The Book of the month for May and June was The White Ship by Charles Spencer. The Big Review is below.
***Big Reviews are written from the point of view that you have read the book. If this is not yet you, bookmark the page and come back once you have***
White Ship – the blurb
The sinking of the White Ship in 1120 is one of the greatest disasters England has ever suffered. In one catastrophic night, the king’s heir and the flower of Anglo-Norman society were drowned and the future of the crown was thrown violently off course.
In a riveting narrative, Charles Spencer follows the story from the Norman Conquest through to the decades that would become known as the Anarchy: a civil war of untold violence that saw families turn in on each other with English and Norman barons, rebellious Welsh princes and the Scottish king all playing a part in a desperate game of thrones. All because of the loss of one vessel – the White Ship – the medieval Titanic.
What if
It’s been a while since a non fiction book was a book of the month so I picked White Ship as it had been lying in my TBR for a while. Written by Princess Diana’s brother I must admit there was an element of intrigue as to Spencer writing about a royal’s tragic death.
I hadn’t actually heard of the sinking of the White Ship before and even though you were well aware of it in the book when it came to actually reading about the sinking you really were tense hoping somehow all would survive. Spencer did succeed in keeping the various characters of same name different (despite seventy two billionty of them being called Matilda). I did however found there was an over reliance on Orderic Vitalis and Henry Huntingdon who at one point felt like the author he was quoted so much. He even provided my favorite quote from the book
“instead of wearing embroidered robes, he floated naked in the waves; and instead of ascending a lofty throne, he found his grave in the bellies of fishes at the bottom of the sea”
I did however enjoy the book, it wasn’t too wordy and didn’t get too bogged down with fact. It was also really interesting to read about this part of history, Spencer taking us right back to William The Conqueror and all that brought. Fascinating to think what if. Fascinating to know what happened because of.
Get Involved
If you would like to get involved with the Book Of The Month choices try answering the Book Club questions published every month. Just search in the footnotes section for the ‘Get Involved’ articles. A new book is chosen every month so keep your eyes peeled for the Lowdown on July’s book of the month soon.