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The Maiden and the Unicorn
$32 pages.
430 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1998
5 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
Isolde Martyn
26 books54 followersIsolde has always had a great love of history, and writing historical fiction is a wonderful way to share her enthusiasm.
THE MAIDEN AND THE UNICORN, isolde's debut novel, won a Rita for 'Best First Novel' in the US and the inaugural 'Romantic Book of the Year Award' in Australia. Since then, she has written seven historicals and has just finished an Elizabethan novel .
Isolde has a History Honours degree from the University of Exeter, UK, with a specialization in Yorkist England, a lifelong interest, and she has worked as a university history tutor, research assistant and archivist. She was a senior book editor with a major international publishing house before taking up writing fiction full-time.
She feels community history is very important and she is a former chair of the Richard III Society in Sydney and a co-founder and currently Chair of the Plantagenet History Society of Australia (that's the era 1100--1500)
Her new book COUNTRY TOWN, a history picturebook for children, has been a long term project. It tells the story of an imaginary country town in Australia and how it changes decade by decade, and has been lovingly brought to life by illustrator Louise Hogan.
This is a very different venture from Isolde's historical novels but it's a project that has been chugging along in the background for quite a while. Isolde researched almost every town in Australia for EVENTS AND PLACES. She also edited the READER'S DIGEST MOTORING GUIDE TO AUSTRALIA.
THE MAIDEN AND THE UNICORN, isolde's debut novel, won a Rita for 'Best First Novel' in the US and the inaugural 'Romantic Book of the Year Award' in Australia. Since then, she has written seven historicals and has just finished an Elizabethan novel .
Isolde has a History Honours degree from the University of Exeter, UK, with a specialization in Yorkist England, a lifelong interest, and she has worked as a university history tutor, research assistant and archivist. She was a senior book editor with a major international publishing house before taking up writing fiction full-time.
She feels community history is very important and she is a former chair of the Richard III Society in Sydney and a co-founder and currently Chair of the Plantagenet History Society of Australia (that's the era 1100--1500)
Her new book COUNTRY TOWN, a history picturebook for children, has been a long term project. It tells the story of an imaginary country town in Australia and how it changes decade by decade, and has been lovingly brought to life by illustrator Louise Hogan.
This is a very different venture from Isolde's historical novels but it's a project that has been chugging along in the background for quite a while. Isolde researched almost every town in Australia for EVENTS AND PLACES. She also edited the READER'S DIGEST MOTORING GUIDE TO AUSTRALIA.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 1, 2024
The story itself is good, even the fact that it was based on true events with real people in the history. But its objectifying women, and treats them as nothing but a useless sex object.
July 19, 2021
It is said that Edward IV sent a woman on a secret mission to France to induce his brother George of Clarence, who had joined the Earl of Warwick in rebellion, to return to the family fold. Who was that woman? According to this novel, it was the Earl’s illegitimate daughter, Margaret, here called Margery.
First the backstory: Margery is not aware that she is Warwick’s daughter, believing she is only an orphan bastard who is his ward and companion to his daughters, Isabelle and Anne. Also, at the start of the story she has just returned to his household after being “exiled”for six years to a nunnery after she was found in King Edward’s bed.
The action starts as Margery is fleeing along with the rest of Warwick’s household as his and Clarence’s rebellion have reached a low ebb. At a rest stop, Margery notices a man staring at her who seems vaguely familiar. A few minutes later she is abducted and taken to the King’s Receiver who has taken possession of some of Warwick’s nearby estates. He is the man she had observed earlier, and thinks his name is Richard Stone. Although she does not remember him, he remembers her —not only remembers but has desired her since he first set eyes on her six years ago at Warwick’s castle. He had arrived in the entourage of the Warwick’s brother, the Earl of Northumberland. Edward was also there and there was a wager among the young men to see which one could kiss all the young women before the noon bell rings. Richard is about to kiss Margery when the king pushes him off her and kisses her himself.
Richard has to decide whether to turn Margery over to the king or keep her. She is outraged by the abduction in which she is roughly handled. She convinces a servant to help her escape by procuring boy’s clothing and a horse for her. Richard apparently knows she is going to try but allows her to escape but tracks her down, and eventually brings her to the king. Margery doesn’t feel the old magic when she finally comes face to face with Edward so she is cool to his offer to keep her as a mistress. The alternative is have her follow Warwick and Clarence and deliver offers of reconciliation. To Clarence, she was also to deliver messages from his mother and sisters begging him not to rebel against his brother. Margery accepts because she hopes to prevent a war.
Richard glumly watches his lady love sail off, and at this point the king’s youngest brother Dickon of Gloucester has a plan, approved by Edward, whereby Richard hopefully gets the girl and aids the king at the same time.
