≡ PDF The Tapestry A Novel Joanna Stafford series Nancy Bilyeau 9781476756370 Books

The Tapestry A Novel Joanna Stafford series Nancy Bilyeau 9781476756370 Books

Download As PDF : The Tapestry A Novel Joanna Stafford series Nancy Bilyeau 9781476756370 Books

The Tapestry A Novel Joanna Stafford series Nancy Bilyeau 9781476756370 Books

Third Book: Great series. Historical fiction from the point of view of a Dominican Postulate during the time of the dissolution of the monasteries in Tudor England. Strong characters and a likable heroine. My only criticism would be the sheer unbelievable story line as to the entanglements of the main character. The plot drags on in the third book because the reader seems to know more than the protagonist as to her fate. I enjoy anything set in the Late Medieval/Early Modern time period and fans of that era will not be disappointed.


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The Tapestry A Novel Joanna Stafford series Nancy Bilyeau 9781476756370 Books Reviews

Joanna Stafford continues in the Tapestry as a strong, independent woman. The reader can easily identify with Joanna as she struggles to find herself during the tumultuous reign of Henry VIII. She comes with a religious background but often her secular focus helps her overcome the threats of her adversaries.

I did wonder if someone as a strong willed, independent woman could emerge and survive in King Henry's time. As a final point, the ending seemed somewhat contrived.
Sometimes by the third book of a trilogy, the story becomes rather boring. But not The Tapestry and not Joanna Stafford and her struggles and intrigue! Absolutely love Nancy Bilyeau's writing! She captures you and draws right into King Henry's court and time period with such beautiful and exquisite writing!
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the third novel featuring Joanna Stafford. The author has such a great way of making us feel that we are right there beside her, whether it's at Whitehall with the King, or in her own small town of Dartford. All of the prominent figures of that time, Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell, and so many others become real. Joanna herself has to make so many decisions, some of them fraught with danger, but she is so brave and smart. I hope the story of Joanna will continue!
Absolutely fascinating mystery set in Tudor England. A displaced novice nun -- because of Henry VIII's dissolution of the Catholic church and its abbeys and priories -- tries to make a life for herself as best she can. But her almost husband has disappeared, and she's ordered to be Henry's full-time tapestry mistress. But she's afraid of Henry and longs for her simple life in a small village. The intrigues of court are not to her liking. It's hard to put this book down because of the excellent writing and intriguing plot.
Having come to love Joanna Stafford through the first two books, The Crown and The Chalice, I was caught immediately by The Tapestry, where she is in constant danger. There is a direct threat on her life, but she also gets pulled into the politics of Henry VIII. His court is filled with suspicion, paranoia, pretense, and dread. Even those in high favor are only a step from the chopping block. Within this context, Joanna risks her own life to rescue those she cares for, often with nothing but her quick wits.
The story is spiced with a lover triangle and with carefully drawn characters from history. (I love Hans Holbein.) It was a joy to read this novel. Because Bilyeau skillfully layers in details from the other books, you can read this as a standalone, but then you'd be depriving yourself of the delights of the first two in the series.
THE TAPESTRY is the final book in the Joanna Stafford historical fiction series and what a satisfying ending it is. In this last installment, Joanna navigates the complicated court of Henry VIII and his new ally the infamous Thomas Cromwell while a skilled assassin in on her trail. Behind the throne intrigue and a cross-country adventure through the wilds of the Holy Roman Empire make this a thrilling Tudor historical fiction novel. The entire series is written with a great pace that never slows down and this book is no exception. Nancy Bilyeau is wonderful at immersing the reader in the richness of Tudor-era England without drowning the reader in details. I loved this series and look forward to seeing where Nancy Bilyeau will take her readers next.
I’m a big fan of Nancy Bilyeau’s Joanna Stafford series, the latest of which is The Tapestry. I think she keeps getting better with each book. You shouldn’t miss The Tapestry.

In full disclosure, Nancy and I occasionally share pages of our manuscripts to edit for each other. We’re good friends—a friendship that arose out of my admiration for her skill as a writer. So I’ll show you a couple close ups of what there is to admire in this third book.

