Edith from Wessex: Wife of Otto the Great, A Medieval Queen

by Regine Sondermann

“You’d like to love me, but you don’t really know me.” With these words, Queen Edith begins to speak to us, as if she were still able to address us, though she lived over a thousand years ago. Magdeburg author Regine Sondermann draws the reader close to this woman from the early Middle Ages, about whom little was known until now. She was young and came from England. She died at the age of 36, and she was laid to rest in the Magdeburg Cathedral. The author sifted through documents and history books to discover small shards of Edith’s short life, like a ceramic bowl destroyed long ago. She has pieced them together in this story of a woman and her family, which takes the reader to an unfamiliar land that seems so close but is infinitely far away.

204 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2016

Reviews

[Vikki Vaught · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edith from Wessex is an excellent historical fiction novel. It gives the reader a glimpse of what it must have been like during this period of history. This book is based on a real character and is more of a biography. Edith is a fascinating person, and I enjoyed getting to know her. I’m glad I received an e-copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts out with Edith as a sixteen-year-old destined to marry Otto the Great. It follows her life from that point on until her death at thirty-six. While romantic love does not come to her, she does learn to care for Otto, and he for her, but this was a brutal time, and Otto is a barbarian.

I loved her care and nurturing nature with her two children. She was also completely loyal to her family throughout her entire life, yet never saw them after marrying Otto. She is truly a remarkable woman in many ways. She refused to allow hardship to get her down.

Of course, I read this book’s translation, and I’m sure something was lost from the original as it was written in this author’s native language. At times the turn of phrase was a bit too modern for the dark ages, or at least what I believe it must have been like.

I enjoyed Edith from Wessex a great deal from the descriptions of the life and times to the internal thoughts of the character. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good historical fiction novel. Happy reading!

[Eurydicegirlgmail.Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elegant spare & accurate.

Greatly enjoy work set in Germany

Author's scrupulous recreation of the worldview and power realities of this transitional culture when pagan & foundations of Roman Christian rule blended. Fascinating to realise how differently illiterate peoples thought and perceived power relations .

Each year these tiny populations felt blessed jus t to survive . Deeply felt religious faith provides solace, whether in combat , in foxhole conversions or in societies which depend on marginal subsistence year by year.

[Donna Chadwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author: Regine Sondermann

Title: Edith From Wessex: Wife Of Otto The Great - A Medieval Wife

Genre: History, Britain And Ireland, Black Death, Europe, World History, Medieval,

Synopsis: you would like to love me, But you do not really know me with these words, Queen Edith begins to speak to us, As if she were still able to address us, Though she lived over a thousand years ago. Magdeburg author Regine Sondermann draws the reader close to this woman from the early middle ages, about whom little was known until now, She was young and came from England. She died at the age of 36, And she was laid to rest in the Magdeburg, Cathedral. The author sifted though documents and history books to discover small shards of Edith's short life, like a ceramic bowl destroyed long ago. She has pieced them together in this story of a woman and her family, which takes the reader to an unfamiliar land that seems so close but is infinitely far away.

The author contacted me though my blog to ask me to read and review her book.

First of all l would like to say a big thank you to Regine Sondermann and giving me a chance to read it. I was sent this book in exchange for a honest review.

I am glad this book is on my bookshelf. I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio even if you do not read books like this. I normally do not read books of this genre but l stepped outside my comfort zone with authors and genres. I am so glad l did because l have read so many great books. I highly recommend this book. The author is really nice. the author kindly signed my book the author wrote dedicated to Donna Chadwick may reading be pleasure. this book comes it two languages.

Review: This book was really easy to get in to. I was hooked on this book after reading the first few pages. I can not put in to words how great this book is l would tell people to read it for themselves to know how great it really is. I love reading about history thanks to this book. I really enjoyed reading this book and story. This book has nearly 200 pages it it. This book is really great. I could happily read this story again. I would love to read more from this author. I would love to read more of this story. I was sad to read about Henry passing away. It was sad to read that Edith's mother and father passed away. I liked reading about Edith and Otto's children. The cover of this book is really nice and the colour is really nice and the picture on the front cover is really nicely done l like the font of the writing. I am happy l read this book. l would love to rate this book more than five stars but five stars are the highest rating. It did not take me long to read this book. I was hooked on this storyline after reading this book it will want you wanting more. This book was hard to put down once l started reading it. Otto was crowned king after his father passed away but his mother did not like it she wanted Henry to be king who was named after his father. Edith brother was left in charge of his sisters he would have to find his sisters husbands. It was sad to read that Thankmar was stabbed and sadly passed away. Everybody was blaming Otto for Thankmar's death. Otto was heartbroken by Thankmar death. It was sad to read that Edhilda Edith's sister passed away and Otto give Hugh of the franks his sister Hedwig to marry. Edith told Hedwig that both Hugh's wives did not have any children and if she did not have a child with him to lie with another man. Hedwig had a little daughter. Otto wanted to send their son away to get married. Otto's mother did not like that Otto was king. I was sad to read that Edith passed away at age 36 years old. Otto remember his wife with a feast until his death. Otto's brother Henry tried to kill him but it does not work. Otto and Henry makes peace. Otto's mother become a nun. this story is so good. I want to read more of this story now this book left me wanting to read more. The picture on the front cover is Otto, Edith and their two children.