After a brief stay in Calais (with a significant meeting with Philippe de Commynes), Margery ends up with Warwick’s family in France. Warwick receives an offer of marriage for Margery from a man, Richard Huddleston, who has just arrived in France, after turning his coat against Edward IV. Margery doesn’t know who this guy is, but doesn’t want to marry any man. She also doesn’t want to become a nun either, but is forced to marry Huddleston who turns out to be the Richard Stone who abducted her. She hates him, but is, of course, attracted to him. On their wedding night, he refrains from demanding his marital rights because he wants Margery to want him, but he does let slip that Warwick is her father. A fact known to almost everyone it seems, except Margery. Why else would no man except Edward dare make love to her, Richard asks. (Wait—didn’t Richard himself have a go at her?)
Warwick acknowledges that Margery is his daughter, and she thinks that the reason Richard married her is for his own advancement. The next several hundred pages are taken up with Margery and Richard’s battle of wills and their repressed passions for one another. The reader is constantly—and I mean constantly—subjected to such passages as this: “The quiver of excitement in her thighs was still disconcerting. She watched like a voyeur, unable to take her eyes off him.” And: “Lust! She thought dismissively, but that passion remained simmering in her innermost being. He who had suffered in lust had passed it on to her like the pestilence. . . For his part, Richard thinks of Margery writhing under him. (These are samples I picked at random and they are on the milder side.) One expects such passages in a romance novel, but the number and frequency of them is staggering. It just got tedious, and I had to force myself to get through this book.
As for the actual plot, Margery delivers her messages, and has to wait for a response from George whether he will turn his coat again. Meanwhile, he is desperate for an heir, realizing that Warwick may give up on him as a prospective king unless he has one. (This is about 200 pages before Warwick allies with Margaret of Anjou.). Isabella is afraid of another pregnancy and bars her bedroom door to him. (There is a scene where Ankarette Twynho whacks him on the head with a figurine of the Virgin Mary when he tries to breach the door.). So George asks Margery for help. He would like her expert tutelage, or least to help him gain access to Isabella.
After Warwick makes his alliance, George gives Margery the written proof that he will aid Edward, but he soon has second thoughts when Margery is unable to return to England. Margaret of Anjou holds the three Warwick daughters as hostages. George panics and tries to retrieve his written promise or kill Margery or both. Meanwhile, Margaret of Anjou wants to get proof of his betrayal and imprisons and tortures Margery, including having her lowly guards attempt to ravish her. They did not quite succeed because our hero appears on the scene and abducts her and they go to England.
Margery supports Edward because she thinks that is the only way to avoid a civil war. She has doubts about Richard’s loyalty, since he has appears to have adopted the Lancastrian cause. In fact, he is Gloucester’s man and fights under his banner at Barnet, and the pair seem glad to follow him when he goes north. (Both Gloucester and Anne are favorably viewed, but their roles particularly Gloucester’s, are very small.)
I have several nits to pick. Some of the plot elements just don’t hang together very well. It is never made clear whether Margery’s abduction in the beginning was a pre-arranged plan or just chance. It seems improbable that it could have been pre-arranged since no one could foresee that the Warwick entourage would stop at that particular time and place. Richard himself seemed to be undecided whether to turn Margery over to the king. But then again, how did the king have all the letters ready and the ship ready to set sail within hours of Margery’s arrival.
Margery did not know that Warwick was her father, but everyone else did? Really? And was Margery’s confusion about Richard’s name (believing it was Stone rather than Huddleston) necessary; it added nothing to the plot.
The main problem is that this author just doesn’t know when enough is enough. I get it that Margery and Richard lusted after one another. I also get it the first dozen times when Margery bemoans the unfair lot of women. Just don’t bludgeon me. This book would have been better if it were 200 pages shorter. Make that 229 pages. (It is 429 pages long.)
Curious why the book is titled The Maiden and the Unicorn?
Maybe best line in the book: “When Ned smiled, the sun shone; when George of Clarence smiled, you noticed his teeth.”
First the backstory: Margery is not aware that she is Warwick’s daughter, believing she is only an orphan bastard who is his ward and companion to his daughters, Isabelle and Anne. Also, at the start of the story she has just returned to his household after being “exiled”for six years to a nunnery after she was found in King Edward’s bed.
