I wanted to read this book because I was intrigued by the idea of chronicling an academic pursuit of uncovering more about the Queen Mary of Modena. I expected some personal anecdotes - I was maybe even interested in reading about the author’s motivations in researching Mary of Modena.
What this book ended up being was a messy, confusing, and unorganized trauma dumping - an unofficial memoir with bits of historical facts thrown in. When Godwin sticks to history, the book works much better. The historical bits were decent - and truthfully, were the only bits that I read in their entirety. Overall, I think if you’re looking for a deep dive into Queen Mary of Modena, this book might not be the best fit. But if you’re okay with a more chaotic, personal take on the subject—and you don’t mind a lot of emotional detours along the way—there’s some interesting history to be found. Just don’t expect a straightforward academic read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review!

I would like to thank netgalley and She Writes Press for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Too much focus on the authors own memoir.

This is a wonderfully absorbing and surprisingly entertaining account of Susan Godwin’s sojourn in Oxford and England to study the coterie of female writers at the court of Mary of Modena, James II’s Catholic wife in the English court of the seventeenth century. Godwin came to academia relatively late in life and her book makes numerous engaging autobiographical diversions into her very colourful past, which included distressing experiences of abuse. Coruscatingly candid and amusing, this is an unusual amalgam of intellectual history and confession.
Godwin’s delight in returning to Oxford and the frisson of pleasure that any scholar will feel on taking their seat at a favourite library, surrounded by volumes and desperate to unlock their secrets and treasures to understand and reveal the past - this certainly resonates with this reader and reviewer! She is an Anglophile and delights in the eccentricities and unconventionalities of life in England that the native inhabitant may occasionally find frustrating Nevertheless, there are some of rather fundamental historical inaccuracies – Godwin occasionally refers to James’s wife as Mary II, yet the spouse of a reigning monarch is never designated by their number; Mary II in fact was the joint monarch with William III of Orange. And there are errors in spelling of English places and terminology (Chippingham rather than Chippenham and the National Health System rather than Service, and the Berkshire town Slough is definitely not pronounced “Sluff”!) Still, this is a great read, a combination of academic research enthusiasm and autobiographical integrity.

This was a strange juxtaposition of the author’s memoir with her time spent researching Mary of Modena and her travels in Oxford. I found the memoir section quite traumatic, and confronting, because of her mother’s violence, several family tragedies and her troubles with men, including boyfriends and her first husband. As it wasn’t linear, and she told different stories from different time periods, I got extremely confused, and I also wondered why she felt that we needed to learn personal details about her sex life, and men ‘hitting’ on her. It was also written in a slangy way much of the time, and readers might think that I am prudish, but I found the swearing, and intimate details really pretty weird, combined with her time in England and her historical research.

I liked the story about her time in Oxford, and reading about Mary of Modena and her court. However, as Mary had little to do with selecting them, it was hard to tell whether she really was such a big patron of the arts. I couldn’t really see that Mary was even very ‘feminist’ for her time, and I really didn’t learn that much about Mary’s personality at all. I learned far more about Anne Finch, and her poetry.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed this. A really creative account of the Stuart monarchy and also a parallel account of feminism through history. There is also an interesting personal arc weaving through the story. Fascinating.

I would like to thank Netgalley and She Writes Press for an uncorrected proof of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start this review by saying that I commend Goodwin for writing a book on a topic that she is so clearly passionate about. However, I found this book to not be entirely what was advertised.

In the synopsis, it states that “Godwin travels through both space and time, solo adventuring through Britain in pursuit of truth and, in a spicy parallel arc, chronicling her own cluttered but resilient feminist path”. From this description, I thought this book would be more of a mix of personal memoir and historical research on Mary of Modena. However, this book is simply autobiographical stories that often read a bit more like therapy sessions or a travel blog with general British history facts thrown in.

If I were rating this book as a memoir, I’d give it a 3 out of 5. The stories she shares are deeply personal, and she does have a few instances where she really does self-evaluate in a meaningful way. There are even some instances when I feel Goodwin and I could be friends having a nice chat over coffee. Nevertheless, for many of the moments she shared from her life, it felt that there was no clear reason why she was sharing that particular story. The only time that I really felt that the stories integrated into a memoir-like style, rather than a travel blog detailing her five weeks in the United Kingdom, was when the subject of infidelity was discussed. This was a brief moment in the book however and it was nearly 60% of the way into the book.

From the writing and the description it sounds like Goodwin wanted to convey her feminist awakening, but I did not get that sense at all. The book felt more focused on the struggles of aging in that you feel as young as you did at 20, but that is not how the world sees you anymore. In fact, she spent a lot of time lamenting how men would not hit on her anymore because she is older and no longer as attractive (to society), but then described nearly everyone she mentions based on their looks and some of them, not in a flattering way. Also, she kept describing the innkeeper as a b***h and frankly, she didn’t seem overly friendly, but she’s the owner of the B&B she’s not a tour guide or caretaker. I just felt like Goodwin was rather harsh because the owner had a different personality than herself.

