Great Maria
Cecelia Holland
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
4.22
· 9 ratings · 556 pages · Published: 06 Apr 1974
Her husband has grand ambitions and a quick temper...
She will become... The Great Maria.
A lush depiction of 11th century Sicily that leaves out none of its harsher nature, Great Maria is Cecelia Holland at her most evocative; making no excuses nor attempting to fill the reader in on the complexities of the regions complex socio-political patchwork of Saracens, Lombards, and Normans, vying for control over the landscape. Ms. Holland plunges the reader into her heroines tale with a prose style that is unsentimental, direct, and no sweeter than the times they reflect. But as layers develop -- detail upon detail, the harsh eleventh century world of her story surrounds the reader with an almost tangible presence and her character come to life, breathing and bleeding, upon the page.
As the tale opens the strong willed, pious, earthy, fourteen year old Maria, the daughter of a fictional Norman robber baron, has come of age to be betrothed. Since her mother's death, she has served as her father's chatelaine. She has just awakened to the attractions of men when her father asks her to marry one of his knights, not the charming one who has caught her eye, but his more drab and unsmiling brother. Her first instinct is to rebel, but she agrees to listen to Richard's suit: "Your father is a robber, he'll never be anything else. Roger just wants to be the King of the Robbers. But there's something else to be done here. This castle's at the throat of the whole region… Someone is going to make himself great here, why should it not be me?" His argument catches her imagination. She agrees to marry him.
Theirs is a marriage of conflict, yet one that grows over the years into respect and partnership. They are more often antagonists than partners. Richard is a hard man, quick to lash out with a fist if she crosses him. As he learns to respect her intelligence and determination, though, she begins to respect his. The story is about her struggle to be his full partner, sometimes at his side as they fight for common goals, and sometimes against him as she fights for his respect and recognition. As they struggle-at times against each other, at times side-by-side-Maria and Richard emerge as full-blooded characters you'll never forget.
Tagged as:
- romance 4
- historical 3
- historical fiction 3
- medieval 3
- classics 2
- action / adventure 2
- dark 2
- literary fiction 1
- Add topics
- content warnings
- sexual assault 2
- format - reader age
- book 1
- adult fiction 1