Nancy writes thrillers—like the more common, modern version of a thriller, in Nancy’s you are biting your nails with worry about the survival of characters you care about, and danger mounts in alarming and unexpected ways. In Nancy’s version of a thriller, you are also taken vividly back into the world of Tudor England. History with a zing—an adrenalin rush zing. That’s a great premise.

A lot of precision writing goes into making such a challenging premise work.

There are the skillful opening sentences, for example. Joanna was, until Henry VIII made it impossible, a novice Dominican nun. The reader wouldn’t immediately imagine violent threats and spies as the daily substance of a nun, even a nun who lives without a monastery, and indeed Joanna insists she hopes for a quiet life. But from the opening, Bilyeau ratchets up our expectations and set off our “uh oh” radar as readers.

“I was once told that whenever I felt suspicious of someone’s intent, no matter how faintly, I should trust that instinct, but since the man who issued this advice had himself tried to kill me, and nearly succeeded, it was difficult to know how much weight to give his words.
I felt this distrust in a place where all others seemed at ease, as I followed a page through the tall, gleaming rooms of the Palace of Whitehall, filled with the most prosperous subjects of King Henry VIII. To anyone else, it would seem the safest place in all of England.
But not to me.”

The reader is thus plunged into a thriller environment from the start.

But we’re also tugged deeply into this Tudor place and time in ways that stay integral to the story. Bilyeau is one of the best at weaving in the historical details without losing a fast pace. From this scene of opening tension, we jump back in time eight days and move quickly up to this key moment. The eight days are filled with decisions we see as ominous and hints of trouble disguised as opportunity. We feel the warmth of her friends and the invisible knifepoint at her throat. Then in chapter 4 the story circles back to that walk through the Palace of Whitehall

“The hall, like the courtyard, was filled with men, though these were calm. High above their heads stretched a ceiling possessing as much meticulous grandeur as the gatehouse. The same black-and-white checks, the judicious sprinkling of fleurs-de-lis. Mullioned windows were set high in the walls. It struck me that this was a very modern palace. I strained to remember what I knew of Whitehall—it was the London home of the archbishops of York until Henry VIII’s first minister, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, took ownership and spend a fortune expanding it. After the king turned against Wolsey, he took Whitehall. Just as, years earlier, he had my uncle the Duke of Buckingham executed on trumped-up charges of treason and then took all his properties. That was what Henry VIII did—he took.”

In one deft paragraph, Bilyeau accomplishes four essential things setting, historical background, theme and establishment of the personal stakes of the main character. That’s a lot in a short span and you don’t feel weighed down as a reader, but rather pulled in.

Bilyeau lays out setting so you are most definitely there in that place with Joanna seeing it through 16th century eyes. We get the giant scale, although she never actually says the room is big. We see the details of decoration and light. Notice how we’re put inside Joanna’s perception—this is a modern palace.

Then we glimpse the darkness hidden behind the “modern” windows and tall ceilings. How did this come to be Henry’s palace? Bilyeau slips in one of the novel’s themes and puzzles—Henry is a compulsive taker (and, we’ll learn, discarder). What are the consequences of this drive? She touches on the specific historical events that prove that theme, thus orienting the average reader with all the needed facts. I’m not a Tudor history fanatic. I need to be told who the players are and which conflicts matter. But I don’t want to be lectured—no lectures here. Just precision strokes with the pen.

And then the ominous close to the paragraph. Henry takes and takes. He’s taken from Joanna through trumped-up charges. She’s walking through the palace of a man who cannot be trusted, most particularly not by Joanna.

That’s a lot for one paragraph to accomplish. I’m impressed. I hope you are and are tantalized into reading Bilyeau’s trilogy The Crown, The Chalice and The Tapestry.
Third Book Great series. Historical fiction from the point of view of a Dominican Postulate during the time of the dissolution of the monasteries in Tudor England. Strong characters and a likable heroine. My only criticism would be the sheer unbelievable story line as to the entanglements of the main character. The plot drags on in the third book because the reader seems to know more than the protagonist as to her fate. I enjoy anything set in the Late Medieval/Early Modern time period and fans of that era will not be disappointed.