Narrated by Danielle Cohen
A friend of mine read The Bridled Tongue last year and enjoyed it so I decided to give it a go on audio. It’s set in the Elizabethan era (within a period of about 3 years of the 1580s) which made it extra attractive to me.
Alyce Bradley is 28. She returns to her parent’s home in Norwich from a kind of exile for the prior 12 years serving a lady in a great house. She was little more than a servant and did not have a particularly good time away. Upon the death of Lady Faulconer, Alyce returned to home, hoping to stay for a short time before finding a better situation in another great house. Her father advises her he will arrange a marriage for her but assures her she will have the final choice of husband. However it quickly becomes clear that she has a choice of two men and neither is not an option.
Thomas Granville is a gentleman privateer who often sails with Sir Francis Drake. He is 38 and in need of a wife to look after his manor house at Ashthorpe in Northhamptonshire and help his invalid sister, Cecily. He is also in need of Alyce’s generous dowry to finance his next expedition. He is, however, also a kind man and he seeks Alyce’s agreement to the match before proceeding. Neither anticipate the other will be a great love, but both determine to be respectful and kind and their expectation is they will be content with one another. (Alyce’s other potential husband is a man she detests so it’s really a no-brainer to choose Thomas.)
Prior to Thomas and Alyce’s wedding, Alyce helps her sister Isabel who is finally pregnant after 4 years of marriage to philanderer Will Sutton. Notably, there is enmity between Thomas and Sir William Sutton of longstanding. There are also rumours that Alyce’s grandmother was a witch and that Alyce herself learned the practice too. These things all come back to haunt Alyce later in the book.
After the wedding, Alyce and Thomas head to London for a time where there are some stumbles in their relationship caused by not talking to one another. This part of the book was the most annoying to me because there was much which could have been resolved more quickly had Alyce just spoken up. Thomas was far from perfect either, jumping to conclusions and not asking questions and he wasn’t exactly an open book about his life either.
After he goes off on his expedition, Alyce moves to Ashthorpe where she finds herself fitting in well with the community there and finding her place. I took some points from Thomas when he wrote to his sister and not Alyce (she’s your wife dumbass!) and when he returned, he appeared to bring gifts for Cecily and not for Alyce. But I wonder if that was partly authorial sleight of hand? The novel is fairly episodic in nature, with lengthy vignettes from a particular time, which all do inform one another, but there is a sense there is a lot left untold.
Those witch rumours return when Alyce visits Norwich again. I don’t think it is a spoiler to say that the denouement of the story is a dramatic arrest and trial where everything is on the line for Alyce. The foreshadowing is very strong in the lead up so I think it’s very clear where we are headed all along. Will Thomas arrive in time? Is there anything he can do even if he does? What will happen to Alyce?
While I felt sorry for Isabel I did not like her much; she was mean and petty and what she did to Alyce over the course of the story was just awful. And I didn’t think much of Alyce’s parents either.
Thomas took too long to share his innermost thoughts and feelings with Alyce but the listener is aware of at least some of them along the way, having the benefit of some sections from his POV.
Because I enjoyed the book, I think it is also not a spoiler to say that things end happily for Alyce and Thomas in the end – but their road to HEA is difficult and fraught. I did fear for Alyce quite seriously a number of times throughout the book; I was confident she would survive but I did not know what kind of damage she may suffer during the journey. There were a number of very tense moments.
It’s clear that the author went to a great deal of historical research – I was fascinated by the author’s note at the end – and that flavoured the story with authenticity. It is a romance but it straddles the line between that and historical fiction. A large part of the story is focused on Alyce’s life without Thomas as he’s often away from her. The romance is leavened in amongst the rest rather than being the main focus, albeit the HEA is definitely the final prize.
Listeners should note that there are some upsetting things which occur in this book, including pregnancy loss, infant death and sexual assault (groping and forced kissing) so it will not be a book for everyone.
The narration by Danielle Cohen was a bit of a mixed bag but it grew on me over the course of the more than 12 hours of the book. I have recently listened to her narrate the first Kit Brightling book by Chloe Neill – The Bright and Breaking Sea and my review of her performance there was also somewhat mixed. As the story drew me in however, I found myself more sympatico with the narration and more impressed with the range of accents used for the various (and large) cast. I don’t love her male character voices but I did get used to them and, by the end, I came to appreciate some more than I thought I would.
Something about Ms. Cohen’s narration suited the Elizabethan setting and helped me orient myself in the piece. I wonder how I’d feel if I listened to her performing a contemporary? I can’t help but think it would be a little jarring. However, I expect that is all on me.
The heat level in The Bridled Tongue is very low. While there is on-page sex, it is mostly not described in any great detail at all so as to be functionally “closed door”. This suited the storytelling and the tale being told so I did not feel any lack. The romance between Alyce and Thomas was ultimately quite satisfying albeit that the true star of the show was Alyce herself and the time in which she (fictionally) lived.
I’m happy to read Elizabethan historical romance (more please!) but I definitely wouldn’t want to live then – a woman’s lot was not fabulous for the most part. But Alyce managed to find happiness and self-determination even so – brava Alyce.
Kaetrin
Buy The Bridled Tongue by Catherine Meyrick on Amazon
