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A review by booksandbea
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
4.0
Necessary caveat- this book is Historical Fiction, not a History.
Margaret Beaufort, the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty and the arguable winner of the Wars of the Roses is the tenacious child, teenager, woman and My Lady, the King's Mother that is required to survive the mid and late 15th century. In this novel, Gregory writes Margaret as the scheming woman she must have been- one such scheme potentially being the murder of the Princes in the Tower. From a position of historical truth, we can never be sure but many historians refute this claim. However, when taken as fiction, a nuanced and complex figure emerges. I personally enjoy this view regardless of being a firmly planted believer in alternative theories (of which i have studied intensely).
The Wars of the Roses is a topic with no lack of books written of it, but this novel has a protagonist that can be seen as a fully-fleshed person, rather than the wimple-clad sources she can be reduced to. Sometimes championing women is to allow them to act in the age old way of men- by carving history to fit yourself instead of merely tumbling along the path made for you. This book accomplishes what it set out to do so well that even is current historical circles, we still encounter people who believe in this version of Margaret more than the one we have seen for 500+ years.
Margaret Beaufort, the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty and the arguable winner of the Wars of the Roses is the tenacious child, teenager, woman and My Lady, the King's Mother that is required to survive the mid and late 15th century. In this novel, Gregory writes Margaret as the scheming woman she must have been- one such scheme potentially being the murder of the Princes in the Tower. From a position of historical truth, we can never be sure but many historians refute this claim. However, when taken as fiction, a nuanced and complex figure emerges. I personally enjoy this view regardless of being a firmly planted believer in alternative theories (of which i have studied intensely).
The Wars of the Roses is a topic with no lack of books written of it, but this novel has a protagonist that can be seen as a fully-fleshed person, rather than the wimple-clad sources she can be reduced to. Sometimes championing women is to allow them to act in the age old way of men- by carving history to fit yourself instead of merely tumbling along the path made for you. This book accomplishes what it set out to do so well that even is current historical circles, we still encounter people who believe in this version of Margaret more than the one we have seen for 500+ years.