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jmatkinson1 's review for:
The King's Curse
by Philippa Gregory
Margaret Pole is the daughter of the Duke of Clarence, cousin to the White Queen and niece of Richard III. Her brother is executed by Henry VII to reduce the number of rivals to the throne and she is married off to a loyal but minor knight. Margaret and her husband are in change of the household of Arthur, Prince of Wales, before and during his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After his death Margaret becomes a trusted companion to Catherine through her marriage to Henry VIII and to her daughter Mary. Living under the rule of a capricious and increasingly paranoid King, Margaret is aware that her loyalty must never be questioned as her lineage marks her for treachery.
This is the background to Gregory's new novel in the 'Cousin's War' series and again she chooses to fictionalise the life of a woman central to events but of whom little is known. My only knowledge of Margaret Pole before this book was of her place in the family tree and the rather horrific circumstances of her execution (which are barely touched on here, as the book is written in the first person).
As ever a new book by Philippa Gregory is a real treat. She has a lightness of touch to her writing which genuinely seems to create a personality and a three-dimensional character to her subjects. As ever there is that little bit too much of the mystical (The King's Curse) but the stories are so engrossing, so well-researched and so enjoyable that can be forgiven.
Many of the events covered here overlap with the events narrated by Mantel in her books on the Tudor court - Gregory is less literary but far more accessible.
This is the background to Gregory's new novel in the 'Cousin's War' series and again she chooses to fictionalise the life of a woman central to events but of whom little is known. My only knowledge of Margaret Pole before this book was of her place in the family tree and the rather horrific circumstances of her execution (which are barely touched on here, as the book is written in the first person).
As ever a new book by Philippa Gregory is a real treat. She has a lightness of touch to her writing which genuinely seems to create a personality and a three-dimensional character to her subjects. As ever there is that little bit too much of the mystical (The King's Curse) but the stories are so engrossing, so well-researched and so enjoyable that can be forgiven.
Many of the events covered here overlap with the events narrated by Mantel in her books on the Tudor court - Gregory is less literary but far more accessible.