Give this book a go when you need an overnight read

"Every man dies, not every man really lives"

‘’Handsome. Strikingly so’’ that is what Randall described William Wallace at some point. Along with ‘’a man who never had nor ever would subjugate himself to any other man’’ .

Loyalty could have been his first name. Loyalty to the love of his life, although the story described his undeclared foundness for the Princess of Wales- whom we will talk more about later. Loyalty to his country too. He fought the English, first to avenge his late wife, then until his last breath, for a Scotland, free of English brutal involvement. A man like we do not see often. Even if historian critics the book as quite inaccurate, this personage existed. No one really knew to what extent the tales were true or not. So I’ll stick with Randall’s version, at least about his depiction of William Wallace. I think I found a rival for M. Darcy!

But among the entire protagonist, the Princess of Wales is my favourite. I will describe her as a precursor for feminism, far from the idea of a princess just waiting to be saved by her charming prince. After all, she was the one who saved William’s life… at least three times.
She was aware of her rank, without being arrogant. She had no experience in politics, wars and even in matrimony, without being naïve. She had common senses, and a very good judgement in people’s character.
Despite her beauty and intelligence, she was despised by her husband, the prince of Wales-who’d rather fence with his close and ‘’’special’’ friend. She was used by her tyrannical father in law. She found warmth of love within William, the two of them attracted to each other in way that will be questioned by the reader until the very end of the story, at least from William’s perspective.

The story itself is so captivating. Even if you saw the movie, which is already a masterpiece. Although some parts were omitted and others were roughly explored. I think my favourite omitted part is when William seeks help within King of France. The princess used her witted-spirit to get him out of troubles, without compromising herself and avoiding direct confrontation between France and England. Those were the details that a movie will leave behind, but which make so much sense for the development of the story in the eyes of the readers.

In a nutshell, I will highly recommend the book.