I love historical fiction and this time period – James VI of Scotland succeeding to the throne after Elizabeth I and becoming James I of England. In my head, this is a time of Shakespeare, Macbeth, witch hunts and the Gunpowder Plot. Genuinely fascinating, and a precarious time to be part of the court, especially if you were gay as this was definitely not a time of tolerance.
Cue Francis Bacon – writer, philosopher and newly promoted to Attorney General under James I. And hiding his sexuality from all but the men he picks up for fleeting liaisons on the banks of the Thames.
Bacon has a healthy contempt for his frankly grotesque ruler, a king who is cavorting openly with his favourite, a man called Robert Carr. Indeed, Bacon feels that Carr – not his biggest fan – exerts too much influence over the king and he hatches a plot to replace Carr with someone under Bacon’s own control. Thus begins a plot thick with intrigue, manipulation and treachery – a plot in which the stakes are very high and fortunes and lives can be lost at the king’s whim.
Well, doesn’t that all sound fabulous? Having read and enjoyed Blackmore’s last book, ‘The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle’, I was looking forward to this one a lot and thought I knew what to expect.
Reader, I did not.
This book is much bawdier and raunchier than Blackmore’s previous one – let’s just say that it was an eye-opener for me in many ways and featured some very colourful language, To the point that – when I switched to the audiobook – I had to listen to it covertly and a long way from my kids!
However, I’m not that easily shockable and soon got into the excellent storytelling and historical moment. Blackmore’s version of Francis Bacon proves to be a highly entertaining and lively storyteller – even if he can be a little tricky with the truth, somewhat into navel-gazing (well, he is a philosopher) and hilariously blind to his own failings.
I say hilariously because this is a funny book – Bacon’s outspoken views and brutal portrayal of those he dislikes (pretty much everyone) are humorous and I did laugh at several points. I loved his skewering of the king’s pretensions regarding his terrible books! That said, this book also has depth of feeling and is also moving at times – it’s a fine line and Blackmore treads it carefully to keep the narrative engaging and Francis Bacon a sympathetic enough figure for the reader.
I think it would be fair to say that the historical moment is vivid and immersive, even if it maybe isn’t entirely accurate in places. I did a lot of googling around various elements of the plot and am still unsure how much is total historical truth and how much is Blackmore’s loose interpretation. This is something that would usually bother me but I loved being carried along with the story and – as the court politics of the era isn’t something I knew much about – I was happy to mostly remain blissfully ignorant about the fact and fiction balance.
Side note: I was gutted that Blackmore’s Shakespeare was mostly unpleasant – as an English teacher, that was a blow!
Overall, this is a fascinating and highly entertaining book about a number of striking themes – male desire in a historical moment that doesn’t accept it, the treacherous machinations of King James I’s court and the intersection between love and sex to name just a few. I absolutely loved it and recommend it to everyone with a taste for bawdy historical fiction with a surprisingly tender heart.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK/Hutchinson for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I should also mention that I listened to the audiobook read by Philip Stevens and adored it – it brought the characters to life with a good range of voices and enhanced the humour of Blackmore’s Francis Bacon with his sly, witty – and often downright bitchy – narrative.
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Header photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash
Oh I think I would love to read this but maybe not listen openly to the audiobook haha.