The Peacock and the Pearl

In her first novel, British historian Lang translates her knowledge of an era into a detailed fictional portrait of life in 14th-century London. Joanna Burgeys, a rebellious though good-hearted (but unfortunately plain) young woman struggling to escape being consigned to a nunnery, marries a handsome knight, Sir Tristram de Maudesbury, even though she knows he really loves her beautiful sister. But life as a knight's wife is not what she dreamed it would be: the manor is gloomy and far from luxurious; her manipulative, immoral brother-in-law schemes against her; her restless, battle-loving husband is rarely home and, when he is, makes perfectly clear his indifference to her. Only when she meets a mysterious sea captain, Black Nick, does Joanna learn the true nature of love. Lang sets Joanna's story against a backdrop of warring guilds struggling for control, elaborate power plays and ambitious maneuverings that wreak havoc on her life. Lang's seemingly endless lists of names, clothes, places and tightly packed facts, however, fail to enlighten or engage the reader--indeed they detract from the generally absorbing account of Joanna's travails. (Jan.)