+Blog Book Tour+ Queen of Bedlam by Laura Purcell #Georgian #histfic

Posted Tuesday, 15 July, 2014 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

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Queen of Bedlam by Laura Purcell

Queen of Bedlam by Laura Purcell

Published ByMyrmidon Books Ltd (@myrmidonbooks), 10 June, 2014 (UK Edition)
Official Author Websites: Site | @Laura_D_Purcell  | Facebook | GoodReads
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook Page Count: 384

Converse on Twitter: #QueenOfBedlam, #QueenOfBedlamTour, & #MyrmidonBooks

The author’s plans for her Hanoverian series of which Queen of Bedlam is Book One.

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Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Queen of Bedlam” virtual book tour through HFVBT: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the publisher Myrmidon Books Ltd, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read:

I will admit I have not yet tackled the Georgian Era in British history, which is one of the most neglected eras of my reading exploits to have come to my notice this past year! The Tudors were a bit of an interest of mine originally, yet they simply always felt a bit difficult to entreat inside their stories. The recent popularity of the Tudors sort of left me a bit betwixt knowing if I wanted to broach into the Tudors at this particular moment or not. Thankfully, I was able to find a few stories most agreeable to my interests, which I happily reviewed in recent months! When I first read about this particular novel, what perked my interest the most is that it was writ with an air of knowledge of the Georgians! An entire group of British royals I had never once entranced a fevering wink or nod into researching or reading! I always celebrate moments of this sort, because it simply proves that when a book alights in one’s hand to read, there are entreaties of the historical past that still hold a candle of surprise for the reader! And, this one by far had a premise and a potential which bewitched the very essence of this sentiment!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comBook Synopsis:

London, 1788. The calm order of Queen Charlotte’s court is shattered by screams. Her beloved husband, England’s King, has gone mad.

Left alone with thirteen children and a country at war, Charlotte must fight to hold her husband’s throne in a time of revolutionary fever. But it is not just the guillotine that Charlotte fears: it is the King himself.

Her six daughters are desperate to escape their palace asylum. Their only chance lies in a good marriage, but no Prince wants the daughter of a madman. They are forced to take love wherever they can find it – with devastating consequences.

The moving true story of George III’s madness and the women whose lives it destroyed.


Author Biography:

Laura Purcell

Laura Purcell lives in Colchester, the oldest recorded town in England. She met her husband working in Waterstones bookshop and they share their home with several pet guinea pigs.

Laura is a member of the Historical Novel Society, The Society for Court Studies and Historic Royal Palaces. She has recently appeared on the PBS documentary The Secrets of Henry VIII’s Palace, talking about Queen Caroline’s life at Hampton Court.

Laura’s novels explore the lives of royal women during the Georgian era, who have largely been ignored by modern history. Her debut Queen Charlotte was originally self-published as God Save the King, receiving excellent reviews as an Amazon bestseller in biographical fiction.

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The Georgian Era:

I had not realised there was a bit of an overlap between the time of Marie Antoinette during Revolutionary France and the Georgian Era of British history. I think perhaps, I might have missed this pertinent note on where the timescape of the era lies because whenever I am reading a novel before, during, or after the French Revolution, I am wholly full into that particular character and time of France itself. I do not always remember the secondary details if another country is mentioned or if they are mentioned at all — as oft-times I do read novels from a French perspective rather than on a fuller scope of the whole. What was most curious to me is how different the two worlds truly were and how similar they felt at the same time. Both of the royal families, between England and France were honoured with duty and obligations befit to their crowns, yet neither appeared to be blissful and happy within their own lives.

My Review of Queen of Bedlam:

At the jumpstart of the narrative, we are taken to visit with the King after he has long since been placed outside of society’s reach and view. He is living a bit of  a half-life kept out of the regular motions of everyday life and banished a bit to a place where he can not harm himself or inflict malice on others. The Queen in this particular viewing is remorseful and self-reflecting on how the years have reached out forward to such a moment as she can barely recognise herself and her King. The very next scene takes us back through time, to when their lives made a bit more sense to her and where all felt as well as it could be given the circumstances of having lost America in a recent struggle for control. This is where Marie Antoinette is mentioned, as she has written a letter to engage Queen Charlotte into friendship, irregardless of the turning out of the pursuit each country shared for America.

Royal is the elder daughter, and given as many responsibilities as she endeared, it is a wonder that she found a measure of peace within her own hours to enjoy a semblance of what individually gave her joy. She was accustomed to rising to the duties placed on her young shoulders, but as she aided her younger sisters, she saw firsthand how the hours ticked off the clock in repetitious strokes where each of their lives would follow the one in front without even a farthering of a distracted path between them. Each moment of their lives was already foretold, pre-destined and planned without their opinion or consent. And, yet she was a young woman who saw a bit past this bleak outlook on her own life, and dreamt of travelling outside the borders of England to whatever she might find that lay beyond her world.

Purcell writes a story of passionate alacrity about Queen Charlotte and her children’s plight within the walls of a palace that once felt lit by the fireglow of a hearth; a beloved home turnt into a personal Bastille. Charlotte was a mother who affectionately wanted to protect her children from the unease of the world, as well as the range of emotions her husband was going through due to circumstances that rattled his wires. Each time she is found in yield of the King’s wishes and of support when he is downtrodden, I felt she was vexed with a worry over not fulfilling her motherly instincts and duties. Her position did not merit a lot of consideration outside of what was expected of her, and there are passages where I could sense her gnawing frustration to be as constricted as a python.

