The Morning Gift

Rating:
Summary: Panoramic Romantic History
Review: A wonderful story of survival amidst a political war torn backdrop. It is more romantic history than historical romance. It is not a happy ending; it is a fitting ending to a story filled with strong will and strong emotion. It leaves you happy for the heroine. Unforgettable!

Rating:
Summary: A great book!
Review: This is one of my all time favorite books. I have reread it many times with a great deal of pleasure. It concerns the life of a young Norman heiress named Matilda who is sold off to one husband after another during the violent times of the civil war between King Steven and the Empress Maud. Matilda's first husband presents her with a "morning gift" after their wedding night. She is dismayed at this display of lusty feeling on his part and mortified to think anyone might imagine she is capable of the same feelings. Then she is further dismayed to find that this gift is a swampy bit of fenland in East Anglia where no one speaks her proper Norman French. But it is a rich land filled with sassy, dependable people and it's a great place to hide in times of trouble and trouble is surely coming!

Rating:
Summary: Warning : the editorial review is not of this book!
Review: What a mess! The editorial review (excerpt from Kirkus reviews) is about the Eva Ibbotson book Morning gift - set in Vienna and Britain before and during World War II. Great book: 5 stars.

The Diana Norman book is the one about the Saxon heiress. I also read it, but can not remember much about it, thought it was average.