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Formats
Paperback Details
  • 02/2024
  • 979-8350928013 B0CR5WPY35
  • 316 pages
  • $19.99
Audio Details
  • 04/2024
  • 979-8350928013 B0CR5WPY35
  • 316 pages
  • $11.99
Ebook Details
  • 02/2024
  • 979-8350928013 B0CR5WPY35
  • 316 pages
  • $5.99
Catherine Butterfield
Author
The Serpent and the Rose

Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)

Marguerite de Valois was a princess whose life was so sensational in her time that William Shakespeare was inspired to write "Love's Labors Lost" about her. Beautiful, brilliant, and accomplished, Marguerite was also the victim of a politically motivated smear campaign that painted her as a sexual deviant, a reputation she has, to this day, never shed. “The Serpent and the Rose,” highly researched and inspired by her memoirs, paints a sympathetic, humorous, and more accurate picture of this most unfairly demeaned woman as she grows from young naive princess to worldly queen. A coming-of-age tale for the ages.

Quarter Finalist

Plot/Idea: 9 out of 10
Originality: 9 out of 10
Prose: 10 out of 10
Character/Execution: 10 out of 10
Overall: 9.50 out of 10

Assessment:

Plot/Idea: Butterfield’s sweeping plot follows Marguerite de Valois, initially a naïve princess of France who enters a tumultuous marriage with Henri, the Prince of Navarre, and comes into her own through hard-fought battles, profound love affairs, and a deep awakening to the dangerous, conniving world around her. The story grows with Marguerite, as she transforms into a powerful—and infamous—queen, while somehow managing to keep vestiges of her youthful self at the same time.

Prose: Butterfield writes with charming, witty pose, perfectly intoning the speech patterns of her characters and the era of the novel.

Originality: This novel sets itself apart through Butterfield’s spotless prose and deeply thoughtful character studies; Marguerite is a powerhouse from the start, stunning in her intensity and relatability, and Butterfield perfectly balances her vulnerability with her growing skill and capacity to rule.

Character/Execution: Marguerite is alive with poise, vulnerability, and a sincerity that makes her breathtakingly real. Butterfield animates the novel’s historical setting, fashioning character interactions that breed familiarity and arresting charisma; Catherine de Medici is a powerful contradiction of volatility and strength, a worthy opponent to the renowned Marguerite, who slowly comes to realize her own resoluteness through the mistreatment she experiences at the hands of others. 

Date Submitted: April 11, 2024

Reviews
Historical FIction Company

"The Serpent and the Rose" is a captivating tale that skillfully weaves together historical, dramatic and personal elements. Catherine Butterfield brings to life a fascinating period in French history and paints a complex and memorable portrait of Queen Marguerite de Valois."

5 stars, Highly Recommended Award of Excellence.

 

Kirkus Review of THE SERPENT AND THE ROSE - "Get It"

Over the course of this novel, Butterfield employs a diarylike style from Marguerite’s perspective that makes for a brisk read, and Marguerite, despite her royal background, comes off as approachable and very human throughout; for example, late in the novel, she has a powerful experience that brings her a sense of fulfillment that she’d never encountered in her strictly proscribed life. The author, for the most part, sticks closely to the events of the historical timeline, but takes some creative liberties, as when she notes in an afterword that the idea that one key character “was Marguerite’s One Great Love is cause for speculation; and so, I did.”

A sweeping but intimate story that highlights the author’s clear attention to detail. 

News
04/11/2024
THE SERPENT AND THE ROSE is now out on audiobook

The Serpent and the Rose audiobook, narrated by the author/actress Catherine Butterfield, is now available for purchase on all platforms. The novel tells the story of Marguerite de Valois, who found herself in a lifelong battle of wits with her famously manipulative mother, Catherine de Medici. 

Formats
Paperback Details
  • 02/2024
  • 979-8350928013 B0CR5WPY35
  • 316 pages
  • $19.99
Audio Details
  • 04/2024
  • 979-8350928013 B0CR5WPY35
  • 316 pages
  • $11.99
Ebook Details
  • 02/2024
  • 979-8350928013 B0CR5WPY35
  • 316 pages
  • $5.99
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