Medically afflicted more than their fair share, the Queen was beyond her wits throughout her marriage, ever constant and alert to when an illness would swept into her family; striking down the person without conscience. Her own womb was a reminder of the children she birthed and had sent to the grave; too weak to survive. Her mind fretted over the bloodline curse coursing through her veins and her husband’s; an apt precognitive mirror in which to know their fates in the future. Purcell allows his slow descent into insanity percolate through the chapters, as the King is found to be both full of his faculties and in absence of them. He was not one to dither on medical treatment nor one to embrace his illness by acceptance of what had befallen his composed statue of health. The stress from having to justify refusing his wanton requests and rise into her new role as lead ruler, I found Queen Charlotte an incredible woman who dealt with stacked odds to a near insurmountable keeling.

I felt anguished to watch as each of the Princesses rose into the age of marriageable freedom, they would each unwisely yield to their passion and desire of breaking free of their parent’s oppressive guidance rather than to choose a match that would warrant a better path and less heartache. For Royal, I felt her pain as she realised how her actions were construed out of spite more than love, and how her stubborn heart disallowed her to reach out for allies when life demanded it. She was caught in a miserable marriage and on the wrong side of the border when war returned to her front door. Her younger sisters were equally wrought out of happiness, and I felt the measure of weight they experienced as children and young adults had addled their ability to rise above the quickest escape out once they were of age. I felt for them truly, as each of them dreamt of independence and of self-sufficiency away from the King and Queen, yet with alarming realisation found the outside world to be of a greater concern for their welfare than within the palace walls from whence they were bourne.

The writing style of Laura Purcell:

Purcell has true agility to bring forward out of history a Royal family I had not yet known about and given them compassion in the telling of their story. A family besotted by affliction and mental illness, of tragedy and wretching circumstances that anyone less strong than Queen Charlotte might not have been able to face nor survive. She paints their life with the truism of their days intermingled with their innermost thoughts, hopes, and dreams. She breathes a lifeblood into who the people were behind the titles and the Royal decrees of who they were whilst they lived. She honoured their memories and embodied their essence as she allowed the course of their lives to unfold slowly and surely through the pages of Queen of Bedlam.

I felt as though I was reading a personal diary at times, as she inserted such a level of clarity of knowledge on behalf of Queen Charlotte and of her daughter Royal. Giving telling instincts towards each of their hearts and where each had laid fervent hopes for each of their futures. She digs into their emotional states as much as the state of their world, to give a balance to the history that raged outside their home to the epitome of how sacrificial you have to be in order to rule.

I am going to continue to read her novels, hoping to find myself tethered to the world in which she illuminates each time she takes up her pen and gives us a story writ by heart and emotion.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comThis book review is courtesy of:

Queen of Bedlam Virtual Tour with HFVBTs

Virtual Road Map of “Queen of Bedlam” Blog Tour:

Monday, June 9
Guest Post “Georgian Heroines” at Passages to the Past

Wednesday, June 11
Review at Broken Teepee
Review at Unabridged Chick

Thursday, June 12
Review at The Maiden’s Court
Interview at Unabridged Chick

Friday, June 13
Review at Reading the Past

Tuesday, June 17
Review at A Bookish Affair

Wednesday, June 18
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews
Guest Post “Treatment of Mental Illness in the 18th Century” & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair

Thursday, June 19
Review at Oh, for the Hook of a Book

Saturday, June 21
Guest Post “What was George III’s illness?” at Kincavel Korner

Monday, June 23
Review at Ageless Pages Reviews

Tuesday, June 24
Guest Post “Queen Charlotte & Queen Marie Antoinette” & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books

Wednesday, June 25
Review at Book Lovers Paradise

Friday, June 27
Review at The True Book Addict
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Monday, June 30
Review at Kincavel Korner

Wednesday, July 2
Review at The Musings of ALMYBNENR

Thursday, July 10
Review at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews *not yet posted*

Monday, July 14
Review at Kelsey’s Book Corner *not yet posted*

Tuesday, July 15
Review at Jorie Loves a Story
Review at Historical Fiction Obsession

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comas I am happily honoured to be a blog tour hostess for:

Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours - HFVBTPlease visit my Bookish Events page to stay in the know for upcoming events!

I am quite curious if anyone has alighted into reading about the Georgian era of England’s past and if they entreated into this era before or after having read stories lit inside the following eras: the Regency, the Victorian, the Tudor, the Elizabethan, or the Edwardian? I am finding myself quite keen on different eras without falling back solely on my penchant affection for the Regency & Victorian eras of which I originally found myself attracted too the most. I hope to see your comments float into the threads below and perhaps giving examples of which writers your favourable for knitting together historical fact with historical fiction?

{SOURCES: Book cover for “Queen of Bedlam”, Author Biography and Book Synopsis were provided by HFVBT – Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and used with permission. Author Interview badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs.   Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Related Articles:

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – (en.wikipedia.org)

George III (en.wikipedia.org)

About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

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Posted Tuesday, 15 July, 2014 by jorielov in 18th Century, Blog Tour Host, Britian, Castles & Estates, Debut Author, Debut Novel, George III, Georgian Era, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Modern British Author, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Revolutionary France, Revolutionary War Era, Windsor Castle




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