Book Review: The Kingmaker's Daughter

The Kingmaker's Daughter
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2012,Touchstone
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5

After struggling to read Gregory's first YA novel Changeling I thought about waiting a bit to read her newest release The Kingmaker's Daughter. However, I found myself unable to resist as I have loved all her other The Cousins' War novels. My temporary lapse in my adoration of Gregory's work was quickly restored after consuming the first few words of this novel.

Anne is the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, "The Kingmaker." He has placed Edward IV on the throne but begins to fall from King's ear as Edward's beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, enchants her husband to her will. Anne and her sister, Isabel, soon find themselves the political pawns of their father as he tries to replaced Edward IV with a new king. When her father is beheaded and his children are left in disgrace, Anne escapes the ruins she is left in by marriage to Richard Neville, brother of Edward IV. While Anne is loved by her husband his connection to the royal house sends their lives on the crash course of ambition and power. In the end, power will destroy all that Anne has.

What I loved about this novel was how beautifully Gregory wove the plot together with her novel The White Queen. Throughout this whole novel I was reminded of powerful scenes that took place in The White Queen. The reader learns how the two lives of these royal women were paralleled through the misunderstandings and tragedies of the royal house. While The Kingmaker's Daughter can be read as a stand alone novel I would recommend reading The White Queen for the dual experience I enjoyed.

(#22 of the 100 Book Challenge)

Book Review: The Lady of the Rivers

Title: The Lady of the Rivers
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2011, Touchstone
Rating: 5/5

This is Gregory's latest novel which came out on October 18, 2011. It is the last installment in The Cousins' War and is one of her more powerful works.

Jacquetta has a power forbidden by the society she is born into. She has the gift of the Second Sight. As she watches Joan of Arc burn she realizes the deadly dangers for women who are different or even dare to think. After her first husband dies she marries his squire, Richard Woodville, for love and a simple life.  However, they soon find themselves trusted friends of Henry VI and his young queen. As the royal family crumbles with the king's mental illness Jacquetta fears for her family and England. Unable to continue their support to the house of Lancaster, Richard and Jacquetta swear allegiance to the house of York. While she wished for a simple life herself, she dares to hope for much more for her children.

Gregory has reached a new depth in this novel. She pulls her readers into Jacquetta's world and will keep them reading with each scene. One of Gregory's strongest craft elements in this novel was her scenes. Each is fascinating in its own way and the reader will want to know even more what's going to happen as the years pass in the novel. My personal favorite scene takes place when Richard Woodville is teaching Jacquetta to ride a horse. While she is bound to her life, the reader senses Jacquetta's strong desire to be free as the galloping horse. Yet, her horse is bound to nobly serve her mistress. The two are more alike than some could perhaps know or understand.

Book Review: The Other Queen

Title: The Other Queen
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2008, Touchstone
Rating: 3/5

Mary, Queen of Scots, is a queen with no kingdom. She is a naive and foolish woman, unable to hold her throne and unable to use the men around her to reach her goals. Imprisoned in England, she will do anything to be returned to Scotland and her young son. She is forgiven again and again until she forces her cousin, Elizabeth, to bring the ultimate punishment on an anointed queen.

Bess of Hardwick is a woman who has been in a low position. She knows what poverty is. Through making advantageous marriages she had gained what most Tudor woman only dream of: her own land. Upon marriage to her fourth husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury, she finds herself a woman with a title. She has risen high and will do anything to keep her future secure.

George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury is a man of honor. He will serve his queen, Elizabeth, while admiring the Queen of Scots. He will keep his word, even it means bringing about his own ruin. Even if it means he loses his fortune and the love of his wife.

Told from these characters points of view Gregory weaves together the story of Mary's imprisonment in England and how she brought her own ruin. As always, Gregory has provided a pleasant read but this novel is lacking momentum. She only covers three years of Mary's imprisonment and the novel is repetitive. There is the endless saga of plot discovered, Mary forgiven, Mary moved, Mary plots again. In my personal opinion, Gregory would have been better off to write a novel about Mary's short reign as true Queen of Scotland before she was forced to flee.

