Pastiche by Celia Lake Series: Charms of Albion #1
Published by self-published on 8/04/2020
Genres: Historical Fantasy, Fantasy Romance
Pages: 333
Format: Kindle or ebook
Source: my personal collection
Purchase: Amazon | Bookshop | Barnes & Noble
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Can a chivalrous lord and his clear-sighted wife find love together?
As a child, Richard dreamed of knighthood and gallant deeds. As a grown man, he is committed to doing his best as an officer of the Guard, as a Lord of the land, and as a father. Living up to his oaths is easy. Being a good husband is much more of a challenge.
Alysoun has done everything expected of a woman in her position. She has married well and had two clever, healthy children. That's not enough. Richard is kind, but increasingly distant. Alysoun herself has pain and fatigue magic can't fix. In truth, she is isolated and more than a little bored.
When Alysoun visits a new museum exhibit, she sees something odd in one of the stained glass pieces. Investigating could bring her closer to Richard or at least give them something to talk about. But it might threaten his position or even his life.
Join Richard and Alysoun in 1906 as they explore a mystery, take on new oaths, and discover each other after years of marriage.
Pastiche is set in the Edwardian era of Albion, the magical community of England, Wales, and Scotland. It is a standalone story of an arranged marriage turning into a true love match.
A lovely, slow-moving, cozy historical-fantasy romance
I love this gentle romance, which explores how two people, through sheer politeness, respect, and upper-class British reticence, end up in a conventionally distant arranged marriage instead of the affectionate, loving union they both desire… and how they eventually find their way to the real marriage they long for (with a little outside help from an unexpected quarter.)
Richard and Alysoun Edgarton are fond of each other (though they have never actually said so) but they barely spend any time together. Part of that is Richard’s position in the Guard, of course, which means long hours in Trellech, the capitol of magical Britain. A little is due to the demands of his position as a Lord of the land. But much of the distance between them is due to Richard’s reluctance to impose on Alysoun or ask for her time… especially since the pain and fatigue she has experienced since the birth of their second child. (Alysoun struggles with what today we would call fibromyalgia, and the author’s portrayal of what it’s like to live with chronic illness is both sensitive and nuanced.) It’s clear that Richard values Alysoun, but his upbringing—a distant father who lived mostly in a man’s world, and a mother who impressed on him that women don’t really want men demanding their time and attention—leaves him incapable of stepping past polite interactions into any real intimacy.
For her part, Alysoun would welcome the chance to be more a part of Richard’s life, as well as deeper emotional tie between them. But she doesn’t know how to ask or even encourage him in that direction, without being demanding or forward—in other words, without stepping outside the bounds of a proper wife of their social station.
Two things happen to shake them out of their polite reserve. First, a pair of mysteries gives them not only something to talk about, but (in the case of one involving stained glass artworks) also something they can work on together. And Richard receives an unexpected nudge from his mentor and former dueling master, Magni Torham, who wants for Richard the same long-lasting, deeply loving relationship he himself has found.
How Alysoun and Richard solve the mysteries and find their way to each other forms the heart of this lovely, slow-moving, cozy historical-fantasy romance. It has become one of my favorite comfort rereads of the past several years.
Challenges: COYER Unwind (2024), Chapter 3
NOTE: If you enjoy Pastiche and the magical world of Albion, I recommend following it up with the prequel novella, Four Walls and a Heart, which deals with Magni and Gil’s relationship. From there, go on to The Fossil Door, which focuses on Richard and Alysoun’s son Gabriel and his eventual wife, Rathna. The Fossil Door also explores the work of the Penelopes (a branch of the Guard) and the portal keepers, which I found quite interesting. After that, you can read some of the other books and stories featuring members of the Edgarton family, or branch out into the rest of Celia Lake’s Albion books. I also recommend checking out what Celia calls Extras: a number of free, downloadable short stories and scenes, some related to Pastiche and the other Edgarton family books.
Full disclosure: I am a member of Celia’s Patreon, for the same reason I read and reread her books: they strike some chord within me. I find them comforting (for the most part), full of kindness and respect for others, and I appreciate the wide range of diverse characters found in both the novels and in Albion itself. To some extent, too, they remind me of the things I loved about the Harry Potter books, particularly the hidden magical society, but without the things I sometimes found annoying (like the ways nonhuman magical beings were treated, and the inconsistencies in the way magic works.)
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- COYER Unwind (2024) – Chapter 3
Anne - Books of My Heart
I love the covers on this author’s books and your great reviews!
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Buried Too Deep by Karen Rose @KarenRoseBooks @BerkleyRomance @BerkleyPub #Excerpt
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you! I love her books. I also like how Celia has kept a consistent theme and look for all her Albion books. There are multiple series within the Albion-verse (so to speak), and each has its own look, but the Albion-verse as a whole also has a distinctive style. She has used the same cover designer throughout, I think, which makes the consistency easier to manage.
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits
Is this a series / universe that can be read out of order? This book sounds even more like what I want to read than come of Lake’s other books in the universe, but I’m not sure if reading order matters.
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…Rainbow Yoshis on their way
Lark_Bookwyrm
Most of them can be read out of order, including this one. There are exceptions. The Fossil Door, about the main character’s son, contains minor spoilers for this one; so does the prequel novella Four Walls and a Heart. That said, I read The Fossil Door before I read Pastiche, and the prequel novella when it came out a year or two later, and it wasn’t a problem. There are a bunch of extras (stories and scenes) which relate to The Fossil Door; those should be read after it. In the Edgarton-related books, the ones that really need to go in order are Old as the Hills and Upon a Summer’s Day, which feature Gabe and Rathna during WWI and follow one upon the other. And the novella Three Graces (featuring Alysoun, Rathna, and Lizzie Carillon) won’t make sense unless you’ve also read the books and novellas featuring Geoffrey Carillon.
There are other exceptions as well, but generally speaking, if you check the Goodreads blurb, Celia is pretty good about telling you if there’s something you should read first, or if a book might have spoilers for another book. My personal recommendations for starting points are either Pastiche or Eclipse, depending on whether you prefer the Edwardian era and upper-class arranged marriages, or a book about teachers in a magic school that is reminiscent of Hogwarts (but much better thought-out and run), with a lot of philosphy of education woven in.
Another good starting point is Goblin Fruit, which introduces Geoffrey Carillon and his eventual wife. Geoffrey and his manservant are clearly based on Lord Peter Wimsey and Bunter, if that appeals to you. There are books and extras which follow on from there, and an unsolved mystery that arises in On the Bias (Benton’s book) hovers in the background until Three Graces.