Reviews of Within the Fetterlock
The year is 1396, and King Richard II is without an heir. Suspicious of those around him, he sees plots to steal the throne everywhere. When the exiled rebel Henry of Lancaster lands in England, it seems that Richard’s worst fears have come true. Constance of York, cousin to both the King and the rebellious Henry, is thrown into the fray. The two men she loves most, her husband and her brother, are often on opposite sides in the struggle, and they inexorably pull her into the conspiracies that threaten all she holds dear.
Although his mastery of the complicated myriad of events that began the Wars of the Roses is impressive, Wainwright’s true forte lies in his vivid characterization. All the characters in the novel, including the minor players, are richly illustrated. Constance is a passionate woman, intelligent, brave, forthright and tenaciously loyal to those she loves. And although she ultimately obeys her husband, she is also capable of a degree of independent thought and action that does not at all conform to the ideology of the age.
Wainwright wisely avoids the stereotypes of hero and villain – his characters are refreshingly three-dimensional, and he examines the hopes, fears and passions that drive them to the courses they pursue. Although the novel’s intrigue, love, hate and war give it a gripping pace, it is the depth of the storytelling that transports the reader to medieval England and makes this book such a good read. Wainwright brings the novel to a compelling conclusion, although after the nonstop twists and turns, the end of the novel feels almost abrupt. Nevertheless, Within the Fetterlock is an exciting and historically detailed account that brings to life the politics and people who populated 14th century England. Highly recommended.
Review by Bethany Skaggs, The Historical Novel Review, August 2004
The second novel of Brian Wainwright, Within the Fetterlock is a true epic in the true sense of the word – an utterly satisfying historical family saga of the type very difficult to find nowadays. Set in the unsettled times of Richard II – a time when kin destroyed kin and planted seeds that one day became the War of the Roses, opening the door to the Tudor age, Within the Fetterlock tells the story of Constance, a very proud Plantagenet princess. With a strong sense of right and wrong, blue blooded to her very core, yet also vulnerable, Constance holds her pride as a shield against an uncertain, dangerous world.
Constance is the only legitimate daughter of the Duke of York, Edmund of Langley, the fourth son of Edward III. Langley chose for his family the cognizance of a falcon confined within a fetterlock, indicating his recognition and acceptance of the constraints set upon his power, which meant his family should never inherit the throne. Langley, like his daughter, desires to be loyal to his nephew, Richard II. Unlike his daughter, future events, often set in motion by Langley’s own ambitious and deceitful son, will force him to turn from his loyalty; he choses to support the complex Henry of Lancaster, another nephew and regarded by Langley almost like another son. A man who also loves Constance and knows he will never have her.
Wedded to Thomas Despenser when they both were small children, the story opens to show Constance and Thomas as young adults, very happily matched in their marriage, but Thomas is soon caught up in his brother-in-law’s machinations for the throne, with Constance pulled along by the currents and out into deadly depths not of her own making.
Within the Fetterlock possesses a multi cast of characters, but unlike many books of this type, the author never bogs down story. It is a novel that keeps the reader fully engaged and turning pages to the very end. All the characters possess clear, distinct voices, drawn with the skill of a talented author who more than just knows his history. His obvious passion for this subject and certain grip on this time period brings it alive.
Constance is a glittering character I will long remember. Her story of survival amidst so much grief and loss is so symbolic of women of this time and class. Constance's story symbolises too how women of her class were often falcons held within the fetterlock of their patriarchal society.
As with all Wainwright's characters, from the first page, Constance becomes real and vivid. With her beloved husband, family and then, when widowed, her lover under threat, we feel her pain and despair, her desire to remain loyal no matter the cost and her anger when she perceives herself betrayed.
Brian Wainwright’s prose weaves a densely wrought tapestry of immense colour and life, setting the reader deep within Medieval England. In a time when a King’s court moved constantly around his dominion, we experience this long ago England in all its seasons, entering a place where kin are prepared to kill one another if it means winning a blood-drenched throne.
Review by Wendy J Dunn, Suite101.Com, February 2005
(http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/6820/113322)
Brian Wainwright's second novel Within the Fetterlock is an historical family saga that focuses on Constance of York, Lady le Despenser, the only legitimate daughter of Edmund of Langley, the Duke of York. The story opens in 1396; Thomas Despenser and Constance are happily married and the kingdom has been relatively peaceful for a number of years.
To obtain a truce in the war with France, Richard II, King of England for 19 years when the story opens, marries the eight-year-old French princess Isabella, daughter of Charles VI, to secure a truce in the war with, France. (They are in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, which lasted off and on from 1337 to 1453.) Richard is Constance's uncle, and as the noble families split over the controversy-the split that will eventually pit the Houses of York and Lancaster in the Wars of the Roses-she and her husband will be forced to choose sides. Richard's health is not good, and given that his wife is so young, it is doubtful he will sire an heir. Thus, plots and intrigues to succeed him to the throne are underway. Thomas is soon caught up in his brother-in-law Edward's attempts to gain the throne for himself, and Constance is helplessly sucked into the intrigue.
The heraldic emblem of the Duke of York was a falcon confined within a fetterlock, a chain or shackle that is secured around the leg or ankle. As such, the emblem symbolized the conflicting loyalties that trap essentially everybody with any political influence during the period in which this novel takes place. Constance's much-loved older brother Edward is held in high esteem by Richard, but at the same time he is continually looking to his own advancement, and he and Thomas are often on the opposite sides of the political fence.
Despite the overwhelming cast of characters, including the Lancasters, Yorks, Gloucesters, Mortimers, Despensers, and Hollands, the story never bogs down in genealogical minutiae but is carried along by the intrigue and suspense. Nor does Wainwright spare us detail. "Constance, making her way back from one of the overflowing garderobes, had gathered the spare folds of her sideless surcote in the crook of her arm to save it further punishment," he writes, a deceptively simple picture that conveys the mountain of knowledge of the medieval England that Wainwright brings to the story. History buffs and anybody who likes good historical fiction will love Within the Fetterlock for the intricate political intrigues and rivalries the story involves, which ultimately had enormous historical implications involving the British throne, and from which William Shakespeare derived his timeless histories.
--Charles Rammelkamp
Renaissance Magazine (USA)
Best Historical Novel I've Ever Read
I recently read Within The Fetterlock for the second time, about three years after my first read. I found it every bit as compelling and downright brilliant as the first time.
Reading this novel is the closest thing to time travel I've ever experienced. It didn't feel as though I was reading, but rather that I was there, in the late 14th/early 15th century, with Constance, Thomas Despenser, Henry of Bolingbroke and the rest. Every time I put the book down, it took me a little while to adjust to the modern world again! I've never read any historical novel that felt so three-dimensional and so utterly real.
The description is just right, the characterisation spot on, the dialogue completely convincing. The characters, Constance especially, feel exactly right, medieval people behaving in medieval ways - not, as you so often find in histfict, modern people with modern attitudes dumped into a medieval setting.
There is a huge cast of characters, and the first chapter can be a little disorientating if you don't know who they all are, but Mr Wainwright trusts his readers' intelligence to get it and go with the flow. I'm not an expert on this time period, but all the characters are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the nobility of Edward II's era, my own area of interest, so I was fascinated to read the continuation of the 'family saga'.
What an astonishingly good writer Brian Wainwright is! I am in awe of his talent. I do hope he's planning another novel - preferably lots more, and I'll certainly be pre-ordering anything else he publishes. I urge you to read Within The Fetterlock. Historical novels just don't get any better.
A reader’s review taken from the web.