Star Rating: Five out of Five Stars

About the author: Regine Sondermann was born in nordlingen ( donau-ries) in 1965, after undertaking slavic studies in cologne and Berlin, she began working as a freelance author. She lives with her family in magdeburg

[Bethanny Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regine clearly cares a lot about the topic she's writing about. Her research has gone a long way to creating a wonderful story ringing true to readers today while helping us relate to a woman from a past much different from our current world.
It took me a chapter or two to really get into this book, but once I did there was no escaping.
I loved getting a historical account of Edith that was so full of facts woven together to create an amazing story. I could relate to Edith, though she lived in such a different time period than I do. However, that relation was not because she was just like me. She was entirely different from people living today. I saw a quote once that said an author's job is to make familiar things feel new, and make new things feel familiar. Regine did this very well in her book.
I feel like this book brought out how humans have always been humans, throughout all of history, and just because a woman lived in a time when there were different expectations didn't mean they didn't still have opinions and feelings.
One complaint I have is that it is a bit of a stiff book, and by that I mean it's not for entertainment purposes. I mostly review books that have a specific problem driving the plot. This was a factual account of a person's life. Edith From Wessex was obviously written to help people gain knowledge and understand a certain point in history. That's not a bad thing, but it's certainly not for everyone. Anyone who loves history would love this book, and those who don't love history as much may still be able to enjoy this particular book more than other historical literature.
Most authors make it their goal to jump straight to the action in a book, or grab the reader's attention right away. This isn't so easily accomplished when an author wants to tell a life story from start to finish. There's only so much you can do to make the date of a person's birth interesting. However, I think Regine did a fantastic job with what she had to work with and got creative on ways to draw reader's attention from the start.
The book left me with a lot of food for thought. There were many quotes scattered throughout it that could easily be framed and hung on a wall. Edith was portrayed as having a wise outlook on life, and while she was most certainly human, she handled circumstances thrown at her in an admirable way, and is a good example for any reader.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike most English monarchs I was used to reading, Queen Edith has a mild and gentle personality; she was a piece in a game of chess instead of being a player alongside her husband.

Again, I was surprised at the age most, if not all female nobilities were married off to other rulers who were usually their elder by a couple of decades. It almost is equivalent to the child brides of this era but in the tenth century, human rights haven’t existed yet and therefore, no one is there to oppose the king’s decisions and to defend the child. At the same time, in Edith from Wessex, I realized that princesses were brought up to expect to be married off to some ruler from faraway lands and they believe that doing so meant bringing honor to their families.

I’d like to think that in meeting Otto, both Edith and he managed to find true love even though Otto would be filled with thoughts of his throne and kingdom later on. It’s a consolation to know that Edith was loved by Otto and even for a while, she managed to find happiness in having her own children.

Edith is really a one of a kind. I admire her thirst for knowledge and her strong faith in God. Her loyalty to her husband, King Otto, through thick and thin is also commendable. In the book, she is depicted as someone who has many thoughts and manages to retain a portion of her innocence of her childhood. I believe that she only wished for peace instead of bloodshed.

[Gerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich habe mir dieses Buch bei einem Besuch Magdeburgs gekauft, nachdem ich im Dom auf die interessante Geschichte der englischen Prinzessin Editha gestoßen bin, die mit dem späteren deutschen Kaiser Otto vermählt wurde, allerdings relativ jung starb.
Die in Romanform geschriebene Geschichte bietet zwar einen netten Überblick über die Zeit und versucht auch, den Gefühlen und Beweggründen der Protagonisten etwas auf den Grund zu gehen, schöpft aber meiner Meinung nach leider nicht das volle Potential aus, das die Thematik bietet. Teilweise liest sich das Buch wie der dtv-Atlas zur Geschichte in Ich-Form. Es werden historische Ereignisse aneinander gereiht ohne tiefer in die Hintergründe einzusteigen und mit etwas oberflächlichen Beschreibungen des jeweiligen Gemütszuständs Edithas und Ottos aufgehübscht. Einen echten Spannungsbogen gibt es trotz der Möglichkeiten, die der Stoff hinsichtlich familiärer Intrigen und politischer Konflikte bieten würde, dabei leider nicht.
Dennoch lesbar.