Edith from Wessex by Regine Sondermann
Publisher & Release: Self-published, April 7, 2016
Time and setting: 9th Century, Europe
Genre: Historical Fiction/Dark Ages
Length: 131 pages
Rating: 4 Gold Crowns
Book Description:
“You’d like to love me, but you don’t really know me.” With these words, Queen Edith begins to speak to us, as if she were still able to address us, though she lived over a thousand years ago. Magdeburg author Regine Sondermann draws the reader close to this woman from the early Middle Ages, about whom little was known until now. She was young and came from England. She died at the age of 36, and she was laid to rest in the Magdeburg Cathedral. The author sifted through documents and history books to discover small shards of Edith’s short life, like a ceramic bowl destroyed long ago. She has pieced them together in this story of a woman and her family, which takes the reader to an unfamiliar land that seems so close but is infinitely far away.
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Vikki’s Musings
Edith from Wessex is an excellent historical fiction novel. It gives the reader a glimpse of what it must have been like during this period of history. This book is based on a real character and is more of a biography. Edith is a fascinating person, and I enjoyed getting to know her. I’m glad I received an e-copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
This book starts out with Edith as a sixteen-year-old destined to marry Otto the Great. It follows her life from that point on until her death at thirty-six. While romantic love does not come to her, she does learn to care for Otto, and he for her, but this was a brutal time, and Otto is a barbarian.
I loved her care and nurturing nature with her two children. She was also completely loyal to her family throughout her entire life, yet never saw them after marrying Otto. She is truly a remarkable woman in many ways. She refused to allow hardship to get her down.
Of course, I read this book’s translation, and I’m sure something was lost from the original as it was written in this author’s native language. At times the turn of phrase was a bit too modern for the dark ages, or at least what I believe it must have been like.
I enjoyed Edith from Wessex a great deal from the descriptions of the life and times to the internal thoughts of the character. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good historical fiction novel. Happy reading!
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