However, Gregory brought up an element of life for Tudor women. Women in Tudor England were oppressed. They were not valued like a son. Daughters of the nobility were fortunate if they received an education comparable to that of their brothers. They were born into world dominated by men and they were valued for what goods and land they brought to the marriage. They were valued if they were fertile but rejected if they could not "breed". So, what woman would not use the men in her life to advance her station? Even if she loved her husband, why would she not use that love to secure her future?

This tragic reality for Tudor women is perhaps most well played out in the case of Henry VIII and his endless quest to have a son. He divorced Catherine of Aragon because she only gave him Mary. He had Anne murdered when she could only give him Elizabeth. Jane Seymour died giving him a son. It was said only a man could rule a kingdom. His own daughter, Elizabeth, proved him wrong. She proved every man living in the Tudor era wrong.

Book Review: The Queen's Fool

Title: The Queen's Fool
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2004, Touchstone
Rating: 4/5

Hannah Verde is an educated young woman and her father owns a bookshop. They are in possession of forbidden books and they are also Jewish. Hannah is begged as a spiritual fool to first King Edward, then to his sister the Catholic Mary. Forced to hide her true religion as Catholics seek to purify England of all heretical beliefs, Hannah finds herself trapped between loyalty to herself and of the Queen. Hannah is rare gem who loves the Queen and yet also admires the Protestant Princess Elizabeth. She is the key character in showing the complicated relationship between the sisters.

Gregory made a very good decision in having this period of the Tudors told from the view of a different character. Through Hannah the reader sees the effects the warring religions in England had on both the common person and those of royal blood. The reader is able to have three stories in one through Hannah: Mary, Elizabeth and Hannah herself.

Book Review: The Virgin's Lover

Title: The Virgin's Lover
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2005, Touchstone
Rating: 5/5

Was Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen", truly a virgin? Or was it all part of an image she sought to project to her beloved people? In this novel, Gregory delves into the psyche of the young queen as she struggles to be the ruler she needs to be and the woman she wants to be. Her characterization of the conflicted queen is tastefully done as the reader sees the effects Elizabeth's childhood had on her.

Elizabeth is a survivor. She is the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who died in false shame and ruin. Having survived her sister's reign, she has come to the throne in peril as she has lived her whole life. Unable to trust many of those around her she seeks out her childhood friend Robert Dudley. He is her favorite, her trusted adviser, and soon becomes her lover.

Robert Dudley has been laid low by his family's defeat. He has lost his fortune and many of his family members. When Elizabeth comes to throne, he sees it as his way back to glory. An unfamiliar feeling consumes him when he is with Elizabeth. Her happiness and welfare is more important to him than anything else. He would give anything to be her husband, but he has two objects in his way: his wife and Elizabeth's love of her throne.

The ambitious Robin may love Elizabeth, but he also wants to be King. Elizabeth is eager to be loved, but she is unwilling to do anything that would cost her the throne. She is unable to protect her throne from her private life. William Cecil, Secretary of State, makes the ultimate move to protect England with the Queen's royal command.

Now back to the question: Was Elizabeth truly the virgin she claimed to be? There is no doubt she and Robin Dudley loved each other and wanted to marry. My personal belief is that Elizabeth feared the state of marriage and only contemplated marrying Robin because she did love and trust him.  When she could not have him, she decided she would never marry. Did she sleep with him out of wedlock? I do not believe so. Perhaps they came close, but in my view Elizabeth was too shrewd to do anything that would put her and her beloved England at risk.

Book Review: The Boleyn Inheritance

Title: The Boleyn Inheritance
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2006, Touchstone
Rating: 5/5

In this novel Gregory embarked on a journey to tell the story of the more fortunate fourth wife and the less fortunate fifth wife of Henry VIII. Told from three compelling and beautifully crafted POV the reader experiences the inner thoughts of Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and the infamous Jane Boleyn. 

