I read The Raven’s Heart by Jesse Blackadder as she will be talking at the NSW Readers Advisory History Seminar and I wanted to be familiar with her book before she presented it.

I struggle when I am reading historical fiction. Although I love reading history, it’s fiction counterpart has me running to my reference shelves, cross-checking events and details in the book and rarely do I find myself being lost in the story. After cross checking with several history references during the first few chapters of this book I found myself relax and lose myself into this story of an androgyne in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots.

The story of Robert/Alison Blackadder and his/her deep abiding love for his father, the need to please him and his/her love and service to Queen Mary and Alison’s own erotic affairs with both women and men drive this complex story about the struggle for inheritances. I loved that the story was so rich, yet the language was not florid at all. A wonderful, touching tale.