A review by sydyoungstories
The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory

5.0

I totally was not out to get sucked into another series or sail through them all in a very few short months. But this one grabbed me as something different. Yes, the history through a wife's eyes has been done and is growing in popularity, it's here to stay. That is how this series started out, but it's so much more, even from book one. It's the Tudors and Plantagnents. It's the Rivers. Its The Elizabeths you never heard of. And this one! It's a stand alone (but if you can take the time, read them all).

I've been fascinated with the king who divorced or beheaded 6 wives since I first heard of him as a young girl. (Please tell me you have been, too!) It took me a much longer time to understand the destruction of the Catholic Church in England. But this book, told from the POV of disregarded Margaret Pole, had me realizing a whole different facet. What Henry VIII did to his country, to his men, to his cousins, shows a whole other tyrant. A madman.

But what is more interesting to me is that people don't speak up. They think it will stop at each narcissistic act. Appease the monster and he'll leave us alone. But he doesn't, as is shown by history time and time and time again, and soon the narcissist turns into a tyrant, a fascist, a demigod whose tide swallows us whole, even on a whim.

I kept wondering how Gregory would write the (well documented historical) ending. Bravo to you! You wowed me and got it oh so right.