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The Prince of Mirrors
Two young men with expectations. One predicted to succeed, the other to fail… Prince Albert Victor, heir presumptive to the British throne, is seen as disastrously inadequate to be king. The grandson of Queen Victoria, he is good-hearted but intensely shy and, some whisper, even slow-witted. By contrast, Jem Stephen is a renowned intellectual, a poet and a golden boy worshiped by all. But a looming curse of mental instability is threatening to take it all away. Appointed as the prince’s personal tutor, Jem works to prepare him for the duty to come. A friendship grows between them—one that will allow them to understand and finally accept who they really are and change both of their lives forever.
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2018
About the author
Alan Robert Clark
4 books7 followersAlan Robert Clark is a freelance writer and the author of Fairlight Books’ upcoming historical novel The Prince of Mirrors.
Born in Scotland, Alan attended Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire before joining King’s College in London. However, due to a protracted illness, he had to abandon the degree and go into advertising, working as a copywriter and creative director. Throughout his career Alan has created ad campaigns for well-known companies, including Nestle, Levi’s and Kodak, and won awards from TV festivals in Cannes and Chicago. As a freelance journalist, he has produced travel pieces and celebrity profiles. While most of Alan’s career was spent in London, he has also lived in Gibraltar and Spain.
Mentored by the famous Adrian Mole book author Sue Townsend, Alan published his debut novel Rory’s Boys with Arcadia Books in 2011, selling TV and film rights to an American production company. He has also ghostwritten and co-authored a number of books, including Camera Girl with Doreen Spooner (Mirror Books 2016) and many others.
Alan is a theatre and film enthusiast. In his free time he really enjoys singing, walking and going to the gym.
Born in Scotland, Alan attended Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire before joining King’s College in London. However, due to a protracted illness, he had to abandon the degree and go into advertising, working as a copywriter and creative director. Throughout his career Alan has created ad campaigns for well-known companies, including Nestle, Levi’s and Kodak, and won awards from TV festivals in Cannes and Chicago. As a freelance journalist, he has produced travel pieces and celebrity profiles. While most of Alan’s career was spent in London, he has also lived in Gibraltar and Spain.
Mentored by the famous Adrian Mole book author Sue Townsend, Alan published his debut novel Rory’s Boys with Arcadia Books in 2011, selling TV and film rights to an American production company. He has also ghostwritten and co-authored a number of books, including Camera Girl with Doreen Spooner (Mirror Books 2016) and many others.
Alan is a theatre and film enthusiast. In his free time he really enjoys singing, walking and going to the gym.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
April 9, 2018
1.5 star
ARC generously provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review .
ARC # 1
‘There are many worlds, Eddy,’ he says. ‘Not just the geographical one you’ve already seen. But worlds we can visit inside ourselves. They are lying at your feet, waiting for us to enter them. Will you come and explore them with me?”
This book is just wasn’t for me. I tried my very best. I did.
I struggled a lot with this book. I pushed myself to read it because I’m waiting for something to happen, some turning point in the story that will make me like it. I read it until 70% and after that I decided to stop it and just skip to the last chapter of the book. I tried really hard, I was patient and hopeful that things would be somewhat better in the middle of the book. But no, i waited in vain. It was boring and uneventful. I was so disappointed because the synopsis of the book promised a very heart warming and impactful story. I expected to feel emotions like pain, grief, joy, and love but in the end I only felt one emotion and it was frustration.
Honestly, this book had so much potential. The idea of the two characters exploring their inner self and discovering their true identities and revealing it to the world were the things I expected from this book instead I read a babbling mess.
My main issue in this book is the writing style of the author. It was so confusing and jumbled. One moment the protagonist was staying on this place then the next he’s on a different location. It was also difficult in keeping track of the timeline and the sudden appearance of the characters in the story. One moment Eddy’s brother Georgie was traveling in the sea then next he and Eddy are together again.
WARNING!!! MINOR SPOILERS BELOW!
This is a story of two men. Eddy is a man who seeks approval to be happy. He yearns to be free but is bound by responsibility to his country and his family. Ever since he was young he felt inferior to his other siblings. He struggles to express himself and to learn things that his parents and tutor teaches him. He is described as a kind, gentle, and soft-hearted person which his father and other people points out as his weakness. The other man, Jem, is quite the opposite of Eddy. He is competitive, ambitious, and driven. He strives to be on top and is used to be admired and loved by everyone. They were put together for years. One of them as the tutor and the other as student. Their relationship developed into something more in the years they are together but are hindered by society's norms and their personal problems. Their relationship is complicated because one of them doesn't really know what to expect to the other. He also took time exploring his sexuality without the help of the other. While the other one, suffered silently into an illness no one can explain properly at that time. That problems resulted into a huge gap and misunderstanding between them.
Now why am I not moved by their story? The book was too descriptive but without really telling anything important. It tells you something very complex and unrelatable to the plot. It was really challenging to understand the meaning and the connect it to what was really happening. Not to mention that the book left me with too many unanswered questions. I didn't really understand them very well. The things they did, the problems they encountered, the way they approached each other. The development of their relationship from tutor to student into lovers, and how they grew apart. I understand very little of it because of the way it was narrated. It was bewildering (not in a good way).
In the end of the book, I really wondered what does this book really want to say? Because in all honesty I didn’t get the whole point of it. I usually love lgbt books and the message they want to convey. But this book? Nuh-uh... Sorry.
ARC generously provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review .
ARC # 1
‘There are many worlds, Eddy,’ he says. ‘Not just the geographical one you’ve already seen. But worlds we can visit inside ourselves. They are lying at your feet, waiting for us to enter them. Will you come and explore them with me?”
This book is just wasn’t for me. I tried my very best. I did.
I struggled a lot with this book. I pushed myself to read it because I’m waiting for something to happen, some turning point in the story that will make me like it. I read it until 70% and after that I decided to stop it and just skip to the last chapter of the book. I tried really hard, I was patient and hopeful that things would be somewhat better in the middle of the book. But no, i waited in vain. It was boring and uneventful. I was so disappointed because the synopsis of the book promised a very heart warming and impactful story. I expected to feel emotions like pain, grief, joy, and love but in the end I only felt one emotion and it was frustration.
Honestly, this book had so much potential. The idea of the two characters exploring their inner self and discovering their true identities and revealing it to the world were the things I expected from this book instead I read a babbling mess.
My main issue in this book is the writing style of the author. It was so confusing and jumbled. One moment the protagonist was staying on this place then the next he’s on a different location. It was also difficult in keeping track of the timeline and the sudden appearance of the characters in the story. One moment Eddy’s brother Georgie was traveling in the sea then next he and Eddy are together again.
WARNING!!! MINOR SPOILERS BELOW!
This is a story of two men. Eddy is a man who seeks approval to be happy. He yearns to be free but is bound by responsibility to his country and his family. Ever since he was young he felt inferior to his other siblings. He struggles to express himself and to learn things that his parents and tutor teaches him. He is described as a kind, gentle, and soft-hearted person which his father and other people points out as his weakness. The other man, Jem, is quite the opposite of Eddy. He is competitive, ambitious, and driven. He strives to be on top and is used to be admired and loved by everyone. They were put together for years. One of them as the tutor and the other as student. Their relationship developed into something more in the years they are together but are hindered by society's norms and their personal problems. Their relationship is complicated because one of them doesn't really know what to expect to the other. He also took time exploring his sexuality without the help of the other. While the other one, suffered silently into an illness no one can explain properly at that time. That problems resulted into a huge gap and misunderstanding between them.
Now why am I not moved by their story? The book was too descriptive but without really telling anything important. It tells you something very complex and unrelatable to the plot. It was really challenging to understand the meaning and the connect it to what was really happening. Not to mention that the book left me with too many unanswered questions. I didn't really understand them very well. The things they did, the problems they encountered, the way they approached each other. The development of their relationship from tutor to student into lovers, and how they grew apart. I understand very little of it because of the way it was narrated. It was bewildering (not in a good way).
In the end of the book, I really wondered what does this book really want to say? Because in all honesty I didn’t get the whole point of it. I usually love lgbt books and the message they want to convey. But this book? Nuh-uh... Sorry.
June 6, 2018
ARC generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
How do you even go about writing a review when you haven’t reviewed a book for months?
To be honest, I finished this ARC about 3 days ago and I’m still unsure on what to say about it. The only reason this review is coming out right now is because the book will be released tomorrow so hopefully my jumbled up thoughts will make sense, or at the very least, forcing me to write this review will help me make sense of my thoughts about this book.
2.5 stars? Maybe 2.75, maybe 3.
I’m not sure how to rate a book that was read during a book slump.Or perhaps this book is what caused the book slump to begin with.
So without further adobecause I can’t possibly procrastinate writing my thoughts on this book any longer, here it is:
DIVERSITY IN HISTORICAL FICTION
I don’t think it’s a surprise that The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee got so much hype last summer. Introducing LGBTQIA+ characters in a historical setting reinforces the fact that gay people existed back then and that’s important. The main character in this book, Eddy, is bisexual, whereas the love interest, Jem, is gay.
