Like with all Plaidy novels, certain info or themes are over-repeated. The author uses a lot of reported speech, which she would’ve been better off changing to dialogue to bring the characters to life, rather than explain what they said. It’s dry information that we get, rather than a lively story. The narrative is slow moving, partly because of the lack of action, and partly because of the consistent use of the passive voice. Don’t explain what characters are like show it via action and dialogue. Too much “telling”, not “showing”, is the biggest problem. Sadly, when the story moves on from this scenario, my interest wavered for the rest of the novel. For me, this is the best part of the book.
The opening pages feature Henriette as a small child disguised as a boy with a small group trying to escape England for France.
The narrative covers much of Henriette’s life through to her untimely demise. Most of the story takes place in France where Louis XIV is king. “The Wandering Prince” refers to Charles II of England, though the novel’s main focus is on his sister Henrietta, who’s more commonly known by the French version of her name: Henriette. She was still an intelligent & cultured woman & I really want to read more about her. I have read her Wikipedia entry & it looks like Plaidy has made her more "pure" than she was in real life - & Philip less vicious. When the book truly becomes Minette's story it definitely improves. & the book overall did contain a lot of trite dialogue, especially in the middle parts. It is hard to convey a young child's speech & Plaidy quite definitely fails on this.
Minette's baby talk as a young child was quite painful to read. She may not have been the brightest bulb, but I liked Lucy with her pursuit of pleasure & lack of guile. & Plaidy is reasonably non judgemental about Lucy & her choices. I did like the way Plaidy captured Charles's charm in his rare appearances in his book. There were too many POV characters & Minette, Lucy & even Louis the XIV play more of a part in this book than Charles does. Either way this is not one of Plaidy's stronger novels.
I'm wondering if Plaidy chose this title or if her publishers thought Charles II would be more appealing to the readers than a book about his times.
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