eBook Masques Of Gold download

Before you read my review, you should know I am a HUGE Roberta Gellis fan.

I have always enjoyed the history of daily life. Too often novels designed to cater to lay audiences, which take place in another time period, supply a couple of obvious historical details - a knight, a castle, a sword, a horse etc. but tell a tale that could only take place in today's world. The authors are either ignorant of the reality of the period about which they are writing or are lazy. These criticisms do not apply to Ms. Gellis.

Of all Gellis' many books, Masques of Gold is my favorite. Gellis' genius is the ability to combine accurate history with a fast moving, suspenseful plot. Her characters are sympathetic to 21st century readers yet true to their time. If they act like a 21st century person, the people around them think they are strange.

Gellis is obviously a prodigious, sophisticated. indefatigable researcher. The plot grabs the reader's interest. The details she supplies create a realistic context and an in depth, easy to digest lesson on Britain's Middle Ages. Her characters' actions and thoughts are true to their time period. Of all of her books, I think this one is the most replete with fascinating detail. To find this detail, Gellis reads Mediaeval documents and literature in their original languages - a skill which usually gives birth to dry, difficult to read tomes. The historical detail in Masques of Gold is breathtaking. Gellis tells us what medicines were in use for various ailments, the ingredients of cosmetics, the gild system, describes weapons, urban policing of the day, London city politics, King John's politics, the legal system, the life of merchants, the politics behind the Magna Carta, international trade of the time etc. etc. She seamlessly combines this detail with suspense, romance, violence etc. I will read this book many times.

If there were a 5+ star, I would give it to this book.

Like most of Gellis’ romances, the hero is a stalwart fighting man, the heroine intelligent and resourceful, the historical background detailed and impeccably researched. In this case, Lissa is an only child, her father an unprincipled and detestable conniver. The novel opens with the violent death of her husband, an older goldsmith to whom she has only been married for a few weeks. The investigator, Sir Justin, is a knight with family connections to London merchants. There is a mystery, the solution of which is known to the reader but not the characters, and a romantic story told against the events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta by King John. As always, in Gellis’ romances, the young couple have a misunderstanding that needs to be resolved before they can accept one another’s love and establish trust. If you like her works, this is an enjoyable story, but not her best. Mostly it is distinctive for its setting among the tradesmen of London, rather than the great landed nobility.

The late great Roberta Gellis. No one can compare with her grasp of medieval English history and can incorporate it so effortlessly into stories that intrigue and captivate. You cannot go wrong with this book.

Roberta Gellis always draws me in from the first word. I am so happy to have her books on my Kindle now as the paperbacks I have are so old and falling apart. I love her Medevil stories!!

THis is a classic. Read this years ago and so excited to see it on the kindle! Definitely recommend to medieval romance readers :)

A good read.

Loved it!

Enjoy a wonderful trip to the time of King Stephen and the world of guilds in London. Gellis hits a homerun again.