Anne of Cleves marries the King of England out of duty to her brother's kingdom. Everything goes splendidly wrong for her. The King abhors her and is unable to consummate the marriage. Fearful for her life, she agrees to the terms the King sets for the marriage to be annulled. She will be his "sister" and the highest lady after the Queen and the King's two daughters. She will have an allowance and her own small court. She discovers with unexpected joy the advantages of becoming a discarded wife. 

Jane Boleyn is the infamous wife of George Boleyn and sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn. She will do anything to get back to court. She will lie and tend to the needs of her family and of herself. She lives half in the present and half in the past. She is a murderess without committing murder.

Kitty Howard is a young girl. She cares only for clothes, jewels and looking pretty. She is shallow and the petted fifth wife. She is perhaps the most tragic of the wives, for her childhood upbringing will be her downfall. Against better judgment, she listens to the advice of Jane Boleyn and their uncle. Who could blame a young girl for taking a lover? Who can blame a young girl who cried out "I die a Queen but I would rather die the wife of Culpepper" when married to a beast like Henry VIII?

Gregory shows her readers that history is never truly in the past. History affects the present and the future. What happened in England when Henry VIII was on the throne with his second wife would haunt his future wives, his children, and England for years. The life of those in the royal circle always had to be wary of the past as they were of the future. 

Gregory has made me consider this aspect in my own novel. The present circumstances of my novel have been influenced by events that took place before the start of my story. The political plots in my novel are born from past incidents in my characters' lives. Sibling rivalry, favored children, jealousy, a sense of injustice, and ambition are just some of the elements influencing my characters and their political word. Those raised and involved in ruling families, I believe, had a very different mentality. These psychological influences from their childhood would show through in their adulthood and would determine what kind of rulers they would become.

Book Review: The Constant Princess

Title: The Constant Princess
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2005, Touchstone
Rating: 5/5

What if you told a lie so great it altered the course of history? Catalina is sent to England to marry Arthur, Prince of Whales, to seal the alliance between England and Spain. Alone in a foreign country she is blessed to find a lover in her husband. Blessings do not last long. A widow at 16, she makes a promise on the Prince's deathbed that she will marry his younger brother, Prince Henry. Here, Gregory brings in the twist of what could have happened in history or actually did happen.

What if Catherine of Aragon did indeed lie about her virginity? It makes one wonder how much of our history could be a lie. Gregory will invoke her readers to think beyond the pages of her stories into the psyche of humans. What would you do if you were an ever constant princess?

Book Reviews: The White Queen & The Red Queen

Title: The White Queen
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2009, Touchstone
Rating: 4/5

Elizabeth Woodville catches the eye of Edward IV, a King who is not yet secure on his throne, and never will be. The War of the Roses rages throughout their reign. Family betrayal and forgiveness makes the white roses of York red with blood. Elizabeth is desperate for peace but also wants revenge against those that have taken her family and her sons' inheritances. Elizabeth's strong and haunting voice tells the story of her greatest joy and tragedy as the mother of the lost Princes in the Tower. Gregory's descriptive and grounding scenes will bring her readers to court, the battlefield, sanctuary, and the reunion of a mother and her son.

Title: The Red Queen
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2010, Touchstone
Rating: 5/5

At the age of 9, Margaret Beaufort had a "saint's knees" from praying too much and wanted nothing more than to be like her idol, Joan of Arc. At the age of 12, she is married to Edmund Tudor and soon finds herself a pregnant widow. Her only child becomes her greatest love. She will do anything to keep him safe. She will do anything to give her son his true inheritance: the throne of England. From the voice of small child to that of a wise and cunning adult, Gregory brings Margaret to life. With England in discord between the warring houses, Margaret has everything to gain for herself and her child from God, or perhaps, veiled ambition.

Being Released in October 2011!

"The Lady of the Rivers", a novel about Elizabeth Woodville's mother, Jacquetta.

Available at Amazon.com