The action starts as Margery is fleeing along with the rest of Warwick’s household as his and Clarence’s rebellion have reached a low ebb. At a rest stop, Margery notices a man staring at her who seems vaguely familiar. A few minutes later she is abducted and taken to the King’s Receiver who has taken possession of some of Warwick’s nearby estates. He is the man she had observed earlier, and thinks his name is Richard Stone. Although she does not remember him, he remembers her —not only remembers but has desired her since he first set eyes on her six years ago at Warwick’s castle. He had arrived in the entourage of the Warwick’s brother, the Earl of Northumberland. Edward was also there and there was a wager among the young men to see which one could kiss all the young women before the noon bell rings. Richard is about to kiss Margery when the king pushes him off her and kisses her himself.
Richard has to decide whether to turn Margery over to the king or keep her. She is outraged by the abduction in which she is roughly handled. She convinces a servant to help her escape by procuring boy’s clothing and a horse for her. Richard apparently knows she is going to try but allows her to escape but tracks her down, and eventually brings her to the king. Margery doesn’t feel the old magic when she finally comes face to face with Edward so she is cool to his offer to keep her as a mistress. The alternative is have her follow Warwick and Clarence and deliver offers of reconciliation. To Clarence, she was also to deliver messages from his mother and sisters begging him not to rebel against his brother. Margery accepts because she hopes to prevent a war.
Richard glumly watches his lady love sail off, and at this point the king’s youngest brother Dickon of Gloucester has a plan, approved by Edward, whereby Richard hopefully gets the girl and aids the king at the same time.
After a brief stay in Calais (with a significant meeting with Philippe de Commynes), Margery ends up with Warwick’s family in France. Warwick receives an offer of marriage for Margery from a man, Richard Huddleston, who has just arrived in France, after turning his coat against Edward IV. Margery doesn’t know who this guy is, but doesn’t want to marry any man. She also doesn’t want to become a nun either, but is forced to marry Huddleston who turns out to be the Richard Stone who abducted her. She hates him, but is, of course, attracted to him. On their wedding night, he refrains from demanding his marital rights because he wants Margery to want him, but he does let slip that Warwick is her father. A fact known to almost everyone it seems, except Margery. Why else would no man except Edward dare make love to her, Richard asks. (Wait—didn’t Richard himself have a go at her?)
Warwick acknowledges that Margery is his daughter, and she thinks that the reason Richard married her is for his own advancement. The next several hundred pages are taken up with Margery and Richard’s battle of wills and their repressed passions for one another. The reader is constantly—and I mean constantly—subjected to such passages as this: “The quiver of excitement in her thighs was still disconcerting. She watched like a voyeur, unable to take her eyes off him.” And: “Lust! She thought dismissively, but that passion remained simmering in her innermost being. He who had suffered in lust had passed it on to her like the pestilence. . . For his part, Richard thinks of Margery writhing under him. (These are samples I picked at random and they are on the milder side.) One expects such passages in a romance novel, but the number and frequency of them is staggering. It just got tedious, and I had to force myself to get through this book.
As for the actual plot, Margery delivers her messages, and has to wait for a response from George whether he will turn his coat again. Meanwhile, he is desperate for an heir, realizing that Warwick may give up on him as a prospective king unless he has one. (This is about 200 pages before Warwick allies with Margaret of Anjou.). Isabella is afraid of another pregnancy and bars her bedroom door to him. (There is a scene where Ankarette Twynho whacks him on the head with a figurine of the Virgin Mary when he tries to breach the door.). So George asks Margery for help. He would like her expert tutelage, or least to help him gain access to Isabella.
After Warwick makes his alliance, George gives Margery the written proof that he will aid Edward, but he soon has second thoughts when Margery is unable to return to England. Margaret of Anjou holds the three Warwick daughters as hostages. George panics and tries to retrieve his written promise or kill Margery or both. Meanwhile, Margaret of Anjou wants to get proof of his betrayal and imprisons and tortures Margery, including having her lowly guards attempt to ravish her. They did not quite succeed because our hero appears on the scene and abducts her and they go to England.
Margery supports Edward because she thinks that is the only way to avoid a civil war. She has doubts about Richard’s loyalty, since he has appears to have adopted the Lancastrian cause. In fact, he is Gloucester’s man and fights under his banner at Barnet, and the pair seem glad to follow him when he goes north. (Both Gloucester and Anne are favorably viewed, but their roles particularly Gloucester’s, are very small.)
I have several nits to pick. Some of the plot elements just don’t hang together very well. It is never made clear whether Margery’s abduction in the beginning was a pre-arranged plan or just chance. It seems improbable that it could have been pre-arranged since no one could foresee that the Warwick entourage would stop at that particular time and place. Richard himself seemed to be undecided whether to turn Margery over to the king. But then again, how did the king have all the letters ready and the ship ready to set sail within hours of Margery’s arrival.
