January 15, 2007

Book of the Week: Laura Kinsale's Shadowheart

Laura Kinsale is one of the most interesting writers I read. She’s always classified as a romance writer. But her books are always about ten feet deeper than the average romance. Her characters have layers upon layers. The conflicts between the hero and heroine are very, very serious. And her heroes are ALWAYS severely flawed . . . and her heroines, too. In fact, they’re not heroes and heroines. They’re complex people coping with terrible circumstances.

Laura Kinsale writes Extreme Romance.

I’m not talking explicit sex, here. Kinsale doesn’t write long sex scenes, but they’re very intense. They’re only plainspoken enough to let you know exactly what’s happening.

The titles of Kinsale’s books, however, are strictly romance. This past week I read SHADOWHEART, and as usual I was bowled over by Kinsale’s writing and her skill in bringing to life a time long past. In a short piece she wrote in acknowledgement, Kinsale refers to difficulty finishing the book; she seems to have suffered from writer’s block. Maybe that explains why she doesn’t have more books on the shelf. I’m always hoping to find one I haven’t read yet.

SHADOWHEART is the story of Elayne, who has been raised in England. She retains shadowy memories of her past that hint that she was not always English, that a man brought her to her godmother and left her there, with her sister who is wed to an Englishman. When Elayne becomes interested in marrying a visiting knight, she finds she can’t because she’s a princess. In fact, she’s sent back to Italy to marry the rival prince who’s taken over her birthright. Along the way, she’s kidnapped by yet another rival prince, who turns out to be the man who brought her to England in the first place. Of course, this sounds as unlikely as any other novel boiled down to the bones. What can I say? Kinsale makes you believe it.

SHADOWHEART has some conflicted sexuality in it; for those who are more inclined to regular vanilla, you might want to try Kinsale’s PRINCE OF MIDNIGHT first.

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This weekend it’s rained. And then drizzled. And misted. Then, for a change of pace, it rained some more. Our duck is in duck heaven, with a far larger pond to rule than he usually can claim. Is there anything more soothing than going to sleep with the sound of rain on the roof?

At least so far we’ve been spared the ice that’s made life so perilous for our neighbors to the west and north. I’m writing about ice right now, as I work on AN ICE COLD GRAVE . . . which has to be on my editor’s desk really, really soon. So I’ve been thinking cold. I’ve been thinking icy. I’ve been thinking about perverted sexuality, the more common sexuality, and the bereavement of families who’ve lost a loved one to crime.

In the midst of all this thinking, when I heard on the news about the two boys in Missouri who have been returned to their families, I could only be glad for the parents of those boys; yet their future is full of trouble. The most recently snatched boy should be all right. But the young man held for four years?

It’s too bad that in real life happy endings are not always simple, and don’t always end in the big denouement of the movies. In real life, the consequences of crime spill over into the remaining years of the victim’s existence. That’s one of the things I’m exploring in the new book, and I’m thinking I’m not giving it enough page time, now.

Why can’t happy endings be simply happy? What happened to happily-ever-after? Maybe it’s my middle age. The young believe in happily ever after, and maybe when I’m old, I will again. I do believe, more firmly than ever, in enjoying the moment. At this moment, those boys are safe with their families. At this moment, the evil man who took them is in jail. At this moment, the boys’ parents are thanking God for their safe return.

And sitting in my office on this dreary Sunday morning, dressed in church clothes; at this moment I have above-freezing temperatures and lots of electricity! Thank God.

--Charlaine Harris