In 1626, as King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria enjoyed a lavish banquet hosted by the Duke of Buckingham, a pie was brought before the royal couple. From it emerged a fully proportioned, 18-inch boy named Jeffrey Hudson. Hudson would remain with the queen for the next 18 years, serving as "the Queen's Dwarf" and witnessing some of the seminal events in British history. Page (The Tabloid Shakespeare) succeeds outstandingly on two counts: first, in telling the extraordinary life of Hudson, and second, in recreating the Stuart court of Charles I in all its ill-fated brilliance. Page handles the political history and social milieu with impressive ease. Readers get engaging portraits of playwright Ben Jonson, designer Inigo Jones and architect Christopher Wren. Page tellingly juxtaposes the manufactured, "perfect" world of Inigo Jones's court masques with the darker discontent of the Puritans, who would trigger a bloody civil war and end up as king-killers. Throughout, the author goes from larger considerations of Stuart politics and society to the "smaller" context of Hudson's picaresque life. He was kidnapped by pirates, twice. His portrait was painted by Van Dyck. And then, after nearly two decades living in royal luxury (and becoming quite famous), he spent the next quarter-century as a slave in North Africa. Page's narrative is as fast-paced as a good historical novel. This is just plain fun reading for anyone interested in a different approach to Stuart England. (Aug.)
Forecast:This is a fine example of the new trend toward writing history in miniature (so to speak); the book itself is miniature, with a trim size of 4-¾"×7-¼", and may appeal broadly outside the usual precincts of popular history.
