forward to reading the next book in the
    Angelique series.

    My best wishes from Sandra

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