Marg, it is out in ebook form. Can you get that in Australia or do you prefer the paper variety? I’m not sure I like that other title either but as you say it has about as much to do with the story as “The Serpent’s Tale” does, IMO.

Err…um…I haven’t made the jump towards e-books just yet Jayne. I think it is out at the end of this month, and then it will take a while to appear on the library shelves. As long as it does eventually I will be happy. In the meantime I keep on checking the catalogue to see if it has appeared yet. Every day isn’t too often is it?

Rather than anachronistic, it seemed to me as though those word choices, descriptive passages, etc. drew me in to the time period much more than the Ye Olde Englishe approach would have, because I didn’t feel as though the author used those words out of ignorance, but to translate the concept efficiently into a term we, as modern readers, would understand. Not sure if that makes sense, but it’s the best I can do on only 2 cups of tea

I’m not a big fan of audio books let me state that up front but what Aoife just said is what Ms. Franklin actually mentions in her author’s note. She doesn’t do anything out of ignorance and that’s why I found the term anachronistic somewhat unfairly applied because Ms. Franklin tries to find some way to marry modern and medieval language together so that readers can enjoy the story better. But in the end, if she wasn’t successful in doing that for you, then she didn’t. I sound like her PR person or something but I’m not, far from it. I just really enjoy her work and hope she continues to be successful in writing for years to come. I hope maybe you’ll give her another try.

I got stuck on things like “bloody” used as a curse about 500 years too soon, words like “professional” and “cosmopolitan” which are ridiculously modern concepts to pass for 12th century conversation, walls lined with books a couple of centuries before Gutenberg – quite honestly I didn’t get very far. I gave up at “Cambridge is very cosmopolitan.” Hadn’t had enough chocolate that week, I suppose.

Is there such a thing as enough chocolate?

I understand why those things bothered you. I noticed the “modern” tone of some of the the descriptions and language, and those are usually hot buttons for me. For some reason I totally bought in to them in Mistress of the Art of Death. Rather than anachronistic, it seemed to me as though those word choices, descriptive passages, etc. drew me in to the time period much more than the Ye Olde Englishe approach would have, because I didn’t feel as though the author used those words out of ignorance, but to translate the concept efficiently into a term we, as modern readers, would understand. Not sure if that makes sense, but it’s the best I can do on only 2 cups of tea.

Can you cite some examples

It’s not even plot, I can deal with a bit of historical shifting to accommodate that (particularly when the author actually knows she’s doing it!) I got stuck on things like “bloody” used as a curse about 500 years too soon, words like “professional” and “cosmopolitan” which are ridiculously modern concepts to pass for 12th century conversation, walls lined with books a couple of centuries before Gutenberg – quite honestly I didn’t get very far. I gave up at “Cambridge is very cosmopolitan.” Hadn’t had enough chocolate that week, I suppose.

I found the anachronisms so jarring I couldn’t finish it. I keep seeing people talking about Franklin’s wonderful sense of history and I honestly don’t get it.)

There’s never universal agreement on anything, otherwise, we’d be bored. Can you cite some examples Belinda? Ms. Franklin does do author notes where she admits to tweaking facts and such in her historical mysteries for plotting purposes. Sorry to hear you find her work jarring.

I will watch out for that interview as well!