Skip to main content

The Girl King by Meg Clothier: book review




The Girl King (2011) is set during the 12th century reign – known as the Golden Age – of Tamar the Great – the female king of Kartvelia (Georgia). It begins in 1177 in Tbilisi in her father’s court when she is 17 years old, and spans almost 30 years of her reign from 1184 to her death.

Ivan Orbeli renounces the ageing King (George III) Giorgi Bagrationi and plans an attack. Tamar is sent to the mountains for safety and her 14-year-old sister Susa is sent to a monastery with her mother Burdukhan. In the mountains Tamar befriends Zakari Mkhargrdzeli and Davit Soslani, son of Jadaron the ruler of Osset lands.

Betrayed by people close to her, with people changing allegiances, Tamar is fearless and resourceful. Her father defeats Orbeli, killing him in battle, but dies later, aged and sickly. Will people honour Tamar as king? Not a band of men who want to overthrow her. Aunt Rusudan begs Tamar to make peace: ‘Child, you think being king is about destroying your enemies … it’s about preserving your kingdom.’ Rusudan then convinces Tamar’s enemies that the unwed Tamar would need a husband, who would become the most powerful man in the kingdom – not king, but quite.

Tamar is spoilt for choice: ‘I have driven every bachelor between the two seas into a frenzy of passion … if the pox had stolen away my nose, they’d still be in raptures over my beauty. You know what they love.’ She consults her best friend, poet Shota Rustaveli, for advice. He answers, ‘Thrones are lovable.’

Others suggest a northern man for her husband – more north than the mountains – such as a Russian. Lord Yuri Bogoliubsky, ‘ruler of Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov and the great cities north of Kiev’ is available for consideration. Tamar orders Soslani and Zak to bring her some lion cubs from Shirvan – is this a test or a distraction? Shota Rustaveli – later in life – pens an epic poem (probably the longest poem in history) about The Knight in the Panther’s Skin. So who does Tamar choose?

Clothier mainly focuses on the pursuit of love – the big decision – and the choice between the love for a man or the love for a country – and she does this entertainingly and amusingly.

‘History is trumped by story-telling’ the author says. Clothier confesses in the Historical Notes that she has been speculative in parts, fused real events together, and made a chronological switch in timelines. Despite the literary liberties, this is a fast-paced interesting story that is well-told, whether you know the true history of Tamar the Great or not.

Tamar the Great (circa 1160-1213) was Georgia’s equivalent of England’s Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) and poet Shota Rustaveli (circa 1172-1216) was Georgia’s equivalent of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) – except 400 years earlier. So readers of historical fiction and medieval history will enjoy this fairly accurate story of love, war, loyalty, and heroism in the picturesque countryside of Kartvelia – modern day Georgia.









MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, currently living in Georgia, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou
8 comments
Read more