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A review by lisa_setepenre
Forgotten Royal Women: The King and I by Erin Lawless
3.0
I quite enjoyed Erin Lawless’s Forgotten Royal Women, a collection of about thirty short biographies of (relatively) obscure royal women connected to the British Isles through marriage or birth. The biographies are short – sometimes only two pages long – and not particularly detailed, but it is intended to introduce readers to these women rather than be a definitive biography of them.
To that end, I would have loved a little “further reading” section at the end of each biography or of the book so that people who want to find out more about these women can easily locate more information. To her credit, Lawless ends the book suggesting the reader to get in contact with her for book recommendations so maybe that was a limitation imposed by the publisher rather than an authorial choice.
These are informative and – in the case of women I had heard of – relatively reliable and fair. Lawless’s light tone can sometimes obscure a more complicated history but again, that’s also part and parcel of condensing the lives of women into a short, snappy biography.
In whole, I really enjoyed getting a snapshot into the lives and personalities of some lesser known historical women.
To that end, I would have loved a little “further reading” section at the end of each biography or of the book so that people who want to find out more about these women can easily locate more information. To her credit, Lawless ends the book suggesting the reader to get in contact with her for book recommendations so maybe that was a limitation imposed by the publisher rather than an authorial choice.
These are informative and – in the case of women I had heard of – relatively reliable and fair. Lawless’s light tone can sometimes obscure a more complicated history but again, that’s also part and parcel of condensing the lives of women into a short, snappy biography.
In whole, I really enjoyed getting a snapshot into the lives and personalities of some lesser known historical women.