Overall, I felt the memoir portion lacked focus and clarity. Understanding how the stories connected to the present and to each other was complex. Time didn’t seem to be linear and it sometimes became confusing for me as the reader. For instance, her mother makes appearances throughout, but I cannot really tell you if her mother is alive or dead. The reason this seems essential to know is the author is attempting to grapple with their relationship through a large portion of the book.

If I were rating the history component of this book, I’d give it a 1 out of 5. There are historical facts throughout which I did find interesting, but I really thought from the description that we were discussing how the author learned about Mary and thus her own life and what that says about the history of feminism. In fact, the blurb for the book poses several questions that I thought would result in more information about Mary: “Scholar Susan Godwin is hooked when she comes across the captivating story of Mary of Modena—a seventeenth-century Italian princess who was only fourteen when coerced into marriage with the future king of England, James II, yet went on to cultivate a court full of women writers in an age when female authorship was rare. How did Mary achieve such a feat?”

I’m not saying that this book had to be entirely history because it is a memoir, but it would have been nice if 10% of the book had been about Mary of Modena and not about women in her court or her husband. Especially since her picture is on the cover of the book and the blurb literally asks research questions about Mary.

After reading this whole book the answer to this question is that Mary played no role at all. Since she couldn’t appoint the women assigned to serve her at court, Mary merely allowed an atmosphere where learned women didn’t have to hide. The female authors within her circle were really the result of her husband’s French sensibilities who allowed women more opportunities to pursue scholarship. This was incredibly frustrating and it was compounded by the fact that Mary was often not the focus of the history discussed. I felt Sarah Churchill made more of an appearance in the book. At least if the answer was “she didn’t accomplish the feat” then I could have learned something about her.

Did I learn about some highly educated women in British and Italian history? Yes, I did. Did they have anything to do with Mary other than being in the same location or being a distant relative? That depends and is often unclear as the interaction between Mary and her ladies-in-waiting was not really discussed. Therefore, it feels like it was simply a matter of multiple smart ladies in one location.

This book was more of a travel blog of historical places and the people who lived in them. The most exciting chapter was when the author discussed Anne Finch. It’s clear that there was a personal connection Goodwin felt with Anne. So why wasn’t that the focus of this book?

Also, I get that history is not Goodwin’s academic discipline, but the number of times I had to put the book down and rub my head concerning her escapades was too many to count. Clearly, she had a plan with the libraries, but throughout her travels, it felt like she didn’t have a plan at all. She just stumbled around and felt that that was fortuitous. I would say more likely availability bias. Adaptability is good and research can point you in a different direction, but it felt like she just decided on new directions on a whim and maybe sometimes they had a connection to the research question and sometimes they didn’t.

If you’re going to read this book, come for the travel blog of historical sites that Mary of Modena may have frequented. However, if you want to learn about Mary of Modena or feminism in the late 17th century read something else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Misogyny, Bullying, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis, Car accident, Cursing, Death of a parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, and Pedophilia
Minor: Suicide

I loved this book!! I requested it because British royal family history is a hobby of mine. But this book is so much more! Interspersed throughout the author's research trip to Oxford is her own life story; which is incredible! I was amazed to read her connection to 1980s country music and fashion. Her antidotes contained names of artists I knew, at venues and events I recognized! Godwin is a talented writer and the book is interesting and well written. I would recommend Rain Dodging not only for the English connection but also as an engaging look at one woman's life and her connection to women throughout the centuries.

Rain Dodging is one of those books that don’t fit in just one genre. It was a blend of history, memoir and even a travel guide of some sort. I loved Susan J. Godwin’s writing, especially her descriptions of Oxford. She really made me want to visit there someday. I also really loved her mention of Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches when she passed All Souls College because it’s one of my favorite trilogies ever. It was just a small comment but it made me smile.

Another thing I enjoyed was learning about seventeenth-century Italian princess Mary of Modena who married James II of England at the age of fourteen. Previously I hadn’t know anything about her but the fact that she managed to have a court of female writers actually blew my mind and now all I want to do is read more about Mary of Modena.

This book is also very much about the author’s own personal journey through life. I do have to admit that I wasn’t as invested in these chapters quite as much as the ones about Mary of Modena or her fellow women artists but that’s probably just a personal preference as I usually enjoy history more than memoir kinda books.

Overall, Rain Dodging: A Scholar’s Romp through Britain in Search of a Stuart Queen by Susan J. Godwin was a fun journey to be on. I didn’t enjoy the whole book equally but I did discover the fascinating story of Mary of Modena and that made it a good read for me.