I really enjoyed how this book explored the two’s sexuality in this historical context, how both were uncertain of what exactly they identified as, what their sexual preferences were, etc. And I loved how the setting of the story had an effect in their exploration and questioning of these identities. And I’m impressed by the way Clark dealt with the characters’ adversity regarding that. On another note, the main character, Eddy, seemed to sleep with every person who breathed in his vicinity and to fall in love with pretty much every character showing interest in him –despite claiming wholeheartedly through narration that his heart belonged to Jem—and I’m not sure if that was intended to be a personality trait (ie. Eddy just generally being a promiscuous guy and naïve concerning matters of the heart) or just bad bisexual representation.
Aside from introducing LGBTQ+ characters to the story, there was also bipolar representation in this, which I really appreciated, because I love seeing mental illnesses represented in history, at a time where these mental illnesses weren’t understood as well as they are in this day and age. I especially love seeing representation of the more stigmatized mental illnesses – bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, double personality disorder, etc. I do think however that it could have been explored more and that a lot of the times, it felt like the author didn’t really do his research on the disorder and just looked up the general definition of what bipolar disorder is. For instance, Jem would be described to be going through a manic episode, but we wouldn’t really explore his thoughts, his emotions, his actions, during the episode—just that he lived through it.
Jem, the love interest, is also defined as being “big” and though at first it seems more that it’s meant that he’s very muscular, over the years he gains weight, and it’s suggested that he’s big because he’s plus-sized. I’m not sure if I would categorize that as representation so I’m just mentioning it offhandedly here. Despite this, fat-shaming that’s never been rebuked is present in this novel in regards to the main character’s father, so this is my official trigger warning for that I guess.
THE HISTORICAL SETTING
I don’t know much about Victorian England so it was nice to explore it a little bit. I especially liked how in the ending of the book, the author informs us on what happens to the other characters in this story and what happens to the main characters’ descendants. I’m not sure how accurate it was, but regardless, I enjoyed it and liked making connections to people in history that I did hear about.
THE FAMILY DYNAMICS
The family dynamics between Eddy and his parents and brother were the best part about this book—especially the exploration of the relationship between father-and-son. Similarly, the one between Jem and his own father was also quite intriguing to read about. In general, these dynamics are what really highlighted the fact that this was a character-driven novel worth finishing. Without it, this book would have probably been two stars or less.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDDY AND JEM
The interactions between the two were so angsty and they legit caused me pain. I liked that it was unconventional, and that Jem felt he needed to sacrifice his own happiness to make something out of Eddy (or rather, I liked the way it was written). Despite all of this, as I mentioned before, Eddy seemed to fall in love with everyone who showed even remote interest in him, which kind of ruined the sincerity of it all. The relationship also felt sometimes like insta-love; this, mostly being due to the fact that the time that they fell in love with each other in Cambridge wasn’t written about but merely glimpsed over, so that we could cover the rest of their history. Despite how long reading this book felt due to the slump, I would have preferred a longer book so that I could fully feel invested in their story. I felt like I was ripped off from what the synopsis promised to be the best part about the book.
THE WRITING
I didn’t have so much of a problem with the writing as I had a problem with the pacing. It was just very confusing and ultimately, that’s what ruined the book for me. We would constantly fast-forward through time and points of view, without offering a brief introduction to the current setting, the new point of view, anything. I got so frustrated with it because every time I felt like I finally understood what was going on, the author would skip to a different scene, a different time, a different personal and historical context all over again, without explaining you aforementioned context and leaving you to figure it out on your own through poor narration and immediate dialogue. Honestly, it felt rushed and it felt sloppy, like the author wanted to cover so much in the least amount of pages possible, that he just half-elaborated every scene, like he wasn’t really certain where he was going with this story and felt that if he changed scenes rapidly enough we’d be too confused to notice that he was just as lost as he was. I do think a lot of it could have been fixed with a good editor, more pages to the story and more organized plot-mapping, which is what’s most unfortunate about how disappointed I am about this book.
So, overall, I’d say that though this book had so much potential, it just fell extremely short. Sigh.
Trigger warnings: homophobia, fat shaming, prostitution
----
ya'll. this is a gay historical fiction with bipolar disorder rep and it's about a fucking prince and it's my first arc ever and can you tell im excited because im so fucking excited I WANT TO SCREAM
How do you even go about writing a review when you haven’t reviewed a book for months?
To be honest, I finished this ARC about 3 days ago and I’m still unsure on what to say about it. The only reason this review is coming out right now is because the book will be released tomorrow so hopefully my jumbled up thoughts will make sense, or at the very least, forcing me to write this review will help me make sense of my thoughts about this book.
2.5 stars? Maybe 2.75, maybe 3.
I’m not sure how to rate a book that was read during a book slump.
So without further ado
DIVERSITY IN HISTORICAL FICTION
I don’t think it’s a surprise that The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee got so much hype last summer. Introducing LGBTQIA+ characters in a historical setting reinforces the fact that gay people existed back then and that’s important. The main character in this book, Eddy, is bisexual, whereas the love interest, Jem, is gay.
I really enjoyed how this book explored the two’s sexuality in this historical context, how both were uncertain of what exactly they identified as, what their sexual preferences were, etc. And I loved how the setting of the story had an effect in their exploration and questioning of these identities. And I’m impressed by the way Clark dealt with the characters’ adversity regarding that. On another note, the main character, Eddy, seemed to sleep with every person who breathed in his vicinity and to fall in love with pretty much every character showing interest in him –despite claiming wholeheartedly through narration that his heart belonged to Jem—and I’m not sure if that was intended to be a personality trait (ie. Eddy just generally being a promiscuous guy and naïve concerning matters of the heart) or just bad bisexual representation.
Aside from introducing LGBTQ+ characters to the story, there was also bipolar representation in this, which I really appreciated, because I love seeing mental illnesses represented in history, at a time where these mental illnesses weren’t understood as well as they are in this day and age. I especially love seeing representation of the more stigmatized mental illnesses – bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, double personality disorder, etc. I do think however that it could have been explored more and that a lot of the times, it felt like the author didn’t really do his research on the disorder and just looked up the general definition of what bipolar disorder is. For instance, Jem would be described to be going through a manic episode, but we wouldn’t really explore his thoughts, his emotions, his actions, during the episode—just that he lived through it.
Jem, the love interest, is also defined as being “big” and though at first it seems more that it’s meant that he’s very muscular, over the years he gains weight, and it’s suggested that he’s big because he’s plus-sized. I’m not sure if I would categorize that as representation so I’m just mentioning it offhandedly here. Despite this, fat-shaming that’s never been rebuked is present in this novel in regards to the main character’s father, so this is my official trigger warning for that I guess.
THE HISTORICAL SETTING
I don’t know much about Victorian England so it was nice to explore it a little bit. I especially liked how in the ending of the book, the author informs us on what happens to the other characters in this story and what happens to the main characters’ descendants. I’m not sure how accurate it was, but regardless, I enjoyed it and liked making connections to people in history that I did hear about.
THE FAMILY DYNAMICS
The family dynamics between Eddy and his parents and brother were the best part about this book—especially the exploration of the relationship between father-and-son. Similarly, the one between Jem and his own father was also quite intriguing to read about. In general, these dynamics are what really highlighted the fact that this was a character-driven novel worth finishing. Without it, this book would have probably been two stars or less.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDDY AND JEM
The interactions between the two were so angsty and they legit caused me pain. I liked that it was unconventional, and that Jem felt he needed to sacrifice his own happiness to make something out of Eddy (or rather, I liked the way it was written). Despite all of this, as I mentioned before, Eddy seemed to fall in love with everyone who showed even remote interest in him, which kind of ruined the sincerity of it all. The relationship also felt sometimes like insta-love; this, mostly being due to the fact that the time that they fell in love with each other in Cambridge wasn’t written about but merely glimpsed over, so that we could cover the rest of their history. Despite how long reading this book felt due to the slump, I would have preferred a longer book so that I could fully feel invested in their story. I felt like I was ripped off from what the synopsis promised to be the best part about the book.
THE WRITING
I didn’t have so much of a problem with the writing as I had a problem with the pacing. It was just very confusing and ultimately, that’s what ruined the book for me. We would constantly fast-forward through time and points of view, without offering a brief introduction to the current setting, the new point of view, anything. I got so frustrated with it because every time I felt like I finally understood what was going on, the author would skip to a different scene, a different time, a different personal and historical context all over again, without explaining you aforementioned context and leaving you to figure it out on your own through poor narration and immediate dialogue. Honestly, it felt rushed and it felt sloppy, like the author wanted to cover so much in the least amount of pages possible, that he just half-elaborated every scene, like he wasn’t really certain where he was going with this story and felt that if he changed scenes rapidly enough we’d be too confused to notice that he was just as lost as he was. I do think a lot of it could have been fixed with a good editor, more pages to the story and more organized plot-mapping, which is what’s most unfortunate about how disappointed I am about this book.
So, overall, I’d say that though this book had so much potential, it just fell extremely short. Sigh.
