The classic Nora Lofts novel tells the story before Robin Hood, of King Richard the Lionhearted, while leaving open the question whether he was gay
Rating: 3 Stars
The 20th century best-selling author Norah Lofts said that when she was a child, “Richard Plantagenet was my hero, though I took care not to reveal this eccentricity.”
The Lute Player was first published in 1951. Lofts took four years researching Richard to write the book. Lofts said she was astounded by the warmth and enthusiasm with which people responded to the news that she was writing about Richard I and the Third Crusade. In her book, Richard is already being called Richard the Lionhearted. He’s a legendary soldier of the Crusades and heir to the British throne. Richard’s younger brother John will famously betray him. The Lute Player reveals what happens before Robin Hood’s rebellion against John.
The Lute Player is a story of unrequited love and betrayal. Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character: Berengaria, the future queen of England, falls in love with Richard at first sight during a tournament at her father’s castle in Navarre; the lute player Blondel, Richard’s close companion during the Third Crusade, falls in love with Berengaria; Anna Apieta, the illegitimate half-sister of Berengaria, secretly loves Blondel.
Lofts paints Richard as a man who spends his life with men. Was Richard gay? Did he ever have sex with his wife? Nobody knows. Although Blondel is mentioned in legend, nobody is sure he was a real person. The Lute Player is mostly fiction with a bit of historic fact intertwined. Lofts describes the medieval castles of Europe, the sun-drenched landscapes of Palestine and the marches of the Third Crusades. You feel the characters’ pain and understand a crusading soldier’s hardships.
The Lute Player is a must-read for fans of Richard the Lionhearted and his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine. However, it shouldn’t be taken as a historically accurate story. Anna Apieta, for example, is an invented character.
Lofts was born in Shipdham, Norfolk in England in 1904 and died in 1983. Her books have sold more than a million copies. She wrote more then sixty, mainly historical novels. She wrote as herself and under the pen names Peter Curtis and Juliet Astley. Many of her novels became films, including 7 Women, directed by John Ford.
The Lute Player: A Novel of Richard the Lionhearted by Norah Lofts. Trade Paperback, 592 pages, Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (December 8, 2009). Language: English, ISBN: 978-1439146071 $16.00
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