A Princess and a Thane

A Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle by Liza Campbell

Two things I try to keep in mind when reading memoirs: 1. Memoirs are based on the author's memory and impressions. That makes them a bit like historical fiction. 2. Memoirs are not autobiographies. They are bits and spurts of a life, not the events from cradle to grave. And so I am not as critical of A Charmed Life as I would be a straight work of fiction or nonfiction. The premise of this book completely intrigued me. Liza Campbell was born to Hugh, the twenty-fifth Thane of Cawdor Castle and Lady Catherine Campbell. Her family has occupied the castle that Shakespeare wrote into Macbeth since 1295. I loved the idea of medieval castles and traditions mixed with modern families (Liza was born in 1959). The book did not disappoint. Stories of Liza's ancestors make up a bulk of the book. As soon as a memory from childhood begins, she seems to slip into a fairy tale like story of a great-great-grandfather. I enjoyed the history but I wanted to know more about Liza and her family. Near the end of the book a more complete and concise story line of Liza's late teens and twenty's unfolds.
One of the best aspects of the book is Liza's vocabulary and descriptions. While I found the story line a bit jumpy, so many perfectly placed words (or ones that sent me to my dictionary) made reading a pleasure. A few examples of her descriptions: "Bagpipes are like a handsome man with halitosis: rather fabulous from far away, but taxing up close". On the tendency towards alcoholism in her family, "If you shake the family tree, bottles fall out."
This book, dedicated to her two children, seemed a written history of the Campbells for the next generation. I was happy to peek at the family files - Liza did not hold back and the book had a sad yet satisfying ending, with a dramatic turn of events and an explanation as to why her dad, the Thane, was a royal jerk most of his life.


The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory




Everyone seems to know Philippa Gregory's name since her best-seller, The Other Boleyn Girl, was made into a movie. I enjoyed the book and the movie but I took both with a grain of salt ... not only do we actually know very little about Mary, Anne's sister, but the facts that we do know were bent and reshaped to fit the plot of the novel. Not that there is anything wrong with that. We must just keep in mind that we are reading historical FICTION. That being said, The Constant Princess was mostly enjoyable. I find Catherine of Aragon (Henry VIII's first wife) a very interesting woman in history but I think that readers who do not have an already established interest and knowledge in her and her time period may not enjoy the book. Philippa is good at writing romantic historic fiction but this novel goes on forever. Points are made three times in a row. Dialog goes on for pages. Catherine sits in her chapel and talks to her dead husband ad nausuem. On top of that, Philippa has taken some hotly debated events and made them plot. For example, Catherine of Aragon was originally married to Arthur, Henry's older brother. Arthur, a sickly young man, died soon after their marriage. Catherine was then married to Henry because, the story goes, Arthur was so sickly that the marriage was never consummated. Of course, we do not know for sure what happened, but that seems to be the story everyone is sticking to. Everyone but Philippa. In The Constant Princess Arthur and Catherine have a hot, passionate marriage are are madly in love. When Arthur is on his death bed, he makes Catherine promise to deny ever loving him or making love to him so that she can marry his brother and become Queen. It's a little too far fetched for me. I feel the historical "facts" (such as they are) were stretched a little too far for a plot that is mostly ... well, boring.
I would only recommend this book to those who love this time period and want to read any and all related literature ... and keep in mind the FICTION in Philippa's historical fiction.

In her defense, Philippa's website has a nice essay on her novels and "fact and fiction."