By Susan Holloway Scott
I am ashamed to say that this book took me a ridiculous two weeks give or take to get through. That is a long time for me for a book like this. Part of this was due to my new iPhone and playing sudoku at lunch time and on the train instead of reading. Part was it was that this book stunk.
When one picks up a book at the Borders big sale like I did and when that book is entitled The Countess and the King, one expects a nice piece of naughty historical fiction. One does not expect to be bored to tears over the highly detailed political intrigues spelled out in this book.
The Countess and the King is told from the first person perspective of Katherine Sedley, a mistress to James II of England. The book recounts her unique youth among her father and his friends, then her development into a lady of King Charles II’s court and eventually her attachment to his brother James.
This had the makings of a good story and there were parts that definitely kept me interested what ruined it was that the author got way too into heavy details regarding the politics of the time particularly the Protestants vs. the Catholics. While I do think some background would have been helped the story along, it was not necessary to go into so much detail. If I wanted to read a historical account of Charles II’s reign, I would have bought a history book.
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