Figures in Silk
Categories: Fiction
I was at the Art Museum last Saturday, talking at the From Author to Artist Book Club, which pairs books from the library to artworks in the museum. Do you know about the program?
We were discussing Portrait of an Unknown Woman, by Vanora Bennett. It’s a novel about Thomas More and one of his wards, and about the family portrait of the Mores that Hans Holbein painted during the reign of Henry VIII.
Bennett wrote the novel based on a theory she had read, that the symbols in the painting indicate a secret identity for one of the figures. To reveal more would be to say Too Much, but fans of historical conspiracies will enjoy that part of the plot. Readers interested in the roles of women in historical times will find lots more to enjoy.
It was an interesting discussion, and Libby from the Art Museum showed us some fascinating things about northern Renaissance painting.
But if you’re picking a Vanora Bennett novel to read, I actually liked her new novel, Figures in Silk, much better.
Isabel Lambert, the daughter of a wealthy London silk merchant, is crushed that she is being married off to one of her father’s business allies. Then a stranger, Dickon, who finds her weeping, counsels her to think strategically about the marriage—it will be just one step in her future.
She follows his advice and marries. Her sister, Jane, marries too, a man named Will Shore. And King Edward IV, who has just returned to London from exile, comes to their wedding.
Isabel struggles to find her place in her husband’s household. But when she is widowed, she decides to become her mother-in-law’s apprentice and seriously pursue the silk trade. Dickon was right—life can change quickly.
Dickon turns out to be the royal brother Richard Plantagenet, and Isabel begins to carry on a secret romance with him. Jane Shore begins a more public one with Edward IV.
The history books and Shakespeare’s play tell us how that public romance ended—at Edward’s death, Richard accuses Jane of sorcery and his nephews of bastardy, and he seizes the throne as Richard III.
Isabel struggles to reconcile her feelings for Richard with his ruthless behavior. Each step of the way, she is persuaded by the logic of his actions, which help secure the country against the terrible chaos Richard saw as a youth.
But of course the danger to her sister, the rumored murder of the princes in the Tower, the danger to her silk trade plans, and finally the apparent plot to kill Richard’s wife so he can marry his lovely niece slowly force her to draw a line between them.
It’s very well done. Bennett presents an interestingly complex portrait of a man who has usually been drawn in black and white. The partial, prejudiced view that the fictional Isabel has of him is a good means to do so.
And the story of Isabel herself and the women her character is based on—the freewomen of London and their silk manufacturing industry—is also rewarding.
By the way, the next From Author to Artist book club is on August 15, which will be about The Hound in the Left Hand Corner, by Giles Waterfield. That’s a breezy little British satire about a Gainsborough painting.
