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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
“My mother? My own mother told my lady governess that if the baby and I were in danger then they should save the baby.”
― Philippa Gregory, The Red Queen
I have mixed feelings about this one! This is my third Philippa Gregory novel, and I am reading them in chronological order as suggested on her website. The Red Queen is a novel about the Mother of King Henry VII, Margaret Stanley. The Red Queen covers Margaret's life in detail as she grows and marries Edmund Tutor. He gives birth to her son Henry at the young age of 13. Before she gives birth her mother sends a letter giving explicit instruction to save the baby at all costs, even if it means letting her daughter die. During the course of this book we learn about the struggles Margaret faced while trying to help her son take his rightful place on the throne.
I don't think I will ever adjust to the way they treated girls during this time in history. They expected Margaret to marry and have a child at 13 years old. Then when her husband had died they expected her to marry again and again. At one point she referred to herself as a parcel being passed around. Margaret thought from a young age that she would do great things in religion, but her parents would not allow her to go and become a nun. They had greater plans for her since she was going to produce an heir to the Lancaster line.
As always the majority of the events in Philippa Gregory's books are historically accurate. She adds at the end of every novel that some of the things in her novel are just speculation based on what we know from history, and some things are strictly fiction. She is definitely an author that does her research though. I always admire the historical detail in her novels. I had a hard time with The Red Queen because Margaret was not a very likeable character, as she probably wasn't the greatest person in history either. I really enjoyed reading about Elizabeth Woodville, and Margaret was her enemy. So reading the story from the other perspective was hard for me. I still felt badly for Elizabeth even though I knew what her fate would be.
― Philippa Gregory, The Red Queen
I have mixed feelings about this one! This is my third Philippa Gregory novel, and I am reading them in chronological order as suggested on her website. The Red Queen is a novel about the Mother of King Henry VII, Margaret Stanley. The Red Queen covers Margaret's life in detail as she grows and marries Edmund Tutor. He gives birth to her son Henry at the young age of 13. Before she gives birth her mother sends a letter giving explicit instruction to save the baby at all costs, even if it means letting her daughter die. During the course of this book we learn about the struggles Margaret faced while trying to help her son take his rightful place on the throne.
I don't think I will ever adjust to the way they treated girls during this time in history. They expected Margaret to marry and have a child at 13 years old. Then when her husband had died they expected her to marry again and again. At one point she referred to herself as a parcel being passed around. Margaret thought from a young age that she would do great things in religion, but her parents would not allow her to go and become a nun. They had greater plans for her since she was going to produce an heir to the Lancaster line.
As always the majority of the events in Philippa Gregory's books are historically accurate. She adds at the end of every novel that some of the things in her novel are just speculation based on what we know from history, and some things are strictly fiction. She is definitely an author that does her research though. I always admire the historical detail in her novels. I had a hard time with The Red Queen because Margaret was not a very likeable character, as she probably wasn't the greatest person in history either. I really enjoyed reading about Elizabeth Woodville, and Margaret was her enemy. So reading the story from the other perspective was hard for me. I still felt badly for Elizabeth even though I knew what her fate would be.
Pretty good book in the series. I didn't rate it higher because she is just so damn crazy it was hard to like her in any way.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
This is the second of the series of the Cousins War books by Philippa Gregory and tells the story of Margaret Beaufort, part of the Lancaster line and how she was to mother another future King (Henry VII) and her quest to put him on the throne.
Initially it’s easy to feel sorry for her, married off at the age of 12, a mother by the age of 14 and widowed the same year then married again just 12 months later! A whirlwind of a life when most modern girls are still working out what boys are for J Each husband is more than twice her age and it’s mentioned many times that women are simply around to marry for duty and give birth to family heirs. There is no such thing as marrying for love. Margaret has no say in her own life. As a small child she desperately wants to be a nun and give herself over to God, however as she is a direct descendant of the current king Henry her mother only wants her to give birth to a future king. Indeed, such is the desire for a son that it’s mentioned by her mother to let her die if it means saving the child.
Margaret is the complete opposite to Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen. While Elizabeth has a child practically every year, Margaret only has the one. Elizabeth marries King Edward for love and Margaret marries 3 times for duty and for ways to further her own son’s rise to the throne. As she ages I found her to be very unlikeable. She derides Elizabeth for her desire for power yet all Margaret’s life is focused on the goal of putting her son Henry on the throne. This is a child she didn’t nurture and very rarely saw. During her second marriage she was with her son once a year then as he got older and fled to Brittany after a failed rebellion she didn’t see him for many years. Yet her ambition never waned.
She refuses to take responsibility for any of her actions believing that everything she does is God’s will and that He talks to her and no one else. In the end all her plans and vanity works in her favour. It may take approximately two decades but the books ends (not a spoiler – its British history :) ) Henry finally becomes King.
This takes nothing away from Gregory’s writing. Like The White Queen the story covers the decades quite quickly and she writes with a very easy style. It’s also good to read about the other side of the story and the Lancastrian part of the War of the Roses. Elizabeth was very glamorous and Margaret very pious. I liked the book; it’s just a shame about the lead character.
Initially it’s easy to feel sorry for her, married off at the age of 12, a mother by the age of 14 and widowed the same year then married again just 12 months later! A whirlwind of a life when most modern girls are still working out what boys are for J Each husband is more than twice her age and it’s mentioned many times that women are simply around to marry for duty and give birth to family heirs. There is no such thing as marrying for love. Margaret has no say in her own life. As a small child she desperately wants to be a nun and give herself over to God, however as she is a direct descendant of the current king Henry her mother only wants her to give birth to a future king. Indeed, such is the desire for a son that it’s mentioned by her mother to let her die if it means saving the child.
Margaret is the complete opposite to Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen. While Elizabeth has a child practically every year, Margaret only has the one. Elizabeth marries King Edward for love and Margaret marries 3 times for duty and for ways to further her own son’s rise to the throne. As she ages I found her to be very unlikeable. She derides Elizabeth for her desire for power yet all Margaret’s life is focused on the goal of putting her son Henry on the throne. This is a child she didn’t nurture and very rarely saw. During her second marriage she was with her son once a year then as he got older and fled to Brittany after a failed rebellion she didn’t see him for many years. Yet her ambition never waned.
She refuses to take responsibility for any of her actions believing that everything she does is God’s will and that He talks to her and no one else. In the end all her plans and vanity works in her favour. It may take approximately two decades but the books ends (not a spoiler – its British history :) ) Henry finally becomes King.
This takes nothing away from Gregory’s writing. Like The White Queen the story covers the decades quite quickly and she writes with a very easy style. It’s also good to read about the other side of the story and the Lancastrian part of the War of the Roses. Elizabeth was very glamorous and Margaret very pious. I liked the book; it’s just a shame about the lead character.
this is an insult to margaret beaufort and women everywhere.
Interesting and easy read. It was nice to see the other side of the story.
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Marger-ate because she ate that. People say they struggle with this book because Margaret is an ‘unlikeable character’ but i found her unintentionally hilarious and no offence to my girl but more interesting than elizabeth. It was maybe a deliberate choice based on Margaret’s jealousy of her, but at the start of the book Margaret mentions how much she wants to see the queen suffer and suffer losing her son, yet when she plots to have the princes in the tower killed she says nothing about revelling in Elizabeth’s misery at this, which i think she definitely would.