The Cloister and the Hearth

I picked up this book mainly out of interest in the historical period and because of its reputation of well researched background information. It certainly delivered both of these and would be interesting to have an edition with preface from historians commenting on this.

What I did not expect is the humour, the drama and the tear squeezing moments and oh how bountiful this discovery was.

Interesting and diverse cast of characters and a lot of people listening to others reading letters. Lot of lists too. Action sometimes moves insufferably slowly, because of these seemingly endless digressions, but they're written with such erudition and so well entwined within the story that except for the slow pace, they're very enjoyable and leave you with an appetite for the French wine soup.

There are a few moments when the author takes a mocking aim at the Catholic church. This may be detracting, and distasteful as some of it does not appear to be factual. But whether intentionally or not there are other passages which gave a positive impression of this unreformed Christian denomination, so I wasn't overly perturbed.

Really liked the voice acting of the narrator. I think some of the dialogues are difficult to deliver and may seem overly sentimental, but it all struck the right chord with me.