Vanora Bennett, Portrait of an Unknown Woman

Portrait of an Unknown Woman

Vanora Bennett

Morrow, Apr 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 0061251836

Henry VIII is increasingly shutting down religious freedom at a time when Catholicism is under siege from an assortment of heresies. Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More becomes the defender of the faith.

Observing the battle of religions is More's intelligent ward Meg Giggs. As renowned artist Hans Holbein paints a portrait of More and his family, Meg sees her former tutor John Clement, whom she not only loves but with whom she shares a common interest in healing. John wants to wed Meg, but Sir Thomas has doubts until the young doctor is appointed to the College of Physicians. However before they can exchange their vows, John reveals that he is Richard Plantagenet, one of the two princes allegedly killed by the late former monarch Richard III. They marry and have a child, but as he moves apart from her emotionally, she turns to Holbein who is working on another More family portrait five years after he completed the first commission while her sister seductively flirts with the men in her life.

This is a well-written historical drama of an often told story of the battle between King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More, but Vanora Bennett freshens the saga by using an a first hand witness of the entanglement. The storyline is fast-paced except at those moments when the politicians debate religious freedom; as those passages are much deeper and cerebral. Mel is a fabulous and intelligent protagonist who, in spite of the great men of history who the focus is indirectly on, serves as the center of the exciting storyline. Fans of sixteenth-century character-driven tales will appreciate this insightful look at an early skirmish in the war for religious freedom.

Harriet Klausner