Having become enthralled with Elizabeth Chadwick's masterful portrayal of William Marshal in The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion, my eye naturally turned to her other works. One of those works was For the King's Favor, which chronicles the life of Roger Bigod.
A contemporary of William Marshal, Roger Bigod is born heir to the earldom of Norfolk, but his succession is by no means guaranteed. His father leads a rebellion against King Henry II (and perishes in the process), forcing Roger to walk an extremely delicate path to remain in royal favor. In addition, his half-brother campaigns fiercely to gain rights to the inheritance, resulting in a 20-year long debate.
Roger, however, is only half the story. The leading lady of the novel is Ida de Tosney. Starting out as the 15-year old mistress of King Henry, Ida finds favor in the court. She later desires a legitimate marriage with Roger, but to secure the King's permission, she must leave behind her infant son, fathered by Henry, to be raised in the royal household.
Many of the events in this story parallel the same time line as Chadwick's works about William Marshal, so it was interesting to see those same events viewed from another person's perspective. Chadwick also does a brilliant job portraying the blossoming romance between Ida and Roger, as well as the family dynamics that develop between their children, the supporting characters and Ida's son by Henry.
More than anything else, Chadwick has written very human characters. Despite the 800-year divide that separates their time from ours, the situations in their personal lives (love vs. duty, raising children and family quarrels) can no doubt be related to by modern society on a multitude of levels.