Margery did not know that Warwick was her father, but everyone else did? Really? And was Margery’s confusion about Richard’s name (believing it was Stone rather than Huddleston) necessary; it added nothing to the plot.
The main problem is that this author just doesn’t know when enough is enough. I get it that Margery and Richard lusted after one another. I also get it the first dozen times when Margery bemoans the unfair lot of women. Just don’t bludgeon me. This book would have been better if it were 200 pages shorter. Make that 229 pages. (It is 429 pages long.)
Curious why the book is titled The Maiden and the Unicorn?
Maybe best line in the book: “When Ned smiled, the sun shone; when George of Clarence smiled, you noticed his teeth.”
May 14, 2022
I read this book hoping to find a historical novel based on the life of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. This is not that book. This book is about two people fighting with each other, making horrible, hateful slurs about each other’s reputation, whom all the sudden look at each other and decide that they are in love.
September 18, 2017
For some reason I really struggled with this book. It was ok but I did not find myself engrossed in it. It has the usual romance story and it appears to be well researched. Almost all of the characters and events in the book really happened.
Despite that I found the main characters annoying and their constant fighting annoying. I know these kinds of books have a love/hate thing happening but it seemed a bit excessive for this kind of book.
I do like historical romances but this one didn't quite hit the mark for me.
Despite that I found the main characters annoying and their constant fighting annoying. I know these kinds of books have a love/hate thing happening but it seemed a bit excessive for this kind of book.
I do like historical romances but this one didn't quite hit the mark for me.
July 12, 2007
Well researched, and well written. Even tho this is romantic fiction, I'm not embarrassed to have it on my bookshelf.
Want to read
June 1, 2009I wanted to like this book because I liked her other, but parts of it were SO confusing. Why did they keep arguing? So, I gave up with only about 25 pages left.
sampled-and-declined
June 23, 2019Struggled too much and finally gave up, clearly not for me even though I like this period.
November 16, 2022
Isolde Martyn was my introduction to historical fiction when I was a teenager. I loved this book and borrowed it from the library SO MANY times.
December 13, 2025
3.5 rounded up to 4
The MMC was annoying, but not infuriating as many of the MMCs from 90s romances can be. The setting and historical context was beautifully rendered.
The MMC was annoying, but not infuriating as many of the MMCs from 90s romances can be. The setting and historical context was beautifully rendered.
May 30, 2022
Historische Romane sind Neuland für mich. Bisher habe ich vor allem Sachbücher über Geschichte gelesen. Dieser Roman liess sich gut und locker lesen, es ist nicht im Stile Thomas Manns oder ähnlich geschriegben. Etwas höher als Bahnhofsliteratur kann man es aber einsortieren.
Die Autorin zieht die "Spannung" der Hochzeitsnacht sehr in die Länge. Sie findet erst Wochen nach der Trauung der Titelheldin statt, da diese eine Mischung aus sexueller Anziehung und persönlicher Abstossung gegenüber Ihrem Mann empfindet. In mehreren Kapiteln denkt man als Leser "gleich geht's los", um dann wieder "enttäuscht" zu sein. Dieses vor und zurück nimmt sicherlich ein Viertel des Gesamttextes ein.
Ein Problem machen manchmal die Adelstitel: man muss gehörig aufpasen, wer mit "Majestät", "Herzog", "Earl" usw. gerade gemeint ist, weil es von jeder Sorte mehrere zu geben scheint. Für an englische Adelstitel gewöhne sicherlich auch kein proiblem, dass dieselbe Person manchmal "Richard", und manchmal "Gloucester" gennannt wird, was aber hilfreich sein kann, wenn man bedenkt, dass zwei weitere Hauptfiguren auf "Richard" hören, aber mit Beinamen "Earl", "Warwick" oder Familiennamen "Neville"oder "Huddlestone". Der Leser dieses Reviews muss das nicht verstehen ohne das Buch zu lesen ! Um im Dickicht der Familienverhältnisse durchzublicken, habe ich die WikiPedia-Artikel zu Edward IV, Henry VI, Richard III und Richard, Earl of Warwick gelesen, und einige der darin verlinkten Verweise. So kam ich wieder auf Vordermann mit meinen Kenntnissen des "War of the Roses".
Am Ende war ich nicht mehr sicher, verstanden zu haben, auf welcher Seite der Ehemann der Protagonistin eigentlich stand, war er die ganze Zeit einem Herrscherhaus treu und tat nur so asl ob er die Seiten zu wechselte oder ...?
Fazit: Easy reading wenn man etwas für im öffentlichen Verkehr oder zum Abschalten in der Mittagspause lesen möchte.
