PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN WOMAN

Josephine Bailey brings passion to a work that intends to be a work of historical fiction but often betrays the heart of a romance novel. The woman of the title is Meg Giggs, the incisive, open-hearted 23-year-old adopted daughter of Sir Thomas More. His famous death at the hands of Henry VIII lies just beyond the conclusion of this novel, but all the religious and political tensions that ordained it are deeply entwined in the plot, as are a series of fictive secrets involving the Mores. It's hardly Bailey's fault that Bennett superimposes a modern sexual sensibility on sixteenth-century characters. Bailey's earnestness is convincing even if Bennett's plot turns lack credibility. M.O. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 08]