Trigger warnings: homophobia, fat shaming, prostitution
----
ya'll. this is a gay historical fiction with bipolar disorder rep and it's about a fucking prince and it's my first arc ever and can you tell im excited because im so fucking excited I WANT TO SCREAM
March 29, 2018
. : ☾⋆ — 5 ★
arc provided from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (thank you fairlight books!!)
ohhhhh my heart!! what a lovely, lovely book.
part fact, part fiction, The Prince of Mirrors follows the story of prince eddy, better known as prince albert victor, and his tutor jem stephen. their story, though heartbreakingly tragic, is also astonishingly beautiful and so full of life that it hardly seems possible that both historical figures have almost been forgotten with the passage of time. i’m no kirkus reviewer, but if i may say so, Alan Robert Clark manages to bring life to this book in a masterful way, his writing style leaps off the pages and into your heart gracefully so. i’m surprised and slightly offended that i’ve never heard of him before.
speaking of Alan Robert Clark’s writing style—jesus, can this man write. it’s rare to read such natural and organic interactions that feel so inherently realistic. it almost hurts, honestly. i wasn’t lying or vaguely exaggerating with the “leaps of the pages and into your heart” part, either. this book feels like picking up a piece, a string, of any of these characters’ lives. if the pensieve from harry potter were real and the british royal family ~through the ages~ had poured their memories into little flasks to be used for later date, this book would be it.
the pacing is slow but understandably so. i personally didn’t find it tedious or boring to read, but maybe that’s just me.
as far as diversity goes, i think The Prince of Mirrors did a good job. there’s obviously the lgbt aspect, but i’d like to point out that, while jem identifies strongly as gay, eddy is very clearly and very explicitly bisexual. bisexuality in this book is depicted in a very positive light as far as representation goes (obviously during the time this book takes place it wasn’t particularly a ‘good’ thing to be even remotely attracted to the same gender) and what i mean by it being depicted positively is that it shines on a very healthy part of it that we rarely see in other books, the stereotype being “oh this character is bisexual! they’re very promiscuous and immoral and sleep around a lot” which is, you know, wrong. anyway, eddy’s bisexuality is very important to his character and to his development and it really made him pop in my eyes. speaking of a different aspect of diversity, (which is also rarely seen in books these days unless you’re actively searching for it), is the fact that jem is plus size. also depicted in a very healthy way and was also intrinsic to jem’s character and development.
i don’t want to give too much away since it’s gonna be a long time still before this book is published but all in all, this story was engaging and beautifully told. all the issues that Alan Robert Clark wanted to address, he did so perfectly. love, love, love all around.
arc provided from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (thank you fairlight books!!)
ohhhhh my heart!! what a lovely, lovely book.
part fact, part fiction, The Prince of Mirrors follows the story of prince eddy, better known as prince albert victor, and his tutor jem stephen. their story, though heartbreakingly tragic, is also astonishingly beautiful and so full of life that it hardly seems possible that both historical figures have almost been forgotten with the passage of time. i’m no kirkus reviewer, but if i may say so, Alan Robert Clark manages to bring life to this book in a masterful way, his writing style leaps off the pages and into your heart gracefully so. i’m surprised and slightly offended that i’ve never heard of him before.
speaking of Alan Robert Clark’s writing style—jesus, can this man write. it’s rare to read such natural and organic interactions that feel so inherently realistic. it almost hurts, honestly. i wasn’t lying or vaguely exaggerating with the “leaps of the pages and into your heart” part, either. this book feels like picking up a piece, a string, of any of these characters’ lives. if the pensieve from harry potter were real and the british royal family ~through the ages~ had poured their memories into little flasks to be used for later date, this book would be it.
the pacing is slow but understandably so. i personally didn’t find it tedious or boring to read, but maybe that’s just me.
as far as diversity goes, i think The Prince of Mirrors did a good job. there’s obviously the lgbt aspect, but i’d like to point out that, while jem identifies strongly as gay, eddy is very clearly and very explicitly bisexual. bisexuality in this book is depicted in a very positive light as far as representation goes (obviously during the time this book takes place it wasn’t particularly a ‘good’ thing to be even remotely attracted to the same gender) and what i mean by it being depicted positively is that it shines on a very healthy part of it that we rarely see in other books, the stereotype being “oh this character is bisexual! they’re very promiscuous and immoral and sleep around a lot” which is, you know, wrong. anyway, eddy’s bisexuality is very important to his character and to his development and it really made him pop in my eyes. speaking of a different aspect of diversity, (which is also rarely seen in books these days unless you’re actively searching for it), is the fact that jem is plus size. also depicted in a very healthy way and was also intrinsic to jem’s character and development.
i don’t want to give too much away since it’s gonna be a long time still before this book is published but all in all, this story was engaging and beautifully told. all the issues that Alan Robert Clark wanted to address, he did so perfectly. love, love, love all around.
July 14, 2018
Find this and other reviews at: https://historicalfictionreader.blogs...
I picked up Alan Robert Clark’s The Prince of Mirrors as a palate cleanser between Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House by Peter Baker and Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith. The novel is a far cry from the heavy political dialogues that characterize my Presidential Reading Challenge and I gave the premise no more than a superficial glance before jumping into the story. This wasn’t a book I expected to get swept up in, but that is exactly what happened.
Rumor and speculation tie Eddy to both the Cleveland Street scandal and the infamous Whitechapel murders, but unlike Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, Clark downplays the sensational and crafts a penetrating fictional portrait of a man struggling to come into his own. At its heart, The Prince of Mirrors is a story of identity, the burden of expectation, and the challenges of living by stringent standards of duty, faith, and traditional morality.
Eddy’s journey of self-discovery is prompted in many ways by his tutor, James Kenneth Stephen. I don’t want to give too much away, but I loved how Clark framed this story. Trends in historic fiction don’t lend themselves to male-driven narratives and I adored indulging in social rhythms and perspectives that are so often ignored and disregarded by mainstream publishers.
I was equally enthralled by Clark’s fearless portrayal of bi-polar disorder. When people talk about diversity in historical fiction, the question usually centers on race, but the term is just as applicable to sexuality, gender, age, religion, nationality, and representation of disabilities and disorders. Kate Quinn featured a heroine with a stutter in The Alice Network, Marie Benedict’s lead has a club foot in The Other Einstein, and Karen Harper tackled epilepsy in The Royal Nanny, but such depictions are more exception than norm. I don’t mean to get on a soapbox here, but we need more fiction like this; more stories by authors who are not afraid of tearing down barriers and erasing social stigma through the creativity of their pens and keyboards.
Clark’s characterizations of Princess Hélène of Orléans, Queen Victoria, Edward VII, Alexandra of Denmark, and George V are worth mentioning, as is his command of language and prose. The novel is slow in terms of pacing, but I found it thematically thought-provoking and brilliantly imagined. Highly recommended.
The following does not factor in my review, but I feel it worth noting for readers who are sensitive to particular content: The Prince of Mirrors includes descriptions of same-sex intimacy.
I picked up Alan Robert Clark’s The Prince of Mirrors as a palate cleanser between Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House by Peter Baker and Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith. The novel is a far cry from the heavy political dialogues that characterize my Presidential Reading Challenge and I gave the premise no more than a superficial glance before jumping into the story. This wasn’t a book I expected to get swept up in, but that is exactly what happened.
Rumor and speculation tie Eddy to both the Cleveland Street scandal and the infamous Whitechapel murders, but unlike Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, Clark downplays the sensational and crafts a penetrating fictional portrait of a man struggling to come into his own. At its heart, The Prince of Mirrors is a story of identity, the burden of expectation, and the challenges of living by stringent standards of duty, faith, and traditional morality.
Eddy’s journey of self-discovery is prompted in many ways by his tutor, James Kenneth Stephen. I don’t want to give too much away, but I loved how Clark framed this story. Trends in historic fiction don’t lend themselves to male-driven narratives and I adored indulging in social rhythms and perspectives that are so often ignored and disregarded by mainstream publishers.
I was equally enthralled by Clark’s fearless portrayal of bi-polar disorder. When people talk about diversity in historical fiction, the question usually centers on race, but the term is just as applicable to sexuality, gender, age, religion, nationality, and representation of disabilities and disorders. Kate Quinn featured a heroine with a stutter in The Alice Network, Marie Benedict’s lead has a club foot in The Other Einstein, and Karen Harper tackled epilepsy in The Royal Nanny, but such depictions are more exception than norm. I don’t mean to get on a soapbox here, but we need more fiction like this; more stories by authors who are not afraid of tearing down barriers and erasing social stigma through the creativity of their pens and keyboards.
Clark’s characterizations of Princess Hélène of Orléans, Queen Victoria, Edward VII, Alexandra of Denmark, and George V are worth mentioning, as is his command of language and prose. The novel is slow in terms of pacing, but I found it thematically thought-provoking and brilliantly imagined. Highly recommended.
The following does not factor in my review, but I feel it worth noting for readers who are sensitive to particular content: The Prince of Mirrors includes descriptions of same-sex intimacy.
Shelved as 'dnfs'
July 11, 2018Thank you to Fairlight Books for sending me an e-ARC of this via NetGalley!
This really wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't personally for me.
The Prince of Mirrors follows Prince Albert Victor ("Eddy") as he navigates his life as part of British royalty in the late 1800s. At its heart, the story is about Eddy exploring his identity and figuring out how he wants to fit into this life that he's been thrown into.
I'd recommend this book if you like:
☑ historical fiction
☑ stories about royalty
☑ diversity in historical fiction (m/m rep, bipolar disorder rep)
☑ slow, character-focused stories with loose plots
Other than that, the writing style is polished, and there really weren't any glaring issues that I had while reading this. That being said, I thought this book's scenes were a little confusing to follow. They often began in the middle of things, which made them feel really disorienting to read. That was really the only thing that I felt could've been improved.
The reason why I didn't end up loving this book was really just a matter of taste. The story was just a little too slow for me, and the disorienting nature of the scenes took me out of the narrative lot of the times.
I'd still recommend this though! Diverse historical fiction is hard to find, so it's great that there are books like The Prince of Mirrors out there.
This really wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't personally for me.
The Prince of Mirrors follows Prince Albert Victor ("Eddy") as he navigates his life as part of British royalty in the late 1800s. At its heart, the story is about Eddy exploring his identity and figuring out how he wants to fit into this life that he's been thrown into.
I'd recommend this book if you like:
☑ historical fiction
☑ stories about royalty
☑ diversity in historical fiction (m/m rep, bipolar disorder rep)
☑ slow, character-focused stories with loose plots
Other than that, the writing style is polished, and there really weren't any glaring issues that I had while reading this. That being said, I thought this book's scenes were a little confusing to follow. They often began in the middle of things, which made them feel really disorienting to read. That was really the only thing that I felt could've been improved.
The reason why I didn't end up loving this book was really just a matter of taste. The story was just a little too slow for me, and the disorienting nature of the scenes took me out of the narrative lot of the times.
I'd still recommend this though! Diverse historical fiction is hard to find, so it's great that there are books like The Prince of Mirrors out there.
September 18, 2019
The story of Prince Albert Victor ‘Eddy’ is about Eddy discovering himself and fitting into the world that was bestow upon him.
The story starts with Eddy at the age of 8 in 1872 Windsor. As a child he misses his father dearly sometimes gone for months at a time. As Eddy grows and matures, he observes his parent’s as they observe him. They are not sure what to think of Eddy as he is the first in line for throne. They send him on a three year sailing trip around the world in hopes it will solve the problem.
After the trip before Eddy enters Cambridge, he is introduced to his new tutor Mr. Jem Stephen. Jem tries to tap into boy’s spirit and soul by asking him questions he never thought of, starting with what Eddy learned about himself while sailing for those three years? At first, Eddy is baffled by this and other questions such as why would he want to make time for himself? Jem explains, “There are many worlds (…) Not just geographical one you’ve already seen. But world we can visit inside ourselves.”
Up to this point the story is interesting. However, once at Cambridge the story takes a turn at least for me with introduction of naked men at baths and men staring at him, then women, and foul language. At this point with each page I started losing interest in the story.
The story starts with Eddy at the age of 8 in 1872 Windsor. As a child he misses his father dearly sometimes gone for months at a time. As Eddy grows and matures, he observes his parent’s as they observe him. They are not sure what to think of Eddy as he is the first in line for throne. They send him on a three year sailing trip around the world in hopes it will solve the problem.
After the trip before Eddy enters Cambridge, he is introduced to his new tutor Mr. Jem Stephen. Jem tries to tap into boy’s spirit and soul by asking him questions he never thought of, starting with what Eddy learned about himself while sailing for those three years? At first, Eddy is baffled by this and other questions such as why would he want to make time for himself? Jem explains, “There are many worlds (…) Not just geographical one you’ve already seen. But world we can visit inside ourselves.”
Up to this point the story is interesting. However, once at Cambridge the story takes a turn at least for me with introduction of naked men at baths and men staring at him, then women, and foul language. At this point with each page I started losing interest in the story.
June 7, 2018
Reviewed for Just Love
2 stars
The first thing you need to know about his book is that it is NOT a romance.
Had I realized it wasn’t a romance, I would have gone into it with a different frame of mind. In fact, had I known it was based on real life events, I would have Googled the story beforehand. At least then I would have been prepared for how the story ends.
The Prince of Mirrors blends fact and fiction to tell the story of Prince Albert Victor (Eddy) grandson to Queen Victoria and heir to the throne, and James Kenneth Stephen (Jem), the prince’s tutor at Cambridge. While initially wary of each other, the two men eventually become close friends and, according to this story at least, lovers.
The story mainly focuses on Prince Eddy’s university years with Jem, although we are shown his struggles to keep up with his brighter, feistier younger brother and his time spent travelling with the Royal Navy’s training ship, the HMS Brittania. What we don’t get, however, is a sense of the depth of feeling between Prince Eddy and Jem. I was expecting to read more about their personal relationship but I felt shortchanged in that regard.
I think this book would have succeeded had the author been more willing to build up the fictional portions of the story in favour of outlining the rather dry facts of Prince Eddy’s life. If you’re going to suggest that the two men were lovers who were bound by the conventions of the day and the realities of the prince’s future, then you need to give the reader characters they can sympathize with and root for, even when you know how the story ends.
Unfortunately, there is no real sense of plot here, and no real effort to make either man particularly likable. As well, it was written in a way that prevented me from really connecting with the story or the players. Sadly, this one is a miss for me.
I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
2 stars
The first thing you need to know about his book is that it is NOT a romance.
Had I realized it wasn’t a romance, I would have gone into it with a different frame of mind. In fact, had I known it was based on real life events, I would have Googled the story beforehand. At least then I would have been prepared for how the story ends.
The Prince of Mirrors blends fact and fiction to tell the story of Prince Albert Victor (Eddy) grandson to Queen Victoria and heir to the throne, and James Kenneth Stephen (Jem), the prince’s tutor at Cambridge. While initially wary of each other, the two men eventually become close friends and, according to this story at least, lovers.
The story mainly focuses on Prince Eddy’s university years with Jem, although we are shown his struggles to keep up with his brighter, feistier younger brother and his time spent travelling with the Royal Navy’s training ship, the HMS Brittania. What we don’t get, however, is a sense of the depth of feeling between Prince Eddy and Jem. I was expecting to read more about their personal relationship but I felt shortchanged in that regard.
I think this book would have succeeded had the author been more willing to build up the fictional portions of the story in favour of outlining the rather dry facts of Prince Eddy’s life. If you’re going to suggest that the two men were lovers who were bound by the conventions of the day and the realities of the prince’s future, then you need to give the reader characters they can sympathize with and root for, even when you know how the story ends.
Unfortunately, there is no real sense of plot here, and no real effort to make either man particularly likable. As well, it was written in a way that prevented me from really connecting with the story or the players. Sadly, this one is a miss for me.
I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
March 1, 2018
First, thank you NetGalley for providing me with such a wonderful book. This is my honest review of the book.
From the moment I read the setting of the book and the summary, I knew I was going to like it. For some reason, I have never thought of Prince Eddy when it comes to history but for once, I thought of him and even though this is a historical fiction, I think, in a way, I got to know him. While reading this, I was transported to that time when everything was different.
The relationship between Jem and Eddy was engrossing, engaging and the book, unputdownable. And that's a fact. The characters never felt dull, they seemed to soar off the pages and into my mind. The easy grace of the author's writing made me so happy. I could not put it down, I read till it was too late in the night and then, when morning came, I read more.
The LGBT and mental health representation in the book should not have surprised me but it did, because it was handled wonderfully. The way Eddy is made aware of this world where a lot of things are possible, the way he opens up and blooms. The way Jem starts to feel his life slipping away from one moment and feeling strong enough to carry the weight of the world in the next few days, it was all so well-written. Often in historical fiction, there's a chance that the mental health issues or even LGBT issues would be handled less than ideally but somehow, the author managed to do it perfectly.
From the moment I read the setting of the book and the summary, I knew I was going to like it. For some reason, I have never thought of Prince Eddy when it comes to history but for once, I thought of him and even though this is a historical fiction, I think, in a way, I got to know him. While reading this, I was transported to that time when everything was different.
The relationship between Jem and Eddy was engrossing, engaging and the book, unputdownable. And that's a fact. The characters never felt dull, they seemed to soar off the pages and into my mind. The easy grace of the author's writing made me so happy. I could not put it down, I read till it was too late in the night and then, when morning came, I read more.
The LGBT and mental health representation in the book should not have surprised me but it did, because it was handled wonderfully. The way Eddy is made aware of this world where a lot of things are possible, the way he opens up and blooms. The way Jem starts to feel his life slipping away from one moment and feeling strong enough to carry the weight of the world in the next few days, it was all so well-written. Often in historical fiction, there's a chance that the mental health issues or even LGBT issues would be handled less than ideally but somehow, the author managed to do it perfectly.
February 15, 2018
*I received an ARC of this book for review, but my opinions are entirely my own*
Captivating. Enthralling. Utterly engaging. These are the first words to flit across my mind upon finishing this book. It is beautifully written and flows with complete grace from chapter to chapter. Each character seems to leap off the page, not simply a lifeless imitation of a historical figure but a real flesh-and-blood person who you bond with over the course of the novel. It is the first novel in a long time that has captured my imagination so fully- the first day I picked it up, I struggled to let it go again. I resisted the urge to wax lyrical about it all day. I plan on buying a copy for each of my friends upon its release (not a modest promise when one subsists on a student budget).
There is representation of the LGBT+ community and the mentally ill community here, and I admit that at first I flinched away. I have had too many negative experiences. This book, however, did everything right. It felt as though there was no judgement, no criticism. The characters were set loose across the page and allowed to tell their own tales as they would.
This book is truly an incredible achievement for historical fiction.
Captivating. Enthralling. Utterly engaging. These are the first words to flit across my mind upon finishing this book. It is beautifully written and flows with complete grace from chapter to chapter. Each character seems to leap off the page, not simply a lifeless imitation of a historical figure but a real flesh-and-blood person who you bond with over the course of the novel. It is the first novel in a long time that has captured my imagination so fully- the first day I picked it up, I struggled to let it go again. I resisted the urge to wax lyrical about it all day. I plan on buying a copy for each of my friends upon its release (not a modest promise when one subsists on a student budget).
There is representation of the LGBT+ community and the mentally ill community here, and I admit that at first I flinched away. I have had too many negative experiences. This book, however, did everything right. It felt as though there was no judgement, no criticism. The characters were set loose across the page and allowed to tell their own tales as they would.
This book is truly an incredible achievement for historical fiction.
November 18, 2019
An utterly unexpected thing of beauty and light, the story of Prince Victor Albert, known as ‘Eddy’, the grandson of Queen Victoria, and his great friend and tutor, Jem Stephen. A slice of queer history as brilliantly written as it is tragic. It’s quiet, and focused entirely on character rather than incident, but so tender and precise about the relationships between the royal family. It broke my heart into tiny pieces, and I hate to be sad because of books right now, but I have no regrets. Thanks to Gays The Word bookshop for pointing me to it.
February 15, 2018
I could not put this book down yesterday. Set in the 1860s to 1890s, it tells the story of Prince Albert Victor, the would be Uncle of Queen Elizabeth II.
Albert is known as Eddy and he is the heir while his younger brother Georgie is what you'd could the spare, but everyone sees Eddy as weak, naive, and undecided- and his ability to reign is unknown to everyone including his parents. They send him to university at some point.
It's at the university that he meets Jem, his new tutor, but it’s at that first sight that Jem knows he could never walk away from Eddy. “For most of his life, his heart is a passive, sleepy thing. Then it sees a young face peeking out from under a floppy hat in the morning sun. And when his heart awakes, it roars. He panics. He does not know what to do….to reach out towards it might bring discovery, scandal, and disgrace.”
Is it not both true and sad that Jem did live up to his promise to Eddy as he’d written in the note?
I also cannot comprehend why in reading this, there were times I felt Alan Hollinghurst’s vibes. The characters reminded me of The Line of Beauty…only here each was a intricate as they were dynamic.
Eddy faces the surmounting pressure to live up to the beloved heir and though he's of good heart and loves wholly, there's the feeling of an impending doom from the beginning.
The author's writing makes for an easy and delightful read. His characters are as lively as they are full of secrets and ambitions.
I would love to read Valhalla because the author succeeds in blending fact and fiction in a surreal and intriguing way. I requested to read this book off NetGalley, and it’s been a thrill, a trip down history at a time that I believe the kind of love Eddy and Jem shared could never thrive, but with every turn of the page, every scroll, I felt their passion, commitment, struggles and most of all their wishes for the future.
Albert is known as Eddy and he is the heir while his younger brother Georgie is what you'd could the spare, but everyone sees Eddy as weak, naive, and undecided- and his ability to reign is unknown to everyone including his parents. They send him to university at some point.
It's at the university that he meets Jem, his new tutor, but it’s at that first sight that Jem knows he could never walk away from Eddy. “For most of his life, his heart is a passive, sleepy thing. Then it sees a young face peeking out from under a floppy hat in the morning sun. And when his heart awakes, it roars. He panics. He does not know what to do….to reach out towards it might bring discovery, scandal, and disgrace.”
Is it not both true and sad that Jem did live up to his promise to Eddy as he’d written in the note?
I also cannot comprehend why in reading this, there were times I felt Alan Hollinghurst’s vibes. The characters reminded me of The Line of Beauty…only here each was a intricate as they were dynamic.
Eddy faces the surmounting pressure to live up to the beloved heir and though he's of good heart and loves wholly, there's the feeling of an impending doom from the beginning.
The author's writing makes for an easy and delightful read. His characters are as lively as they are full of secrets and ambitions.
I would love to read Valhalla because the author succeeds in blending fact and fiction in a surreal and intriguing way. I requested to read this book off NetGalley, and it’s been a thrill, a trip down history at a time that I believe the kind of love Eddy and Jem shared could never thrive, but with every turn of the page, every scroll, I felt their passion, commitment, struggles and most of all their wishes for the future.
April 11, 2018
ARC generously provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
What a stunning gem of a book The Prince of Mirrors is. Part fact, part fiction, as Clark explains at the end of this novel, The Prince Of Mirrors explores the tragically short life of Queen Victoria's grandson Prince Albert Victor, or Eddy, and his relationship with Jem Stephen (Virginia Woolf's much older cousin).
This is a quietly powerful novel that is heartbreakingly tragic and beautifully written even if sometimes slightly overwritten. After reading Clark's words I am utterly devastated that these two figures have been lost to history. What made this novel unique and the reason I will be recommending it to all my friends is the diversity this novel holds. From Eddy's bisexuality to Jem's struggle with bipolar disorder. Clark never breaks out of the era and handles these issues with the knowledge of a great historian understanding how society viewed diversity in the 1800s.
The only reason I am giving The Prince of Mirrors four stars rather than five is that I would have loved an epilogue chapter from Jem's perspective or maybe George that gave this novel a little more closure which I feel the reader needs.
Overall though I loved this book and will be purchasing a copy when it is released in June.
What a stunning gem of a book The Prince of Mirrors is. Part fact, part fiction, as Clark explains at the end of this novel, The Prince Of Mirrors explores the tragically short life of Queen Victoria's grandson Prince Albert Victor, or Eddy, and his relationship with Jem Stephen (Virginia Woolf's much older cousin).
This is a quietly powerful novel that is heartbreakingly tragic and beautifully written even if sometimes slightly overwritten. After reading Clark's words I am utterly devastated that these two figures have been lost to history. What made this novel unique and the reason I will be recommending it to all my friends is the diversity this novel holds. From Eddy's bisexuality to Jem's struggle with bipolar disorder. Clark never breaks out of the era and handles these issues with the knowledge of a great historian understanding how society viewed diversity in the 1800s.
The only reason I am giving The Prince of Mirrors four stars rather than five is that I would have loved an epilogue chapter from Jem's perspective or maybe George that gave this novel a little more closure which I feel the reader needs.
Overall though I loved this book and will be purchasing a copy when it is released in June.
July 28, 2018
This is a brilliantly written historical extrapolation of the rather mysterious and yet notorious Prince Albert Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria, second in line to the throne. Clark dives deeply into the episodes that appear to define the prince’s life—the poor student, the dullard, the naval cadet, the good brother, the voluptuary. The prince was also named in the Cleveland Street Scandal, a male brothel, and suspected of being Jack the Ripper (“The Final Solution” by Stephen Knight).
At the heart of the novel is his relationship with his tutor and lifelong friend James Kenneth Stephen. Their relationship shapes and helps to define both young men, “Jem” and “Eddy.” Clark deftly pulls together the disparate elements that are only a glimmer of who the real Albert Victor might have been, giving his story emotional depth and deeper context.
I found the novel emotionally satisfying, and it gave me a better picture of an era I don’t know much about. Beautiful cover, gorgeous writing.
“The young man’s suit is a poem to tailoring; his proud valet can recite every pocket, pleat and tuck of it…”
At the heart of the novel is his relationship with his tutor and lifelong friend James Kenneth Stephen. Their relationship shapes and helps to define both young men, “Jem” and “Eddy.” Clark deftly pulls together the disparate elements that are only a glimmer of who the real Albert Victor might have been, giving his story emotional depth and deeper context.
I found the novel emotionally satisfying, and it gave me a better picture of an era I don’t know much about. Beautiful cover, gorgeous writing.
“The young man’s suit is a poem to tailoring; his proud valet can recite every pocket, pleat and tuck of it…”
May 14, 2018
This was a really interesting look at a person history has mostly forgotten, or labelled as a serial killer for fun. Even if the historical Albert wasn't actually interested in men, this would still be an interesting read, simply because there is too little written about him. He may have been romantically linked to men; I've watched some documentaries that state he was and others that say he wasn't, but he is an interesting subject all the same. The relationship between him and his brother was fun to read, and felt authentic. The writing is interesting, and the time period and figures not frequently explored in fiction that I've seen. Albert is wrongly remembered by history for the most part, which is insane considering that he was the Prince William of his day. A very interesting book on an interesting man and his relationships.
April 25, 2018
The Prince of Mirrors by Alan Robert Clark is a beautifully written novel. Reading this story reminded me of Maurice and Call Me By Your Name. The Prince of Mirrors is a completely different story with vastly different characters. The little moments like falling in love and spending seemingly ordinary days that would forever remain in the heart were just so sweet and heartwarming. The story of Eddy and Jem was so heartbreaking. My heart sunk when I finished the novel. Still, I enjoyed reading this book so much. I would write a long review for this book. But my heart is still recovering! I know this is fiction, but the little historical context behind the characters made it even more devastating.
Thank you NetGallery for providing me with the digital ARC.
Thank you NetGallery for providing me with the digital ARC.
June 4, 2018
I was very kindly sent an eARC of this book by the publishers, via NetGalley, but all opinions are, as always, my own. This LGBTQ+ historical fiction novel tells the story of Prince Eddy, eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria, focusing primary on his late teens, early twenties, and his Cambridge tutor Jem Stephens. I had no idea who either of these men were before I started so Clark really had a blank canvas and I enjoyed the book I wasn't as in love with these characters as I could have been. I also felt that the author's narrative wasn't as concise as it could have been. More in my full review coming soon!
Why not check out my full SPOILER FREE review? It's available at https://cartonmanettedarnay.wordpress...
Why not check out my full SPOILER FREE review? It's available at https://cartonmanettedarnay.wordpress...
March 23, 2018
Thank you Netgalley and Fairlight Books for the ARC.
This is the story of Eddy, the bland future king of England and his tutor Jem, a scolar with a zest for life, and their transformation from young boys into responsible adults. Will they end up where they're supposted to be?
A heartbreakingly beautiful read, written at a pleasant pace with indepth characters and prosaic observations throughout. Must read!
This is the story of Eddy, the bland future king of England and his tutor Jem, a scolar with a zest for life, and their transformation from young boys into responsible adults. Will they end up where they're supposted to be?
A heartbreakingly beautiful read, written at a pleasant pace with indepth characters and prosaic observations throughout. Must read!
June 12, 2018
A thoroughly engaging read concerning Prince Eddy and his relationship with his Cambridge tutor, Jem Stephen. It explores the constraints of the monarchy with the morals of the day. A clever blend of fact and fiction, this had me captivated from the opening page. Recommended for lovers of historical fiction.
August 23, 2020
(Yes I'm posting this review over two years after the book was published. Shut up, I forgot.)
Tiny bit spoilery, but also this is history, so not really, and this was published two years ago.
You can give me any historical novel about an obscure member of any royal family and I will immediately want to read it, which is how I got my hands on this one. There is nothing more intriguing than the lives of those who disappear from history well before their time is up - especially those who were supposed to go onto great things, such as we see here. It's no surprise that Eddy dies at the end of it - it's historical fact, after all. Frankly, I think you would be doing yourself a bit of a disservice if you didn't know that before hand. If you didn't, this book ends rather abruptly and you'll be left offended and unfulfilled.
However, I did know that, so it gave me a bit of an insight and I could see foreshadowing where those who didn't would not. Before reading this I took a quick peek at Prince Albert Victor's Wikipedia page, which was largely very helpful. Because, if you hadn't noticed, there is no mention of the prince being anything other than heterosexual in the book summary. Thus, you would likely be a very shocked reader when all of a sudden he's in a quite intimate position with another man - and there are many of those scenes, that pop up often with very little warning at all.
The first thing I noticed was that this book is split into two different perspectives - that of Prince Albert Victor, known as Eddy, and that of Jem Stephen, his tutor. Because it takes place over several years and across many different locations in the UK, you get a nice little timestamp to go with each new chapter. However, I wish that there was also a little subtitle that stated who's chapter we were about to read - sometimes it took nearly half a page before I realised I was imagining the wrong character. Especially since some of the secondary characters intermingled between the two.
The writing is okay. Nothing special when it comes to historical novels, however. The dialogue seemed a bit too modern compared to the prose. It did make the life of a royal sound terribly dull - which I imagine at some points it is, but I have nearly always found royal life interesting, so if I say it sounded boring...well, it probably is. The characters themselves were okay. Jem seemed a bit full of himself at first which made it hard to like him. As for Eddy, I found that it was also difficult to get to know him as a person as the character exploration is really only skin deep. There isn't much plot line though, to be quite honest. Just an awful lot of intimate sex scenes which made me wonder if the author had done any research on what makes a good sex scene at all. Some of it was truly cringeworthy. It was interesting to see the relationship between the two characters though. There is never any confirmation that they have an attraction to each other, and all of a sudden Eddy is doing his best to make Jem jealous of the other men that float through his life. An interesting thing to note though is that even though Jem is Eddy's tutor, there isn't really any mention of their relationship outside of their attraction to each other. It's almost as if instead of showing the progression of their relationship, from all angles (not just the sexual fantasy ones), we only get to see the parts where they are lusting after one another.
Which comes to my next observation. This isn't really a historical novel, or at least a historical novel that you would expect it to be. The plot line of the story isn't about Eddy and his relationship with his father, the queen, the kingdom, or his path to the throne. It could really be any old decade, or any old century. It is much more about the romance of the intimate relationship between these two men rather than their place in history. It's almost like it's coincidental that Eddy is the heir presumptive of the throne. It's because of this that I'm doing my best not to critique it quite so much as a historical story, because ultimately it is not. Also, it is way too smutty to even focus on any other aspect.
I do feel for both of these characters though. Not only because they are both non-straight men in a world that isn't even close to accepting it, but also because they can't have a happy ending - and they know it. They don't even attempt to want it because they know it isn't even in the realm of possibility. Jem is well aware that his position and relationship to Eddy makes anything more than friendship impossible. Eddy knows that he is expected to ascend the throne one day, which means that he must marry and produce an heir, and soon, to avoid suspicion. They don't even try to be together, which is heartbreaking on its own. Eddy spends his time doing his very best to find a girl that he doesn't hate. He must settle for what he does not want, but willingly gives in anyway, because it's his duty to the crown. However, when it comes to May - the future Queen Mary - I do think that eventually, he would have come around to loving her. It's a bit clear early on that Eddy isn't so much homosexual as he is bisexual - or even pansexual, I would argue. Still, his heart lies with Jem and he can't have him. Jem's story is almost sadder - he gets sent to an asylum and it doesn't appear that he will live a happy life at all. In this particular book, he is portrayed as the sad gay man who must simply be satisfied with what he has, and will never have what will truly make him happy. He actually ends up dying within three weeks of Eddy's death because of his broken heart. I do think they were meant for each other, but society simply couldn't let them be.
I did start this book a little disappointed because it wasn't what I hoped it would be. But once I did start to clue in, my ideas changed about how I expected it to portray the story. In some parts, it is clear the author isn't exactly aiming for accuracy, but illustration in the actions of his characters. If you are looking for a great historical novel, I would suggest looking elsewhere. But if you are looking for a forbidden love that can never come to fruition, and the story of two men who are forced to go down separate paths of life, then I would suggest this. Because it doesn't matter what century this story lives in - at the end of the day, it's not about the line of accession or their untimely deaths - it's about two parallel lines that fate has forced apart.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Tiny bit spoilery, but also this is history, so not really, and this was published two years ago.
You can give me any historical novel about an obscure member of any royal family and I will immediately want to read it, which is how I got my hands on this one. There is nothing more intriguing than the lives of those who disappear from history well before their time is up - especially those who were supposed to go onto great things, such as we see here. It's no surprise that Eddy dies at the end of it - it's historical fact, after all. Frankly, I think you would be doing yourself a bit of a disservice if you didn't know that before hand. If you didn't, this book ends rather abruptly and you'll be left offended and unfulfilled.
However, I did know that, so it gave me a bit of an insight and I could see foreshadowing where those who didn't would not. Before reading this I took a quick peek at Prince Albert Victor's Wikipedia page, which was largely very helpful. Because, if you hadn't noticed, there is no mention of the prince being anything other than heterosexual in the book summary. Thus, you would likely be a very shocked reader when all of a sudden he's in a quite intimate position with another man - and there are many of those scenes, that pop up often with very little warning at all.
The first thing I noticed was that this book is split into two different perspectives - that of Prince Albert Victor, known as Eddy, and that of Jem Stephen, his tutor. Because it takes place over several years and across many different locations in the UK, you get a nice little timestamp to go with each new chapter. However, I wish that there was also a little subtitle that stated who's chapter we were about to read - sometimes it took nearly half a page before I realised I was imagining the wrong character. Especially since some of the secondary characters intermingled between the two.
The writing is okay. Nothing special when it comes to historical novels, however. The dialogue seemed a bit too modern compared to the prose. It did make the life of a royal sound terribly dull - which I imagine at some points it is, but I have nearly always found royal life interesting, so if I say it sounded boring...well, it probably is. The characters themselves were okay. Jem seemed a bit full of himself at first which made it hard to like him. As for Eddy, I found that it was also difficult to get to know him as a person as the character exploration is really only skin deep. There isn't much plot line though, to be quite honest. Just an awful lot of intimate sex scenes which made me wonder if the author had done any research on what makes a good sex scene at all. Some of it was truly cringeworthy. It was interesting to see the relationship between the two characters though. There is never any confirmation that they have an attraction to each other, and all of a sudden Eddy is doing his best to make Jem jealous of the other men that float through his life. An interesting thing to note though is that even though Jem is Eddy's tutor, there isn't really any mention of their relationship outside of their attraction to each other. It's almost as if instead of showing the progression of their relationship, from all angles (not just the sexual fantasy ones), we only get to see the parts where they are lusting after one another.
Which comes to my next observation. This isn't really a historical novel, or at least a historical novel that you would expect it to be. The plot line of the story isn't about Eddy and his relationship with his father, the queen, the kingdom, or his path to the throne. It could really be any old decade, or any old century. It is much more about the romance of the intimate relationship between these two men rather than their place in history. It's almost like it's coincidental that Eddy is the heir presumptive of the throne. It's because of this that I'm doing my best not to critique it quite so much as a historical story, because ultimately it is not. Also, it is way too smutty to even focus on any other aspect.
I do feel for both of these characters though. Not only because they are both non-straight men in a world that isn't even close to accepting it, but also because they can't have a happy ending - and they know it. They don't even attempt to want it because they know it isn't even in the realm of possibility. Jem is well aware that his position and relationship to Eddy makes anything more than friendship impossible. Eddy knows that he is expected to ascend the throne one day, which means that he must marry and produce an heir, and soon, to avoid suspicion. They don't even try to be together, which is heartbreaking on its own. Eddy spends his time doing his very best to find a girl that he doesn't hate. He must settle for what he does not want, but willingly gives in anyway, because it's his duty to the crown. However, when it comes to May - the future Queen Mary - I do think that eventually, he would have come around to loving her. It's a bit clear early on that Eddy isn't so much homosexual as he is bisexual - or even pansexual, I would argue. Still, his heart lies with Jem and he can't have him. Jem's story is almost sadder - he gets sent to an asylum and it doesn't appear that he will live a happy life at all. In this particular book, he is portrayed as the sad gay man who must simply be satisfied with what he has, and will never have what will truly make him happy. He actually ends up dying within three weeks of Eddy's death because of his broken heart. I do think they were meant for each other, but society simply couldn't let them be.
I did start this book a little disappointed because it wasn't what I hoped it would be. But once I did start to clue in, my ideas changed about how I expected it to portray the story. In some parts, it is clear the author isn't exactly aiming for accuracy, but illustration in the actions of his characters. If you are looking for a great historical novel, I would suggest looking elsewhere. But if you are looking for a forbidden love that can never come to fruition, and the story of two men who are forced to go down separate paths of life, then I would suggest this. Because it doesn't matter what century this story lives in - at the end of the day, it's not about the line of accession or their untimely deaths - it's about two parallel lines that fate has forced apart.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
July 2, 2020
I enjoyed this more than I expected to. The story of prince Eddy, his difficult relationship with his father, his love for his mother and his easier relationship with his grandmother queen Victoria. It also looks at his sexual preferences and his love affair with his tutor Jem Stephens. excellent read.
April 16, 2018
This book is very good and falls just short of being excellent. It tells the interleaved stories of Prince Albert Victor and his Cambridge tutor and friend, James Kenneth Stephen.They were known to family and friends as “Eddy” and “Jem”.
Both men were troubled and their lives blighted, not least by family expectations. In this novel, a beguiling blend of imagination and fact, they are bound together in a love which finds no physical sexual expression.The Prince was possibly bisexual and Stephen probably homosexual. Eddy had learning difficulties and Jem bipolar disorder. The Prince died of pneumonia aged 28. Stephen, by then committed to St Andrew’s Hospital for Mental Diseases, stopped eating on hearing the news of Eddy’s death, and died, twenty days later, aged 32.
Their story is told in a series of episodes exploring their internal thoughts and external experiences. There are few invented characters and lots of interesting historical ones outwith both immediate families. These include Monty James (the writer and academic, M.R.James), John Neale Dalton (Eddy’s tutor and father of his godson, the future Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton) and Harry Goodhart (who played in four F.A. Cup finals before becoming Professor of Humanity at the University of Edinburgh).
Of the royal characters portrayed, Queen Victoria and May of Teck, the future Queen Mary, both appeared in in a new light and gained added dimension.
Incidentally, one may ponder about how things might have gone if Edward Carpenter, Queen Victoria’s first choice to tutor the young Eddy and his brother, had accepted the job. Carpenter, a lifelong friend of Dalton, was an early advocate of homosexual rights.
There is some fine writing here and a lot of fascinating detail. The historical content is enriched, but not overshadowed, by the author’s imagination and speculation.
I think the problem for me lies in the structure rather than the content. The book felt unduly fragmented and was sometimes repetitive. It might have worked better if the structure had been similar to that of Alan Hollinghurst’s latest,“The Sparsholt Affair”, in which the narrative has discrete but related chronological sections.
I recommend this highly.It is one of the most involving and well-written historical novels I have read recently. It deals sensibly with sensitive issues and, happily, the author avoids the well-trodden and spurious paths of the Cleveland Street Scandal and Jack the Ripper.
4.5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Fairlight Books for the digital ARC.
Both men were troubled and their lives blighted, not least by family expectations. In this novel, a beguiling blend of imagination and fact, they are bound together in a love which finds no physical sexual expression.The Prince was possibly bisexual and Stephen probably homosexual. Eddy had learning difficulties and Jem bipolar disorder. The Prince died of pneumonia aged 28. Stephen, by then committed to St Andrew’s Hospital for Mental Diseases, stopped eating on hearing the news of Eddy’s death, and died, twenty days later, aged 32.
Their story is told in a series of episodes exploring their internal thoughts and external experiences. There are few invented characters and lots of interesting historical ones outwith both immediate families. These include Monty James (the writer and academic, M.R.James), John Neale Dalton (Eddy’s tutor and father of his godson, the future Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton) and Harry Goodhart (who played in four F.A. Cup finals before becoming Professor of Humanity at the University of Edinburgh).
Of the royal characters portrayed, Queen Victoria and May of Teck, the future Queen Mary, both appeared in in a new light and gained added dimension.
Incidentally, one may ponder about how things might have gone if Edward Carpenter, Queen Victoria’s first choice to tutor the young Eddy and his brother, had accepted the job. Carpenter, a lifelong friend of Dalton, was an early advocate of homosexual rights.
There is some fine writing here and a lot of fascinating detail. The historical content is enriched, but not overshadowed, by the author’s imagination and speculation.
I think the problem for me lies in the structure rather than the content. The book felt unduly fragmented and was sometimes repetitive. It might have worked better if the structure had been similar to that of Alan Hollinghurst’s latest,“The Sparsholt Affair”, in which the narrative has discrete but related chronological sections.
I recommend this highly.It is one of the most involving and well-written historical novels I have read recently. It deals sensibly with sensitive issues and, happily, the author avoids the well-trodden and spurious paths of the Cleveland Street Scandal and Jack the Ripper.
4.5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Fairlight Books for the digital ARC.
May 29, 2018
This ended up being very different from what I'd expected. From the blurb and the cover, I'd been expecting a character-driven romp through Victorian England. What I got was more of a series of vignettes. The timeline jumps quickly from one to the next and it was hard for be to get attached to the characters or the setting. And the relationship between Jem and the Prince, which was supposed to be at the heart of the story, felt flat and undeveloped.
It does however explore themes of LGBTQ and mental health--and it's always wonderful to see that in historical fiction. All in all, however, it was a bit of a disappointment.
It does however explore themes of LGBTQ and mental health--and it's always wonderful to see that in historical fiction. All in all, however, it was a bit of a disappointment.
June 25, 2018
There is a curious figure in the British monarchs' family tree: grandson of Queen Victoria and uncle to King George VI (whom you might know from "The Kings Speech"), himself father to Queen Elizabeth II: Prince Albert Victor, called "Eddy" - raised as the heir, but dead before he would ever sit on the throne. There are some major controversies surrounding his figure, the wildest of which is the idea that he could have been Jack the Ripper. This book, however, takes a look at a less scandalous (for today's minds) and more believable side of him - his (presumed) homosexuality.
The novel is sold as a romance story, but that fell short for me. His mentor and love interest is James "Jem" Kenneth Stephen, another real historical figure (who, by the way, was Virginia Woolf's cousin). But I will get to the two of them in a bit. At first, the good points of the novel: I liked the fact that Eddy was not heroic or particularly smart, and did not even want to become king. That was unexpected. I also liked the talk about the politics and complications of dating the heir to the throne of the British Empire. And Jem's mental health was also an important part of the novel.
But that is where my problems with it started: nothing is ever spelled out. I guessed anxiety, and it took until the afterword for the author to make explicit that he is actually bipolar. Same with many other things: it is not even made clear in the beginning why Eddy is so important. One could just as easily believe he is to inherit a large family business or maybe a small dukedom. It takes forever for the book to outwardly explain that he is to become THE king. So many things are just implied, and I don't even want to know how much I missed because of that. Which brings me to the love story. Yes, they write letters to each other which are pretty saucy considering the time, and Eddy being a prince, and homosexuality being illegal and all that. But other than that? Both sleep with other men, so that is not a problem. And the one sex scene between them is first of all really vague and does not go into detail, and secondly, it could just be a fever dream (or otherwise be real, but denied the entire time). In any case: I did not buy the romance between them, which was pretty disappointing for a book sold as a romance. I expected something a little different. But with that out of the way, it is still a great book!
~ I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions expressed above are my own.
The novel is sold as a romance story, but that fell short for me. His mentor and love interest is James "Jem" Kenneth Stephen, another real historical figure (who, by the way, was Virginia Woolf's cousin). But I will get to the two of them in a bit. At first, the good points of the novel: I liked the fact that Eddy was not heroic or particularly smart, and did not even want to become king. That was unexpected. I also liked the talk about the politics and complications of dating the heir to the throne of the British Empire. And Jem's mental health was also an important part of the novel.
But that is where my problems with it started: nothing is ever spelled out. I guessed anxiety, and it took until the afterword for the author to make explicit that he is actually bipolar. Same with many other things: it is not even made clear in the beginning why Eddy is so important. One could just as easily believe he is to inherit a large family business or maybe a small dukedom. It takes forever for the book to outwardly explain that he is to become THE king. So many things are just implied, and I don't even want to know how much I missed because of that. Which brings me to the love story. Yes, they write letters to each other which are pretty saucy considering the time, and Eddy being a prince, and homosexuality being illegal and all that. But other than that? Both sleep with other men, so that is not a problem. And the one sex scene between them is first of all really vague and does not go into detail, and secondly, it could just be a fever dream (or otherwise be real, but denied the entire time). In any case: I did not buy the romance between them, which was pretty disappointing for a book sold as a romance. I expected something a little different. But with that out of the way, it is still a great book!
~ I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions expressed above are my own.
July 2, 2018
"You'll be alright now?"
"I'll be alright."
My heart and soul has been crushed. What have you done to me, dear Author?
Such gift with words, a few lines, and a few scenes are enough to make your heart bleed. Part fiction and part fact, Prince of Mirrors paints an intimate portrait of the Prince life and all he went through, everyone he met and how it changed his life and perspective. All the relationships he had and their impact. A tale of shouldering heavy expectations, finding self-identity and living under the crushing rules of society.
I absolutely love that the author decided to chronicle the Prince's life and not specifically write about the scandals and speculations. He made the Prince not THE prince but a human, a man, a soul living a difficult life. He told a story you cannot forget once you close the book, you can't let it go and as if you come across the mention of Prince Albert ever again, you will remember this human and you will empathize and you will feel like you have been there all that time. I have never before much heard about Prince Albert and now he's made into a man I can't forget. Kudos to Mr. Clark for doing a marvelous job of depicting mental illness and LBGTQ+ representation.
All the characters had so much life in them from his brother, father, Jem, May, Helene, his mother, Dalton etc. Every time they interacted, you don't even feel like this can hit but it does - it hits you hard. It will make you smile. It will you cry too. Oh, how it will make you cry.
Especially the relationship shared between the Golden boy, Jem Stephen and his student the Prince, Eddy. They have such a great love, they don't even kiss yet what they share is so much more meaningful. This relationship breaks your heart to pieces and then unexpectedly starts to glue them only to tear it to pieces again. Oh, how they have made me cry. Their relationship was one of the best parts of the book.
I wish more people had read it and given it a chance. Such a good book and so beautifully written. I'll never be able to capture in words the kind of journey this book takes you on.
P.S Many thanks to Net Galley and the Publisher to allow me access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 23, 2018
Prince Albert Victor, known as Eddy, is the grandson of Queen Victoria, and the heir presumptive to the British throne. Eddy is a quiet and sensitive soul, often overshadowed by his more rambunctious younger brother, George, and completely at odds with his philandering father, Bertie. Never quite sure of his place in the world but with the weight of future responsibility lying heavily on his young shoulders Eddy finds the strength of purpose he needs in his relationship with the man appointed as his tutor at Eton. The charismatic, Jem Stephens, is everything that Eddy strives, and wants to be, and yet, this close relationship is also filled with a powerful sense of destiny.
Moving between locations in London and Norfolk, the world of the nineteenth century aristocrat is brought sharply into focus. As a young man, Eddy moves, almost aimlessly, amongst society, and as he struggles to come to terms with his sexuality, so society eventually starts to dictate how Eddy should behave. His entrée into the clandestine world of Victorian homosexuality is explored in some detail where it is debatable whether any of the, sometimes sordid, relationships he embarked upon brought him any degree of happiness.
The Prince of Mirrors is an interesting combination of weaving together a fictional tale alongside what is known in history. Of course, there is speculation about Prince Albert Victor, as some of the more lurid gossip of the time tried, and it must be said, failed to pin the Whitechapel murders, more associated with Jack the Ripper, on Prince Eddy. That the Prince moved in the secretive world of homosexual London is also the subject of conjecture, however, his close association with Jem Stephens is certainly based on factual evidence.
The author succeeds in bringing into focus the vagaries of Victorian morals whilst at the same time bringing this rather forlorn Prince to life and although there were times when I felt that the story appeared a little disjointed in places, overall this didn’t detract from my enjoyment in reading, and learning more about, Prince Albert Victor, The Prince of Mirror
June 12, 2018
Having read some of the previous reviews before reading, I was concerned I wouldn't particularly enjoy this book, but found it to be a touching exploration of the protagonist, Prince Albert Victor (Prince Eddy), and his battle to reconcile who he is and who he must become.
Clark deals with themes of LGBT, mental health and self-discovery with depth and understanding, along with a great sensitivity I felt throughout his book. This is not a book I would recommend for all, but it was an interesting read for me.
Clark deals with themes of LGBT, mental health and self-discovery with depth and understanding, along with a great sensitivity I felt throughout his book. This is not a book I would recommend for all, but it was an interesting read for me.
June 30, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this beautifully and sensitively written novel. A real gem. Thoroughly recommended for all who love reading authors who make you feel you really understand the inner life of the characters and not just what happens to them.
July 19, 2022
I've got a lot to say about the writing: I loved and hated it. What I liked: the style, the choice of words and building of sentences, it really made it feel like a book set in the 1800s. What I disliked: it was confusing sometimes who was being talked about. It would randomly mention people by name that we only knew as 'Papa' before telling us they were the same, and the author really liked using nouns instead of names/pronouns to make it even more difficult. Even when pronouns were used, it took some puzzling to figure out who they're talking about. All of that added up to a pretty tiring experience.
Another thing I noticed, was that this book mentioned someone being fat, or heavy-set or something else like that, SO many times. Once I began noticing, I think it showed up almost every 2 pages. So many characters are referred to as "the fat [man/woman/...]", which only added to the previously mentioned confusion. On top of the usage of those kinds of words, there was just an overall too-big focus on the weight of characters. It felt a little weird. I couldn't figure out whether this was an intentional character trait of the main character to notice this, but I couldn't understand why, or whether this author just has a weird fixation on this. I don't plan to find out.
I enjoyed the story moderately, but it went too fast and too slow at the same time. Not much happened other than the main character stumbling through 2 decades of his life, and the ending left me unsatisfied. I expected a lot more from the romance, but I guess it was more of a case study on the prince (apparently he really existed), so this might be my own fault.
Another thing I noticed, was that this book mentioned someone being fat, or heavy-set or something else like that, SO many times. Once I began noticing, I think it showed up almost every 2 pages. So many characters are referred to as "the fat [man/woman/...]", which only added to the previously mentioned confusion. On top of the usage of those kinds of words, there was just an overall too-big focus on the weight of characters. It felt a little weird. I couldn't figure out whether this was an intentional character trait of the main character to notice this, but I couldn't understand why, or whether this author just has a weird fixation on this. I don't plan to find out.
I enjoyed the story moderately, but it went too fast and too slow at the same time. Not much happened other than the main character stumbling through 2 decades of his life, and the ending left me unsatisfied. I expected a lot more from the romance, but I guess it was more of a case study on the prince (apparently he really existed), so this might be my own fault.
September 6, 2019
This is an absolute gem.
A lost and mysterious part of British history.
did they/didn't they/should they/shouldn't they.
A story of love, lust, romance, Victorian restraint, British royalty weirdness, family ties and duty, sexuality and mental illness all brought together beautifully in an engaging and flowingly descriptive manner.
Despite knowing how this ended, I was still rooting for them.
This was man/man but could easily have been man/woman or woman/woman.
As a purely fiction reader, I continually found myself googling actual events.
Thanks to my friend for the recommendation
Really enjoyed
A lost and mysterious part of British history.
did they/didn't they/should they/shouldn't they.
A story of love, lust, romance, Victorian restraint, British royalty weirdness, family ties and duty, sexuality and mental illness all brought together beautifully in an engaging and flowingly descriptive manner.
Despite knowing how this ended, I was still rooting for them.
This was man/man but could easily have been man/woman or woman/woman.
As a purely fiction reader, I continually found myself googling actual events.
Thanks to my friend for the recommendation
Really enjoyed
September 20, 2018
I requested this book expecting a light historical M/M romance novel. What I got instead was an exquisite and heartbreaking piece of historical fiction centered on a Victorian royal that I never knew existed. I'm now thoroughly intrigued by Prince Eddy and will be seeking out a biography of him in the near future. I'll be thinking about The Prince of Mirrors for some time to come.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
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