Die Autorin zieht die "Spannung" der Hochzeitsnacht sehr in die Länge. Sie findet erst Wochen nach der Trauung der Titelheldin statt, da diese eine Mischung aus sexueller Anziehung und persönlicher Abstossung gegenüber Ihrem Mann empfindet. In mehreren Kapiteln denkt man als Leser "gleich geht's los", um dann wieder "enttäuscht" zu sein. Dieses vor und zurück nimmt sicherlich ein Viertel des Gesamttextes ein.
Ein Problem machen manchmal die Adelstitel: man muss gehörig aufpasen, wer mit "Majestät", "Herzog", "Earl" usw. gerade gemeint ist, weil es von jeder Sorte mehrere zu geben scheint. Für an englische Adelstitel gewöhne sicherlich auch kein proiblem, dass dieselbe Person manchmal "Richard", und manchmal "Gloucester" gennannt wird, was aber hilfreich sein kann, wenn man bedenkt, dass zwei weitere Hauptfiguren auf "Richard" hören, aber mit Beinamen "Earl", "Warwick" oder Familiennamen "Neville"oder "Huddlestone". Der Leser dieses Reviews muss das nicht verstehen ohne das Buch zu lesen ! Um im Dickicht der Familienverhältnisse durchzublicken, habe ich die WikiPedia-Artikel zu Edward IV, Henry VI, Richard III und Richard, Earl of Warwick gelesen, und einige der darin verlinkten Verweise. So kam ich wieder auf Vordermann mit meinen Kenntnissen des "War of the Roses".
Am Ende war ich nicht mehr sicher, verstanden zu haben, auf welcher Seite der Ehemann der Protagonistin eigentlich stand, war er die ganze Zeit einem Herrscherhaus treu und tat nur so asl ob er die Seiten zu wechselte oder ...?
Fazit: Easy reading wenn man etwas für im öffentlichen Verkehr oder zum Abschalten in der Mittagspause lesen möchte.
February 3, 2013
I really wanted to like this book. The author knows her period intimately and includes an amazing depth of historical detail (clothing, town-scapes, personalities of famous historical figures). Perhaps my favorite touches were the author's apt analogies and descriptions. For example, the queue into Exeter is a "bubbling brew of panniered donkeys, driven livestock, jammed carts and Devon curses." However, not all the historical research in the world could make up for a fatally flawed plot. The hero and heroine argue viciously and unremittingly for no particularly good reason. Perhaps this was designed to provide tension in place of a strong plot, for at the point where I gave up halfway, the heroine seemed to have drifted along for most of the story, pushed with the political tide and possessed of no clear-cut purpose.
As I said, I gave up almost exactly halfway through. It may be that I am doing the remainder of the book a horrible injustice through my comments. The author shows a huge amount of promise, and The Lady and the Unicorn was her first book. I will certainly read some of her later works in the hope that her plot-lines improve!
As I said, I gave up almost exactly halfway through. It may be that I am doing the remainder of the book a horrible injustice through my comments. The author shows a huge amount of promise, and The Lady and the Unicorn was her first book. I will certainly read some of her later works in the hope that her plot-lines improve!
June 30, 2016
"theMaiden and the Unicorn" is set during the period known as the War of the Roses and is seeped in historical detail which I really enjoyed. However, this was basically an antagonistic romance, with Margery and Richard arguing through most of the book which became rather tiresome. There were times when I really wanted to hit Margery. She was stubborn and her own worst enemy. Richard was more likeable, but rather arrogant. Overall, a forgettable read.
March 30, 2015
Very long winded
I expect history and detail in the books I read, regardless of genre. That said, there comes a point where ones love of history is dulled by "too much of a good thing". This was far more a historical fiction than a romance
I expect history and detail in the books I read, regardless of genre. That said, there comes a point where ones love of history is dulled by "too much of a good thing". This was far more a historical fiction than a romance
October 16, 2016
In audio
What a wonderful retelling. You know the characters and the settings yet this is a piece of pure fiction set with historical facts.
There is enough fact for you to believe, enough description to feel authentic.
What a wonderful retelling. You know the characters and the settings yet this is a piece of pure fiction set with historical facts.
There is enough fact for you to believe, enough description to feel authentic.
November 6, 2011
Heroine and plot would get it high marks. supposed hero and his treatment of her are about a negative 10.
January 31, 2013
Sexy historical romance fiction.
August 1, 2014
As I'm not usually a romance reader it wasn't a bad story. I did have trouble with the amount of latitude that Margery was given considering her background tho'. But overall a good read.
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October 23, 2014The Maiden and the Unicorn 03082004
Isolde Martyn
Isolde Martyn
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews