Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The Taming of The Queen (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. XI) by Philippa Gregory; Story of Henry VIII's Sixth Wife Tells of a Woman of Great Intellect and Independence

Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The Taming of the Queen (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. XI) by Philippa Gregory; Story of Henry VIII's Sixth Wife Tells of a Woman of Great Intellect and Independence

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: One thing can be said about King Henry VIII is that he loved variety. No two of his wives were exactly alike. There was the strong-willed warrior, Katherine of Aragon. Followed by the seductive and conniving, Anne Boleyn. Then the sweet domestic, Jane Seymour. Then came the willful and independent, Anne of Cleves. Followed by the dizzy romantic, Katherine Howard.

We now come to the last wife, Kateryn Parr. What set her apart from her predecessors was her age and experience.

Parr was the oldest of Henry's wives at the time of her marriage. She was 30-years-old and unlike her predecessors had been married before. Twice. She also had an understanding with Thomas Seymour, a courtier and brother of the late Wife #3 Jane Seymour. Of course that understanding came to an end when Henry came a-courtin’. (Only to reconvene after Henry's death.)

Also what set Kateryn Parr apart from the previous five were her literary and scholarly ambitions. While Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn were both highly intelligent women with various talents and abilities, they used those skills and learning mostly to serve as aides to Henry.

Parr however was not only well-read, but she was also a good writer. In fact, she published three books in her lifetime and became the first queen of England to have a work published under her own name.


In her final work on the wives of King Henry VIII, Philippa Gregory describes in great detail not only the marriage of Parr to Henry but her impact as a writer, an intellectual, and a woman of great thought and independence.


In the Taming of the Queen we first encounter Kateryn right at the point where she is proposed to by Ol’ Henry. She isn't exactly excited at the prospect of marrying a man who beheaded two wives, divorced two, and was away as another died in childbirth. Really, who could blame her?

In fact, Kate has dreams that she is Tryphine, the wife of Bluebeard, and she sneaks to his secret room where all of his wives’ bodies are stored. Kate is naturally terrified that she could be next.


Kate is haunted by the ghosts of the former wives. Everyone compares her to them. Her sister, Nan, served under the various wives and tells her about them. Kate tries to choose a motto that is different from the other wives’. (She settles on “To be useful in all that I do.”)

She goes through the jewelry and decor and find that the other wives have left their styles behind, to the point that Kate can't go anywhere or find anything that a former wife hasn't owned or touched. (Helpfully, Nan reminds Kate that she is the first to collect clocks.)

In one of the most difficult passages, Kate poses for her family portrait with Henry, Prince Edward, and Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. She is stunned when the portrait is revealed and instead of her, it shows Jane Seymour, the wife that Henry claims that he has always loved and still grieves for. Though the book implies that he only misses her because she gave him the long awaited living son.


Kate has to make her mark. One of the ways that she does this is successfully compartmentalizes her emotions. While yes, she had to leave Thomas Seymour behind, she remembers the troubles that Anne Boleyn and Kitty Howard had when they took on lovers. Even though, she sees Thomas quite often, she keeps her emotions in check so as not to betray her true feelings or get caught.


She also develops close bonds with Henry's children. She becomes a surrogate mother to Edward by caring for the young boy. She is a confidant to Mary when the princess confesses her concerns over the marriages that her father arranges for her as well as her determination to stay true to her mother's Catholic religion.

Kate also serves as a mentor to Princess Elizabeth. When Kate is declared regent in Henry's absence, Elizabeth watches in amazement to see a woman take power, rule the country, set laws, and control the various advisors and councilman on her own. Throughout the book, Kate gives Elizabeth advice that echoes in the young woman's future career as queen. Once, Kate tells Elizabeth that people may think that she has the frail body of a woman, but that she must have the heart and stomach of a king of England. Of course this would be the famous speech that Elizabeth would later give to the English troops when they faced the Spanish Armada.


Like the other books in the Tudor portion of the series, religion is an important issue and in this case plays into Kate's literary and scholastic impact. She was from a once-Catholic family that converted to Protestantism. However, she questions Catholic teachings herself such as why do people need to confess sins to a priest? Why do they have to buy indulgences to get out of Purgatory? Why can't the Bible be in English or any other language? Why can't women be permitted to lead the church?

These questions concern Kate so she begins to form a study group of religious scholars, intellectuals, philosophers, and other thinkers to get some opinions. One of the people that visits is Anne Askew, an outspoken woman who preaches at her own religious groups and holds definite opinions about women's role in church. Because Anne is such a controversial figure and is arrested quite often, Kate is wary about her friendship with the woman. However, she also is in awe of her faith and confidence.


Kate also takes leadership within the church. Her studies inspire her to write and she has a book called Psalms published anonymously and later writes another called Prayers or Meditations, this time published under her own name. (A third, Lamentations of a Sinner, is published after Henry's death.)

Unfortunately, it is her religious studies and works that make her a target especially with their ever changeable king. One minute Henry is encouraging her studies by saying how much he loves intelligent women. The next he is publicly chastising her for her opinions.

In one awful passage, he plays psychological mind games with her by whipping her in public and calling her the lead in his new play, The Taming of the Queen.

In fact Kate is almost arrested and it is only Henry's death that keeps her from following the path of her predecessors.

The Taming of the Queen makes a great end to Gregory's books about Henry VIII's Wives. Kateryn Parr was an intelligent and literary woman of strong opinions and forthrightness. Above all, she did what very few of her predecessors did: She survived.

Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The Boleyn Inheritance (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. X) by Philippa Gregory; One of the Best Books in the Series Covers Least Known of Henry VIII's Wives

Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The Boleyn Inheritance (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. X) by Philippa Gregory; One of the Best Books in the Series Covers Least Known of Henry VIII's Wives

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Of the six wives of King Henry VIII, probably the least known are Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard.

Henry VIII first encountered Anne of Cleves when he observed her portrait by Hans Holbein. Liking the look of her, he proposed from a distance. No sooner than they were wed, than Henry derided her as “fat” and called her “the Flanders Mare.” They were married less than six months when Henry divorced her citing a previous betrothal between her and the Duke of Lorraine which declared her not free to wed. She agreed to the divorce and accepted the title as “The King's Sister.”

Katherine Howard, was sixteen and Anne of Cleves’ lady in waiting when the fiftyish Henry set his eyes on her. They were wed after Henry's divorce but their marriage lasted over a year. She was arrested with her lover, Thomas Culpepper and beheaded.

Told at face value, many would think of Anne of Cleves as ugly and Katherine Howard as stupid. But in her usual gift for writing, Gregory gives these two wives a lot of depth and character making them some of the best protagonists and this one of the best books in the Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series.

In many of the novels in the series, Gregory plays with the narratives. For example, The Virgin’s Lover and The Other Queen use male viewpoints. The Queen's Fool's narrator is a fictional character. With the Other Boleyn Girl, Gregory did the insurmountable task of making Anne Boleyn alternately detestable and fascinating. With, the Boleyn Inheritance, Gregory juggles three narratives of three different women all with their own agendas to be a part of King Henry's court no matter how dangerous it may be.

Anne longs to be free from her oppressive family particularly her mentally ill father, cold mother, and abusive brother. Her family are strict Protestants and they believe that Anne's marriage to Henry will not only ally England with Germany but permanently bring England into the Protestant religion. (Henry waffled his religious persuasion with his wives from Catholic with Katherine, to Protestant with Anne, back to Catholic sort of with Jane.)

However, Anne's brother may claim religion, but his actions suggest otherwise. He is physically and mentally abusive towards Anne and implied to be sexually as well since he constantly orders Anne to cover up to hide her body from men's lustful eyes including his own. Anne's family order her to wear plain tightly constrained gowns and covered hoods, that look frumpy and dowdy and cause her to be derided by the people around her.

However, once Anne sees her adopted home country of England and the freedom that women have as compared to her rigid upbringing, Anne does not want to return to Cleves and her family's cruelty. She looks forward to the independence that she hopes to get as Queen.

Kitty Howard also wants to fulfill family obligations and obtain romance and excitement. Kitty is cheerful, romantic, beautiful, and not entirely bright. She has been trained and educated to be a lady in waiting for the queen and can't wait to fill that role. Her Uncle Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk eyes her appreciatively and wants her to fulfill the family interests. If she catches the king's roving eye so much the better.

Kitty enjoys the attention that is bestowed upon her as a lady in waiting and then as Queen. She constantly itemizes and counts all of her material items no matter how high or low her status is. She also has qualms about marrying a man who is abusive, sickly, perverted, who three of his previous wives died, and is old enough to be her grandfather. She likes the material possessions, but not the man that she is married to and recklessly engages in her affair with Thomas Culpepper.

The third narrator is Jane Parker Boleyn, Viscontess of Rochford widow of George Boleyn and sister-in-law of Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn Cary Stafford. As Uncle Thomas describes her, Jane's name is a byword for lust, greed, and betrayal. She turned evidence on her husband and sister-in-law accusing them of incest and adultery resulting in their executions. Uncle Thomas recruits her to be Anne and then Kitty's lady in waiting and his palace insider.

Jane is a particularly one-dimensional villain without the fascination of Anne Boleyn or multi layers of many of the War of the Roses antagonists. Instead, she keeps justifying her earlier actions. She was trying to save her husband. She didn't think they were going to kill them. What else could she do? etc.

Jane never takes personal responsibility in her betrayal and has selective memory about those days insisting that she, George, and Anne were the best of friends laughing, hanging out together, and were the centers of the court. Jane insists that she was passionately in love with George who would have loved her in return if not for his jealous and conniving sister.

She chooses not to remember that in the Other Boleyn Girl, George spent a great deal of time trying to get away from her, had a male lover, and confided in his sisters about his unhappy marriage and their plans to seduce Henry. Jane instead was known to the Boleyn Siblings as a pest who was constantly listening through keyholes and stealing correspondences.

Not just Jane, but Thomas Howard has emerged as the true villain. He knows what to dangle in front of people and how to use them. He guarantees freedom for Anne, pretty things for Kitty, and an advantageous second marriage for Jane to get them to do whatever he wants. He is completely malicious and hateful and unfortunately like many villains, he gets no comeuppance. He abandons others to save his skin so he can live another day. (Unfortunately, he lived well into Mary Tudor's reign and remains a key player in the next two books.)

However while Jane and Thomas are detestable with few qualities that their predecessors had, Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard more than make up for it by being outstanding. There are many chapters that show this but two passages in particular show the difference between the two in personality and in status.

The first passage happens right after Anne's arrival in England. She and her ladies in waiting, including Jane and Kitty, attend a bear baiting when a tall elderly stranger walks in and begins flirting with Anne. Anne is disgusted and bids him to leave. When he doesn't get the hint, he attempts to kiss her and Anne spits in his face. Kitty however recognizes King Henry from his arrival, stands, and says politely that she is a stranger and would this kind and handsome stranger show her around the kingdom.

This scene characterizes many of the traits that contribute to Anne's descent and Kitty's ascent. Anne was brought up very strictly and was not subjected to palace life. She would not be aware of such things as masquerades and courtly play.
Kitty's family was a central player in palace life so she has known all along that King Henry disguises himself and is pleased when people pretend not to recognize him.
This also shows Anne as willing and wanting to please the king up to a point. She is willing to argue and fight if she feels compromised.
Kitty is also given a chance to show that she is more than she seems as well. While she is still dizzy and frivolous, she has a sharp cunning side that is willing to play the game.

The other reason that this scene is important is that it foreshadows Henry's dislike for Wife #4 and favor towards Wife #5. By insulting and spitting at him, Anne's honest and forthright demeanor shows Henry as he really is: a foolish old man trying to win the favor of girls in their teens and early twenties. Anne is someone who doesn't act like a fawning courtier or tells him what he wants to hear. She is someone to tell him the truth. She is almost the voice of the people. For someone who had been spoiled, coddled, and surrounded by sycophants, yes men, mistresses, and an already revolving door of wives, the truth is the last thing Henry wants to hear. He would rather say that something is wrong with the wife than with him. Hence his mocking of her appearance and the impediment that he conveniently uses to discredit her.

Kitty however is from the family of fawning courtiers and sycophants. She knows what to say and how to say it. She knows that an older man likes flattery and wants to feel young. Put Kitty and Henry in modern day and they would definitely have a Trophy Wife/Sugar Daddy relationship. Kitty is the wild oat that an older man like Henry wants to sow and her family and she are just avaricious enough to let him have her.

The second passage shows a reversal of roles between Kitty and Anne. After Anne and Henry have divorced and Henry and Kitty have married, Anne makes an appearance at his Christmas party. Gone is the confused shy German girl with the frumpy clothing. Instead, she is dressed in a Renaissance-era gown and French hood. Where she was once mocked for her weight, instead she is seen as having strength and substance. While Kitty has the king's hand, she no longer wants it. Instead she retreats to the arms of her lover, Culpepper.

This moment reveals how much the women have changed over the book and what they consider as success. Anne has gained her independence. Because of the impediment that caused her divorce, Henry declared that she cannot remarry which is fine with her. She has thrived in England. She has her own estate and staff. She bonded with Henry's three children from his previous marriages particularly Prince Edward and has the love of the people. She has become the free beloved woman that she always wanted to be.

Kitty however has also revealed her true nature as well. It is difficult to truly hate her. She is a sweet, cheerful, frivolous, mental lightweight put in a situation in which she was unsuited. She spends all her days wearing gowns and jewelry, playing with her dogs and cats, laughing with her younger ladies in waiting, and being romanced by Culpepper. She is an eternal child who all along was much too immature and thoughtless to be the queen and in some ways she knows it too. She just doesn't articulate it. Instead she retreats into her vain desires and giggling girlfriends.

When she falls in love with Culpepper, it is almost Kitty's own declaration of independence to take a lover of her own. Ironically, this is where she gains some substance wondering if the king can have as many lovers as she wants, why does the queen have to hide her own feelings. She appeals to her own desire for romance and affection that Culpepper provides as well as the material goods Henry provides.

Of course, Uncle Thomas and Jane are there to manipulate Kitty and Culpepper’s affair so she can hopefully produce the spare to go with Prince Edward, the heir. Jane arranges Kitty and Culpepper to meet in private so they can have their liaisons.

Uncle Thomas knows that if they succeed, the Howards have a lock on the Tudor family. If Kitty fails, she is the type who is foolish enough to hang herself. He is not surprised when she gets caught and does what he does best: looks out for #1.

Jane, Kitty, and Anne handle the fallout of Kitty's arrest in their own ways. Jane is also arrested for arranging Kitty and Culpepper's affair.She feigns madness, to avoid execution. Though throughout the book, her stalkerish obsessive thoughts for George and her psychotic love and hatred for Anne Boleyn reveal that she was probably insane all along. She is surrounded by her guilty conscience and has run out of excuses to justify it.

Kitty however gains the grace and dignity that had been buried under the romantic schoolgirl frivolity. No matter what she did whether it was entering a room or addressing a dignitary, she practiced until she got it right. Resigned to her sentence, she does the only thing that she can do. She asks for a block in her cell so she can practice lowering her head upon it in front of the executioner. She wants to leave the world calm, graceful, and composed: traits that she never had in life.

Anne however emerges the ultimate victor. In an epilogue set after Henry's death, she is glad to have outlived him and most of the other wives. (Indeed she lived to see Queen Mary's coronation.) In her home and life that she has grown to love, Anne of Cleves has one of the best lines in the entire series: “I will own a cat and not fear being called a witch.” She has earned what most women long for: freedom.

The Boleyn Inheritance not only looks at Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard, but it makes them stand out as some of the best protagonists in the entire series. Philippa Gregory turned Henry VIII’s forgotten wives into women worth remembering.

Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The Other Boleyn Girl (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. IX) by Philippa Gregory; Fascinating Novel of The Most Famous Wife of King Henry VIII

Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The Other Boleyn Girl (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. IX) by Philippa Gregory; Fascinating Novel of The Most Famous Wife of King Henry VIII

By Julie Sara Porter

Spoilers: Of the six wives of King Henry VIII, the most well known is certainly Anne Boleyn.
The mother of Queen Elizabeth I, Boleyn was the cause of Henry's divorce not only from his first wife, Katherine of Aragon but also his excommunication from the Catholic Church and indirectly inspired Henry's creation of the Church of England.She is also known as the wife who was tried and executed for various charges including adultery, witchcraft, and incest.
In popular culture, Boleyn has been portrayed as everything from a brilliant ambitious woman dedicated to Protestant Reform to an avaricious lustful whore and just about everything in between.

Gregory favors the more villainous or rather anti-heroic approach for Boleyn by writing her as a brilliant strategist who is always looking out for #1 and get whatever she wants becoming a juicy antagonistic character.
To set this book apart from the multitudes of other historical fiction and nonfiction about Anne Boleyn, Gregory wisely tells her version not from Anne's narrative, but that of her younger sister, Mary Boleyn Cary. Mary begins the book as a 14-year-old newlywed who is assigned by her avaricious family to become the lover of King Henry VIII.

Mary is humiliated by the assignment and concerned about publicly embarrassing her husband, William. However, she knows that her mother's powerful family, the Howards particularly her uncle Thomas, have tremendous influence in England and could make things difficult for her should she refuse. Not to mention becoming the King's mistress is a frightfully easy task since Henry is on the outs with his wife, Katherine of Aragon since she couldn't bear him a healthy living son. He has had more than a few women who have warmed his bed in the past such as Margaret Shelto and Bessie Blount, the latter of whom gave birth to the king's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy. Using tricks taught by her sister, Anne who learned at the French court in which she was educated, Mary enchants Henry and eventually joins him as his mistress.

Mary's family delights in their newfound lands and titles. Mary gives birth to two children, Henry and Catherine but starts to feel guilty about her role as the mistress of the king. She longs for a different, better life and begins to rebel against her family's commands. Sensing that May is becoming too difficult to control, Uncle Thomas sends in a relief player: Mary's sister, Anne.

While Mary is recuperating from the birth of her second child and vacations in the country to get away from the excessive demands of court and her oppressive family, Anne takes Mary's place in Henry's bed. However, she is not content just to be the king's mistress like the other women satisfied with fancy gowns and a meaningless title. Anne wants to play the long game. She wants to be Henry's wife, the queen.

While The Other Boleyn Girl is the ninth book in the series, it was actually the first written. In many ways, it sets the stage for the themes that are so prevalent throughout the series. Themes such as political intrigue within the palace walls, the strength of the women to get and hold onto their positions, and the rivalry between families particularly siblings.

The way that Gregory accomplishes this in this book is by comparing the internal personal rivalry between Mary and Anne Boleyn with the outward political rivalry between King Henry VIII and his new Protestant Reformation Church against Katherine of Aragon and the Catholic Church. There is an undercurrent of tension as people don't know who to side with, where Henry will turn, and whose life is being threatened today. With no one to oppose him and his mind ever changing, Henry once a scholarly but spoiled boy always trying to get attention transforms into an abusive tyrannical despot willing to put anyone to death if they so much as disagree with him.

Because of this, it is kind of hard to imagine the attraction that so many women had for Ol’Henry. We are told he is handsome and can be outwardly charming given to entertainments like masquerades and jousts. But as the book goes on, his good traits are swept away to reveal the temperamental cruel abusive monster underneath. The only thing that could possibly draw so many women is the power that they would have as Queen of England.

The Boleyn Sisters are well-written because Gregory plays with the whole good sister/bad sister dichotomy. They both pretty much act as prostitutes receiving sexual favors in exchange for their family to receive prominence. Neither can take the moral high ground and they are controlled by a family that acts almost like a Renaissance-era Mafia. They are good at emotionally blackmailing and manipulating the sisters and their bisexual brother, George, to get their way.

What makes Mary and Anne stand out is how they use their status as mistresses for their benefit. Mary finds a life outside of the palace intrigue in the country estate of Hever. She understands the farming cycles and talks to the locals about their crops. Her children thrive in country life away from judgmental prying palace eyes. After her husband's death, Mary even finds love with a minor courtier who is willing to give up his life at Henry's court to be with her. Mary sees a life outside of King Henry's court.

Anne however only sees King Henry's court and she wants to lead it. She does this very skillfully by playing King Henry like a fiddle. Anne has plenty of sexual experience, but unlike her mistress predecessors, she chooses not to act upon it. She gives Henry a little bit to entice him, but refuses to go all the way unless he marries her and makes her queen.

Anne is a very different queen from the previous ones in the series. She doesn't have the lust for battle like Margaret D’Anjou, the patient resilience and second sight of Elizabeth Woodville, or the religious certainty of Margaret Beaufort. She doesn't have the loyalty of Anne Neville nor the kindness of Elizabeth of York. She certainly does not have the fire of a warrior and steely determination to be regent like Katherine of Aragon, the sweet shyness of Jane Seymour, or the strong willed resourcefulness to go beyond failure like Margaret Tudor.

Instead of the advantages in contacts, wisdom, and personality of her predecessors or the sweetness of her immediate successor, Anne has to rely on her wit and cunning nature.
Anne is a manipulative schemer, a femme fatale. She is very observant and uses any secret that she can to move allies to her side. She is very subtle as she gives Henry books on the Protestant Reformation that challenge the Catholic Church specifically it's stance on divorce. She also passes rumors that since Katherine of Aragon was married to Henry's brother Arthur, then according to Biblical standards, it was forbidden for Henry to marry his brother's widow. This plan allows Henry to think, “Hmm, maybe a religion that allows me to divorce my wife and get another isn't such a bad idea after all. Hey, what do you know there is a beautiful intelligent woman who gave me the idea. Wouldn't she make a good second queen?”

Since we see her through Mary's eyes, we see Anne as an irredeemable bad girl and in many ways she is. But like many villainous characters in literature, Anne Boleyn is fascinating because she is so bad. We don't want to be her. We don't root for her but damn it all we enjoy the trouble that she puts us Readers through.

Anne is very haughty and impatient and loses as many allies as she gains. Partly from Henry's caprices which she encourages and partly from her own arrogant nature. She also shows very little compassion for her rivals, almost like a general seeing their enemy soldiers as less than human. She is practically giddy when Katherine of Aragon is banished from court and seethes when her jewels aren't returned to court for Anne to wear. She and Henry make public spectacles of themselves when they wear yellow and dance in jubilation after Katherine's death is announced. (A true event. However in Spain, yellow was the traditional color of mourning and both Henry and Anne were said to grieve for Katherine in private. So this gesture could very well have been a lot more complex and empathetic than Gregory's writing hinted.) Anne is a woman consumed by ambition that takes her to frightening almost inhuman levels.

Unfortunately, that ambition is short-lived once Anne becomes queen. Like all leaders who schemed to get their way to the top, she is on the lookout for anyone else to topple her from her throne using the same tricks that she did to get there. She is highly suspicious of her ladies in waiting particularly the shy devout Jane Seymour which history (and the previous volume The King's Curse) tells us, she has every right to be.

Anne's suspicions and ambitions change into desperation with each miscarriage that she delivers and no son to show for it. Even when her daughter, Elizabeth is born healthy, it's not a cause for celebration for Anne. She knows without a son, her days will be as numbered as Katherine's. Now that Henry has grown accustomed to the idea of trading one wife for another, nothing will stop him from doing it again.

This desperation leads to Anne to commit some scandalous and disgraceful acts in one last ditch attempt to give birth. The birth is graphic as Anne gives birth to a malformed dead baby. (There is no real proof this happened in real life, but was used as evidence against her in her subsequent trial.) This last attempt to maintain her loosening grip ends in failure as Anne and her closest allies including her brother, George, are arrested, tried, and executed. Mary is left alone as the sole Boleyn Sister and only blood heir, free to claim the country life she wanted. Away from the court life that consumed and ultimately destroyed her sister.

The Other Boleyn Girl is among the best books in the series because it covers such a fascinating colorful character. Anne Boleyn had an allure that made her stand out from the other wives: a sophisticated wit, an elegant style, and a cunning nature that made her stand out even long after she died.

Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The King's Curse (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. VII) by Philippa Gregory; Dark End to the Plantagenet Family Focuses on Survival in Drastically Changing Times

Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The King's Curse (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. VII) by Philippa Gregory; Dark End to the Plantagenet Family Focuses on Survival in Drastically Changing Times

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Historians know Lady Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury for how she left the world rather than her involvement in it. The oldest of King Henry VIII's victims, she was executed in the Tower of London at age 67. When she was ordered to lower her head on the execution block, she refused and ran shrieking through the Tower. The executioner finally caught up to her and killed her on the spot. Ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, and believers of the supernatural have reported hearing, and sometimes seeing, her ghost haunting the Tower and reenacting her grisly death.

Philippa Gregory gives Lady Margaret great significance to her life than just her death. Instead she is the last remnant of the old guard: the final member of the Plantagenet immediate family that was directly involved in the War of the Roses (some descendants still remain to this day.) who sees the world that she once knew slowly dying around her, making way for a world she doesn't recognize.

In the previous books, Margaret was a supporting player in other's stories. She started out in the White Queen as the daughter of George Duke of Clarence, younger brother of King Edward IV. She was very young when her father was embroiled in an attempt to seize the throne and was executed by drowning in a vat of malmsy wine. In the White Princess, she was the friend and companion of Elizabeth of York as her brother became the center of a conspiracy to take the throne from Henry VII. She was then forced to watch as history repeated itself and her slow-witted brother was executed. Finally, in The Constant Princess, Margaret is older and charged with guarding the newlyweds Prince Arthur and Princess Katherine of Aragon forming a strong bond of friendship with them though they are the son and daughter-in-law of the king that executed her brother. In her old age, she learned to forgive.

Because that part of the story is well documented in the other books and doesn't offer anything new in the way of her friendships with Elizabeth of York and Katherine of Aragon, Margaret's chapters with the royals are probably the least interesting aspects of the book with one notable exception which I will get to later.
The more interesting parts to this book are the chapters in which Margaret is away from the Royal family and is involved in conflicts within her own family and the people on her lands.

Similar to Jacquetta of Luxembourg, the protagonist of Lady of the Rivers, Margaret spends a great deal of time helping her children receive advantageous positions and marriages. She is also in despair after the death of her husband, Sir Richard leaves her destitute. She appeals to King Henry VIII for help. In exchange, he appoints her oldest son, Henry 1st Baron Montague to become his friend and confidante and her second son, Reginald to Oxford to become a scholar for the king. These positions become useful after the king's noted marital troubles become public and Henry decides to declare his marriage to Katherine no longer valid. Montague becomes Margaret's palace insider letting her know the situation with the royals and Reginald gives her the official opinion from the Catholic Church.


Much of the book deals with the conflict of staying silent or speaking out. Margaret lies when she is asked whether Katherine and Arthur consummated their marriage. She tells the court that it was never consummated so Katherine can be cleared to marry Henry, even though she knows full well that it was.

She also claims to not know anything about whether Elizabeth Woodville and her daughter, Elizabeth of York cursed the Tudor family as the murderers of the Princes in Tower. She says this despite Elizabeth of York confessing to her about the curse.

Margaret has to make a difficult choice when everyone in England is forced to swear an oath that Henry's marriage to Katherine was invalid so he can marry Anne Boleyn. Margaret swears the oath and feels guilty because of her friendship with Katherine. However, she does this to protect her family.

She also questions when family members become more vocal against Henry. Her cousin, Edward Stafford is executed for treason and her son, Reginald becomes an outspoken critic against Henry when the king declares himself Supreme Head of the Church in England putting him in direct conflict with the Pope. The events with Stafford and Reginald put Margaret's family under suspicion and both times she reluctantly distances herself from them. Margaret's despair is particularly felt when she mourns her estrangement from Reginald who was her quiet serious boy that she can no longer associate with.

It makes sense that Margaret is not willing to lose any more family members after the loss of her parents and brother. Her strong familial relationship propels her to sacrifice the truth, honesty, her friendship with Katherine, when the former queen is exiled and her relationship with her cousin and one of her sons for the rest of the family. For Margaret survival of her family is first, last, and always the most important goal.

Margaret's despair and loss throughout her long life and her nostalgia for days that will never return make The King's Curse one of the darkest books in the Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series.
Margaret holds onto the ideal that she is from an old royal family of the Plantagenets, so she bears a lot of animosity towards the young upstarts like Anne Boleyn. There is a real strong sense of the old generation dying and forced to make way for the young ones.

While the other books speak of horrible things like war, infanticide, spousal and child abuse, most of them carry a sense of hope and pride, particularly in the ambitions of the characters. Most of these ladies are not content to wait for better days. They take charge and make them happen. But with Margaret, there seems to be little that she can do, thereby increasing the hopelessness that someone in her position feels as the world changes without her involvement or input.

This helplessness increases the darkness in this book as we see the world not from the throne but the people on the outside.
Since Margaret is a Countess not a Queen, we get to view the people dwelling in her lands and learn how the instability in the Royal household affects them. Priests refuse to compromise their beliefs despite threats. Tenants worry when crops decrease and prices go up. Family members argue and break ties with each other over the oath.
All Margaret can do is help her people as much as she can.

Besides the outsider perspective, this book fills another need, one that Philippa Gregory omitted. Gregory never wrote a book from the perspective of Jane Seymour, feeling that her story had been told in The Other Boleyn Girl. Unfortunately, we get very little sense of her as a person in that book.

We finally get that much needed portrayal as Margaret gets to know Henry's third wife. As compared to the firy Katherine and the conniving Anne, Jane Seymour is depicted as a shy mousy girl who is kind but terrified of her new role and with good reason after one wife was exiled and another beheaded. Margaret is very protective towards her like a surrogate daughter that she feels is in over her head particularly when she asks for pardons for the participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace, a Catholic uprising against Henry. Jane also gives Henry, the long awaited legitimate son, Prince Edward before dying of childbirth.

Among the darkest aspects of the book is the repetition of the family tree. In most books in the series, a family tree is only in the frontispiece. But in The King's Curse, it is present throughout the book with roses colored in black to represent Plantagenet family members that die. As various members die either from illness, execution or other means another rose is darkened. When Margaret's youngest son, Geoffrey is arrested for treason, (it becomes punishable by death to speak against the king), he implicates his brother, Montague and other family members based on various conversations. All but Geoffrey are executed and the black roses continue.

Finally, Margaret is arrested, stripped of her title and land, and held in the Tower to meet her grisly final end. It is no surprise that the final page is the Plantagenet family tree filled with black roses as if sounding the death knell for the family.

The title the King's Curse is fitting not just for the curse that Elizabeth Woodville and Elizabeth of York give the Tudors that their oldest son and grandson will die young (Prince Arthur and King Edward VI) and end with a barren girl (Queen Elizabeth I). But the curse is also within King Henry VIII and how he curses his own people and himself. Lady Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury certainly saw that.

Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The White Princess (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. V) by Philippa Gregory; Bridge Between Plantagenet and Tudor is Filled With Political Strife, Unhappy Marriages, and Royal Impostors

Weekly Reader Philippa Gregory Edition: The White Princess (The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series Vol. V) by Philippa Gregory; Bridge Between Plantagenet and Tudor is Filled With Political Strife, Unhappy Marriages, and Royal Impostors




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: You would think that the time between the War of the Roses and the rise of Henry VIII and his six wives would be a peaceful reprieve between serious conflicts.

Well, The White Princess is a 500-page way of Philippa Gregory saying “No such luck.” In this book, we are treated to a royal marriage rocked by infidelity, marital rape and abuse, constant threats against the king, and an impostor who may be one of the missing Princes in the Tower.

The marriage between Elizabeth of York and Henry VII was supposed to be an end to the conflict of the War of the Roses and bring the feuding York and Lancaster Houses together. Gregory's writing shows that peace can sometimes be as much of a Hell as war.

To start with both Elizabeth and Henry have plenty of baggage they bring into the marriage. Historical documents say that Elizabeth and Henry's marriage while political, was fairly happy and contented. Gregory however takes a different tactic that is less historical and more fiction and drama. It's not accurate, but makes for interesting reading and plays on the threads that have already been woven from the narratives in the previous books in the series.


Elizabeth of York still grieves for her deceased uncle, Richard and very bizarrely is still in love with him. It's a bit discomforting to modern Readers for obvious reasons for Elizabeth to recall making love to her uncle. Not to mention in The Kingmaker's Daughter, Richard tells his wife, Anne that he only romanced Elizabeth and allowed rumors to spread so she would be considered spoiled goods for Henry. It is uncertain whether Richard in the previous book was telling the truth or lying to placate Anne's suspicions. Certainly, Elizabeth took it extremely seriously and loved him far more than he loved her.

It would be nice if we had gotten Richard's perspective so we could get some finality in this bizarre love triangle to learn what he actually felt about Elizabeth and whether they were as passionate as Elizabeth believed or as chaste yet manipulative as Anne believed. Failing that, I will stick with the motive in Sharon Kay Penman's The Sunne in Splendor where he never made love to Elizabeth, that the romance was all in the head of an infatuated young girl, and he took a mentor interest in her as a replacement for the brother that died and the nephews that disappeared.

Either way, Elizabeth enters her story as a starry eyed romantic with dreams of creating the perfect kingdom of Camelot. It is shattered as her idealistic dreams get crushed and she succumbs to an unhappy marriage and the political intrigue around her.

Henry also comes into the marriage equipped with extra baggage and this baggage makes him extraordinarily unlikable. In Henry, we see the results of Margaret Beaufort's single minded ambition to make her son King. We see a young man filled with ambition and paranoid suspicion of enemies who only trusts the people who made him king: his mother and paternal uncle, Jasper Tudor.

He spends a great deal of time consulting solely with his mother making her complicit in his various schemes such as raping Elizabeth before their wedding and arresting anyone who is affiliated with the Plantagenet family.

Henry repeatedly tests Elizabeth's loyalty by warning her not to contact relatives or friends who are about to be imprisoned, including her mother. The result is an emotionally abused Queen of England who has to remain silent for the sake of her family and eventually her children: Arthur, Henry, Margaret, Mary, and Edmund.

One thing that Elizabeth has going for her is that she has a lot of heart which she shows Henry when they are with their people. Since the previous volumes in the series involved the previous queens at war and Anne Neville had such a short time on the throne, we never got to experience any of the previous queens interact with their people apart from their military and staunchest supporters.

Oh in the White Queen, we see a few moments of Edward and Elizabeth's court being described as a merry court filled with music, intellect, and loyal courtiers but in the White Princess we experience more of that.

Elizabeth of York shows that she inherited her father's likeable kind nature in her interactions with her people. She greets subjects like old friends and assists the people with their problems. Now that the Cousin's War is finally out of the way it is nice to see a queen acting well...queenly.

As many characters describe her, Elizabeth inherited the York ability to make people love her, something that Henry lacks which he understands but is unable to feel. Elizabeth reveals this in a great confrontation with Margaret that she raised Henry to be a king not to be a good man and because of that, the people will only fear and maybe respect Henry, but never love him.

That distrustful nature plus the war-like nature in which Henry seized the throne are key factors as to why many of the people are so disgusted with the Tudor claim to the throne that they search for any Plantagenet survivors to take it. First, many supporters conspire with Teddy, the son of George Duke of Clarence and Elizabeth's cousin.

However, there are hints that Teddy is developmentally disabled and his involvement in conspiracies is brought forward resulting in him being sent to the Tower of London as well as the subsequent arrests of various members of Elizabeth's inner circle.

There are other claimants most prominently a young man named Perkin Warbeck. He claims to be Richard, the younger of the two Princes sentenced to the Tower. He is shuttled from Europe to Africa at first in hiding but then is chased off by a paranoid Henry.

In various countries, he convinces several rulers that he might be royalty. Even when he finally arrives in England “the boy,” as he is referred to by Henry, Elizabeth and their entourage, shows a great deal of courage, sophistication, scholarly learning, and a charismatic presence that would be possessed not only by any prince but particularly by the son of King Edward IV.

When Warbeck arrives in England, Henry is threatened by this man's personality and demeanor as the people see him as a better potential king. Elizabeth even notes that Henry may see the ruler that he might have been if he hadn't spent so much time in fear and exile, deprived of feeling any emotion. This challenge irates Henry so much that he manufactures Warbeck's escape so he can later lock him in the Tower of London.

Elizabeth unfortunately gets no moments alone with Warbeck so we do not get the potential brother-sister reunion, but he is still very present in Elizabeth's thoughts.
Warbeck’s beautiful wife cozies up to the king so she could win her husband's freedom. Henry is receptive and Elizabeth, who once openly dallied with the married former King Richard, now understands what it's like to be the other woman in that situation, the wife cast aside for a younger prettier model.

Elizabeth is also concerned towards Warbeck's cruel treatment from her bullying abusive husband and is anxious about the future of her family. She remembers the curse that she and her mother bestowed that the killer of her brothers would have a son and grandson that would die before they reached the throne, that there would be no healthy male heir, and that the line would end with a barren girl.

If Perkin Warbeck is in fact her brother, then his killer by definition is Henry Tudor (just as Prince Edward's killer was more than likely Margaret Beaufort, Henry's mother.). So the curse may in fact be enacted, not with the boy's disappearances from the Tower but by Warbeck's execution by Henry.

The queen is torn between her sympathies for the man who might be her brother and her own position and the future of her family, particularly her children. Does she speak out and appeal for Teddy and Warbeck's releases or does she remain silent and let no harm come to her children's lineage? She has to decide, is she a York or a queen?

The White Princess brings a finality to the Plantagenet family with The King's Curse feeling like a final death rattle. It brilliantly foreshadows the eventual horror that comes within the Tudor family through Henry VIII's multiple marriages, the ill health of King Edward VI, and the intense rivalry between Queens Mary and Elizabeth I. It's a fine bridge between the conflicts that had passed and reveals the conflicts to come.

20 Favorite Historical Fiction

20 Favorite Historical Fiction Books
By Julie Sara Porter Bookworm Reviews

Reading by Berthe Morisot

First on a personal note: I want to apologize for how late this blog entry is. I had some personal issues through November and haven't been as motivated to work on it, so I humbly apologize. Luckily, everything is going fine and I'm back. 

While I love to read different types of books, I must admit one of my all-time favorite genres is historical fiction. I love to read books set in a different era, featuring realistic characters that deal with the problems of that era. Many Readers also enjoy engaging into another time period so this list will take us back into the past for some great historical fiction.

Now there is some confusion with what is considered historical. For this list, I settled on books that take place at least forty to fifty years before their publication date (though some cheat a little by having huge chunks that are set in the present). So, I have books from settings from the Ice Age to the late  1960's. I have certain time periods and historic figures that get quite a lot of mention because I have certain favorite eras (The 19th-early 20th century) and figures that I like to read about (the English Royalty, Artists, Writers, Feminists). I also have a fast and loose definition of what is considered historical fiction including some sub-genres as historical fantasy, historical mysteries, and alternate history. Nevertheless, I hope that the Readers find some interesting companions to read during their trips through time. As always if you know any other books please suggest them here or on Facebook.

20. Possession by A.S. Byatt Historic period: 19th Century, Romantic Period England

Who owns history? How do our modern interpretations effect how we see the past? Can we really know what went on in the heads of literary and historic figures? These provocative questions are raised throughout Possession by A.S. Byatt a Romantic novel in which two academics study the presumed affair between two poets.

Minor literary scholar, Roland Michell discovers a letter addressed to noted 19th century poet, Randolph Henry Ash which suggests the married Ash had an affair with another unknown poet. Doing some amateur detective work and asking questions, Michell locates feminist literary critic, Dr. Maud Bailey who shows him the works of Christabel La Motte, a fellow poet who achieved minor fame with a collection of Breton fairy tales and an unfinished epic about Melusine, a half-woman/half-step in French legends. (Not the only time Melusine will be referred to on this list.)

Michell and Bailey's search is interesting as the two literary detectives search through letters, journal entries, and academic essays to determine whether Randolph and Christabel knew each other and had an affair.
While there aren't as many flashbacks as there are in other books on this list, Randolph and Christabel come to life in these reminisces. Each narrative adds to their story and causing more interpretations. The journal entries of Christabel's rommate, Blanche Glover suggests La Motte had a repressed lesbian attraction for Glover. Ash's wife's journal suggests that she and her husband's marriage was passionless and correct by Victorian standards. Ash and La Motte's letters reveal themselves as like-minded individuals who discuss and debate intellectual topics like the value of poetry and the existence of God (Suggesting their romance was not simply one of passion, but also one of intellect of longing to find someone to understand and talk shop with.) These different interpretations show how perspectives change the more their histories are studied and the more academics learn about them.

They also search their poems for common themes and threads that imply they were together such as sea imagery indicating sexuality and white gloves symbolizing concealment. Even though both Randolph Ash and Christabel La Motte are fictional, Byatt does an excellent job of replicating the poets of the era. Ash's poems like "Ask to Embla", and "Ragnarok" are epic and dense similar to the world of Robert Browning. While La Motte's simple nature poems suggest Emily Dickinson, her epic poem "Melusine" seems to be a composite of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Feminist Romance, Aurora Leigh and Christina Rossetti's spiritual fantasy  , Goblin Market. The two poets come to life in their own writing, answering more questions about their romance than letters ever could. Byatt should have published separate tie-in books of the works of Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel La Motte making Possession even more metafictional than it already is.

While Michell and Bailey research the two poets, they suffer from disappointing romances in their own lives. Ash and La Motte's appear to possess the researchers as they give into their own passions and engage in their own affair. Soon their lives and those of the poets intersect in very intriguing ways. The ending is satisfactory as the modern couple are determined to get what their historic counterparts couldn't: a happy ending.

19. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
Historic period: 1960's-1980's Vietnam War, Women's Movement Canada

The Women's Movement carried the themes of equality between men and women and that women should bond together to challenge bigger issues like war and sexism. However Margaret Atwood's novel The Robber Bride suggests that if women really are equal to men, then there should be women who could be just as ruthless, cold-hearted, and driven by sexual pleaures as men can be vulnerable, long-suffering, and can suffer from broken hearts. Such figures are not simply men or women but humans.
One of those types of women is Zenia (no last name), a sexual predator who infiltrates the lives of three women and deprived them of their husbands.

The Reader first encounters Zenia at the end of her story after her supposed death and funeral when the three women encounter the no-longer late Zenia walking into cafe. Each of the three, Toni Fremont, a military historian, Charis, a New Age store sales associate, and Roz Grunwald-Andrews,a magazine editor-in-chief, hate Zenia and each of them recall their history with Zenia and their desire for revenge against her.

The book mostly consists of flashbacks involving the three, their men and Zenia. Tony recalls when she first met Zenia during the early '60's before Feminism was the norm and rumors of America's involvememt in Vietnam fill Canada's Universities. Tony meets Zenia at an Andy Warholesque underground party and becomes part of a trio consisting of Tony, Zenia, and West Tony's male friend , future husband, and Zenia's first conquest. After Zenia gets money from Tony and West and Tony plagiarizes a college essay for Zenia, Zenia leaves with West in tow. West returns repentant and broken by Zenia's many affairs and abandonment. Tony feels protective of  West and settles into marriage but is constantly worried that West will find and return to Zenia.

Zenia's next conquest is Billy, a draft dodger who aides his fellow anti-war activists in Canada while falling in love with the pacifistic Charis. Charis encounters a seemingly dying Zenia at her Yoga class and invited her to live on her organic farm. Of course Zenia takes Billy leaving Charis alone and pregnant. By the time the '80's hits and Zenia takes over Roz's feminist magazine and takes runs off with Roz's husband, Mitch, The Reader is left wondering why these women continue to trust Zenia.

Besides the turbulent '60's and '70's, the women also carry scars of being small children during WWII. Tony's parents met during the war as her English mother regretted her life as a war bride. Charis's father was killed in the war and she was raised by a sexually abusive uncle explaining her ardent pacifism. Roz was the daughter of a man who helped refugees leave Europe and settle in Canada and the United States. Zenia, especially could be a victim of her past as she tells each woman a different story of her upbringing, causing them and The Reader to wonder about her. Was she the daughter of a White Russian who was forced into child prostitution? Was she from a Romanian Gypsy family and watched her mother get executed by superstitious villagers? Was she from a Jewish family and was displaced during the War? Either way, Zenia's childhood and adulthood suggests a life of hurt and betrayal, of being hurt by outside circumstances so to face it, she has to grow up cunning, ruthless, and prepared to so battle against her fellow man and woman.

As the three women confront Zenia, they learn to unleash their darker feelings of rage, war, and revenge considering themselves just as cunning and ruthless as Zenia. Their final moments with her reveal some hidden truths as each woman embraces and releases her darker nature and learns more about herself and her enemy.

 18. Shining Through by Susan Isaacs
Historic period: 1940's WWII, New York, Washington D.C., Germany

Susan Isaacs' Shining Through is one part romantic comedy and one part spy thriller and features a compelling female protagonist who would be the last person to be either a romantic lead or spy, but ironically that's what makes her perfect for both.

Linda Voss, a half-German Jewish secretary for a Wall Street law firm brushes off her fellow secretaries' comments about her married boss, John Berringer. They go on and on about how handsome, rich, and sophisticated John is. Linda pays it no mind, partly because she is more interested in the War in Europe and partly because she keeps her thoughts towards Mr. Berringer to herself. At least she does until a newly separated and drunken John Berringer falls into her arms. The two take part in a clandestine affair until Linda discovers that she's pregnant. John then does the civil thing and asks her to marry him.

The middle section kind of drags as John  and Linda get settled in Washington D.C. for John's new job working for the Defense Department and try to settle into a marriage of opposites as John is sophisticated and cold and Linda is working class and feisty. However, things pick up after Linda obtains an unusual position. Her knowledge and interest in the war, plus her ability to speak flawless German interests her boss and John's father-in-law, Edward Leland. Leland then hires Linda to be his secretary for war related activities to translate letters, listen to eyewitnesses, and send and receive all coded correspondence.
Linda finds this opportunity exciting at least as a counter to her foundering marriage particularly after she miscarries and catches John in bed with his ex-wife.(Which is amazing that John has two women fighting over him since the more the Reader learns of him the more he is revealed to be a boring coward.) Realizing her marriage is over but has a golden opportunity to prove herself, Linda volunteers to go into Germany and send messages to the Allies.

Linda's training is a fascinating read in how it opens up the brutal regiment that spies have to go through. They are given rigid physical training and told to memorize certain legends or stories about their new identities. For example Linda has to assume the name of Lina Auerman, a German war widow. She has to continuously respond as Lina even when her supervisors purposely try to trick her on the streets to reveal her name. This shows how hard the life of a spy can be to be physically and psychologically always on the job. These passages take the glamor out of the job and reveal how draining but committed the people are who go through the training.

While in Germany, Linda is left on her own to navigate her way through the Nazified streets. Thanks to assistance from a pair of local agents, she manages to bluff her way into a job as assistant cook for a commander high up in Hitler's inner circle. Linda's missions in Germany are suspenseful and nail biting as she can't let her guard down even for a moment. She drugs the mistress of the house so she can use  a spare key to get into her commander's study so she can copy his files. She makes a friend with a fellow spy but is unable to tell her anything about her real self even her name for fear of revealing too much. She also is able to transmit messages to a courier, but in one unguarded moment the courier is discovered and killed sending Linda on the run.

Even though her cover is blown, Linda retains some courage and spirit still remaining the captivating protagonist that she is. She discovers a mole in the organization and defeats the mole one on one. She also is able to escape Germany with the help of Edward Leland. Isaacs unnecessarily throws another romantic subplot towards the end. However, it does reveal that Linda is a much better person than John Berringer thought she was and that the right person would recognize her true worth.

Linda Voss transforms Shining Through from a standard novel with a weathered professional spy like James Bond. Instead she shows that an ordinary person can show courage, determination, and spirit even through unusual circumstances.

17. In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant

17. In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant
Historic period: 16th century Renaissance, Hapsburg Sacking of Rome, Rome and Venice, Italy

Courtesans are fascinating figures throughout history. They often held a higher spot than the common prostitute and had a very exclusive clientele. Classically trained in art, literature, politics, and other subjects that would be forbidden to most women, they were often there to provide an ear to their lover, who could be a king, a pope, or a state leader. They had the reputation of being an official advisor, However they were still victims of misogynists and double standards. They were looked upon as objects and were not permitted to move to center stage obtaining personal power or marriage. Above all they were forbidden to fall in love.
Sarah Dunant captures the life of a courtesan in her brilliant novel In the Company of the Courtesan, which  describes a life that is rich in benefits and intrigue but poor in real human emotion.

Fiametta Bianchini is one of Rome's top courtesans. She is the mistress of nobles, artists, writers, and the Pope. Seen through the eyes of Bucino Teodini, her advisor, best friend, and pimp the two make a great pair. Fiametta's attractiveness and sophistication make her the perfect companion while Bucino's observant nature and size as a Little Person allows him to hear any gossip and news that will benefit them. To paraphrase the Pet Shop Boys, Bucino has the brains, Fiametta's has the looks and they make lots of money.

Things are well until Hapsburg mercenaries attack Rome. With a city in ruin, and very few friends or clients including the Pope able to aid them, Fiametta and Bucino are forced to fake penitence particularly Fiametta whose beautiful golden hair is shorn. The two manage to pull off the subterfuge until they find a boat to take them to Fiametta's childhood home of Venice. (Not a pleasure cruise for Bucino, who has hydrophobia and suffers from nightmares of drowning.)

The courtesan's life is exquisitely detailed as the Reader is given an inside glimpse of their lives. Courtesan have to register in a book like every other occupation. They go to church so the local men can admire their beauty and word of mouth can spread. They are given several beauty treatments and herbs to maintain an enchanting seductive presence at all times. Quite often Fiametta is dressed, primped, and massaged as though she were Venetian Barbie.

Renaissance Venice is the perfect world for the Courtesan because they aren't the only ones selling themselves. Everyone is willing to compromise and hide who they really are to get ahead in this deceitful world. A writer friend of the duo wrote a book describing the sex lives of various Roman nobles and was exiled because of it. However he isn't above using the book for potential blackmail. A Jewish merchant friend of Bucino's converts to Christianity even though he is just as misanthropic about his new religion as his old one.A Moorish merchant is under suspicion because of his skin and Muslim religion maintaining a gruff and fearsome facade but he ends up being one of the more helpful characters in the novel. It gets to the point where ironically Fiametta and Bucino are the most honest characters in the book. At least they admit that they are selling themselves.

However that constant life takes its toll on the two in terms of relationships. While Fiametta has an impressive clientele, she is swayed when a younger nobleman falls in love with her. She is intrigued by the fact that someone sees her as more than a pretty face and nightly companion. He sees her as a real woman and this amazes her as she explored the possibility of real love.

Bucino however is furious suspecting ulterior motives. However he too has difficulties forming a real attachment. His protective nature towards Fiametta and suspicions towards others cause him to view La Draga, a childhood friend of Fiametta's and an herbalist, with contempt. Even though La Draga cares for Fiametta, Bucino suspects that she will rob or betray them. The moment when Bucino realized that his suspicions were correct but realized the reasons behind La Draga's deceit are moving as Bucino becomes aware that he ruined a potential love with La Draga before it even began.

In the Company of the Courtesan brilliantly and beautifully shows the toll of living a life where surface is the only thing that matters. Where lying, subterfuge, and selling oneself are the orders of the day. The people don't realize that they gave their humanity away before it's too late.

16. Sarum by Mike Rutherfurd Historic period: Various Ice Age-1985, Salisbury, England

In terms of historical fiction Edward Rutherfurd's novels could be considered the King (or technically the Prince since James Michener  is one of the originators of this
idea of big sprawling epics starring multi-generations).  While Philippa Gregory, Margaret George and others (all fine authors) are known for humanizing public figures such as royals, Rutherford takes the approach
of putting "regular people" in the center of epic events and how the average citizen was affected
by the changing times.

Rutherfurd's Sarum was the first in a long line of books detailing history through the eyes of several
generations. First published in 1987, the novel shows the history of England, particularly the history
of Sarum later known as Salisbury the home of Stonehenge through the eyes of several families from the Ice Age all the way up to 1985 during a ceremony honoring Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge.
Five families in particular share the spotlight:

The Wilsons-The first family first  mentioned during the Ice Age. Often described as fisher folk with very distinct long toes (Rutherfurd often gives families certain genetic traits that carry over the generations). They later have many relatives who scheme and bicker against other characters in attempts to climb higher in status, particularly during the Middle Ages when most of the Wilsons are seen as charismatic but manipulative figures.  Ultimately separating into two families, The Forests, wealthy titled landowners and the Wilsons, poorer seafaring relatives. They are present in nearly every chapter.

The Masons-A mostly working class family of skilled tradesmen. Making their debut in the Neolithic era, the Masons took part in building both Stonehenge and the Cathedral. They are also a very religious family having strident Protestants during the Tudor era, Methodists in the Victorian era, and Puritans during the English Civil War. From chapter two on, they are present in every chapter but some more than others.

The Porteus/Porters- Beginning during the Roman era, the Porteus are mostly well-off educated members who seek government administrative or Ecclesiastical positions in the Church. Very strident
law abiding members, they are very prominent in many of the chapters depicting the Roman era and the Middle Ages but begin to disappear towards the 17th century taking only minor roles in the final chapters.

The Shockleys-A mostly farming and business minded family that makes their debut during the Saxon invasion against the Vikings. Very ambitious, strong-willed souls they engage in centuries of rivalries with the Wilsons. They are also known for having members particularly the females who question society's rules and become involved in non-conformist ideals. From their debut on, they are prominent in nearly every chapter.

The Godfreys-A family that began during the Norman Conquest. Originally seen as the archetypal knights with strict moral codes, pilgrimages, and chivalric values, the generations fall further and further into poverty and disgrace until in one of the most heartbreaking scenes a young member in the Victorian era has to sell himself as a human scarecrow before being deported to Australia. More prominent in the Medieval and Renaissance-era chapters, they disappear after their descendant is transported.

In Rutherfurd's work, we see the world through the characters' eyes and what memorable events do the eyes see. Rutherfurd's talent for historic research is present throughout as he portrays these events which much accuracy and dedicated description. He also is good at portraying the little events of the era such as what happens when a young boy gets accused of killing a lord's deer when a yeoman is watching or the measures that many residents took to avoid catching the Bubonic Plague, which of course in many cases proved just as harmful as the plague itself.

Rutherfurd's details are well executed and his characters are good somewhat. They are memorable people facing these events and are affected by them. Some of the best scenes are these little moments with these ordinary people such as when a Shockley member is the lone survivor in his family of 20 after the Black Death. These are such moments that show the readers how these epic events affected even the most ordinary people better than any history text book ever could.

Sometimes the epic scope runs away with Rutherfurd and characters start to repeat themselves in almost comic ways. How many Wilsons or Forests are described as spider-like or how many Shockley women are referred to as tomboys and share a similar love of horseback riding? In Rutherfurd's later novels such as London, Paris, and the Dublin Saga, he does a better job of capturing the various characters and making them stand out more on their own terms.  Still, it was an impressive debut on such a expansive epic subject that took a lot of research, a lot of dedication, and a lot of living history.

15. The Captains and the Kings by Taylor Caldwell Historic Period: 19th-early 20th century The Irish Diaspora, Ellis Island, The Gilded Age, Ireland and United States mostly

Captains and the Kings is an amazing story of an Irish immigrant who discovers the dark side of America and himself.

Joseph Armagh arrives in America in 1854, an impoverished orphan with a younger brother and sister to provide for. In his drive to pursue success and money, Joseph makes powerful allies and enemies, practically alienates his family, and gets involved with conspiracies in his drive for success.

Caldwell tries to accomplish two things with Captains and the Kings and she does at least one very well. The first accomplishment that this book has is it tells a memorable sprawling story with fascinating characters. Standing at the center of this large cast is Armagh himself.

Joseph is an easy person to be fascinated with or drawn to, but not an easy person to like. He is a completely contradictory character. As he gets involved with dangerous circumstances like slave trading, bootlegging, and shady business deals, he wants more of what these people have to offer. He is a very dark character who scoffs at any hope or optimism. Joseph orders the death or disgrace of most enemies with very little conscience. He marries an unstable woman for position and ostracizes her in pursuit of another woman. He dominates his brother and sister and becomes furious when they begin lives of their own.

But Joseph is not a one-dimensional character. He is a very multi-faceted man with a bit of humanity that shows every once in awhile. He has a very romantic and chivalrous side which he shows in his scenes with Elizabeth, a vulnerable woman with a cruel husband.  At first dismissive of his children, he slowly begins to accept them and take pride in them up to the point where he tries to make his eldest son the first Catholic President of the United States (about 50 years before John F. Kennedy would do this in real life). One of the most touching scenes that shows Joseph’s better character is where he shows real regret in disgracing a senator, whom he realizes is a truly good man. Joseph isn’t aware of the ramifications of this moment until years later after he loses some family members.

Where Caldwell does not succeed so well is in wrapping his fascinating story around conspiracy theories, and offering them in real life.   Joseph comes into a world of The Committee of Foreign Relations; shadowy men who make decision that affect the world around them. While it is fascinating reading for a novel, Caldwell’s theories show a bit of paranoia, especially her introduction. Nothing kills a work of fiction faster than the writer insisting “these are based on actual events.” Conspiracy theories are great in many works of fiction, but become tiresome when repeated and believed in reality.

In the perimeters of the novel however, these scenes are quite well written simply because of how Caldwell portrays the Committee members. Joseph and later his son, Rory, become involved in some chilling meetings where these men discuss upcoming world wars, stock market panics and crashes, and Communist uprisings in a nonchalant matter as though they were items on a shopping list. Unlike Joseph, the other members of the Committee of Foreign Relations aren’t near as defined or faceted but they aren’t supposed to be. They are neither good nor evil. They are more like living forces of nature that shape the world to fit their needs. Joseph despite all of his money, and cynicism is at heart a naive character and doesn’t truly realize how dangerous they can be until they turn on him and his son. That’s when he truly sees the darkness of these business acquaintances.

14. Evergreen by Belva Plain
1906-1960's, Ellis Island, Jewish Pogroms, WWI, Great Depression, the Holocaust, Israel's Foundation; Poland, New York

Evergreen is a beautiful captivating story of three generations of a Jewish-American family that experience some of the important events of the 20th Century. But mostly it's a romance about a woman caught between two men that takes an unusual but satisfying resolution.

Anna arrives in the United States from Poland because of a pogrom that results in the death or separation of her family members. She moves to New York City where she finds work as a maid and she captivates the eyes of her employer's son,  Paul Werner and a local man,  Joseph Friedman. While Paul is charming,  handsome  and sophisticated,  Anna knows that a marriage between them may not be possible. Instead she marries the staid conservative respectable Joseph, a construction worker.

If this were a conventional romance, the narrative would encourage Anna to follow her romantic passions and end with her and Paul eloping to his beautiful European palace. Thankfully, this isn't that type of book.  Paul longs for Anna and occasionally she gives into temptation, one time results in the conception of a daughter, Iris. However, the book makes it clear that Joseph is the love of Anna's life. He pulls his family through the Great Depression by working on various low income projects. He helps Anna reunite with her brothers. He also loves and helps Anna care for their children, Iris and Maurice. Belva Plain's writing suggests that it's a faithful loving marriage that is more important than a roaring short-lived passion.

The generations of the Friedman family encounter romances during times of great trouble. Anna's brothers settle down in Austria as garment makers, marry local women, and have families just in time for the Nazis to arrive, leaving one brother in exile and another dead with the rest of his family except for one son-in-law who marries Iris.

A theme that appears in Evergreen is how subsequent generations learn from the mistakes from the previous ones. Maurice marries a Gentile woman despite objections from their families. They remain estranged from their families which adds to the tension of an unhappy marriage already troubled by Depression-era unemployment and alcoholism. This estrangement also leads to a child custody battle between Maurice's family and his in-laws. However it becomes a relief when a grandchild also falls in love with a Gentile and the family not only accepts the marriage but treats the interfaith union as a non-event remembering all the strife the estrangement with Maurice caused.

Evergreen is a book that demonstrates the importance of love between family and how that love is passed through the generations.

13. The Help by Kathryn Stockett-Historic period:1960's The Civil Rights Movement, Mississippi

Sometimes the strongest actions to make change are to report the truth. That's what Skeeter Phelan, Abilene Clark, and Minnie Jackson do in The Help. They report what it's like to be an African-American maid in the service of Southern white families in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement.

An aspiring writer from a prominent white family, Skeeter doesn't find much career satisfaction from writing a domestic advice column. When she applies and is rejected for a job in New York, the editor suggests that she look around for important topics. Skeeter doesn't have to look far. She is curious about the sudden loss of her family's maid (who was more of a mother to Skeeter than her actual mother) and begins to see how abusive some of her friends are to "their help." So she decides to interview some of the local maids to find out what their lives are like and what they really think of their employers.

Two of the most prominent maids have their motives for taking part in the interviews showing that people react to prejudice in different ways. Abilene has been living a life of quiet desperation. Minnie is feisty and has a reputation for mouthing off to her employers. Abilene challenges racism by covertly building up her employer's daughter's self-esteem and giving the little girl's lessons in tolerance and accepting others. Minnie challenges racism by arguing with her employers and playing elaborate pranks such as the humorous and completely justified  Terrible Awful in which she delivers a pie with some unusual ingredients to her most recent employer, Skeeter's friend,  Hilly. Abilene talks to Skeeter with cozy chats and fond sad memories of children that she loved and cared for who later became racist. Minnie answers Skeeter's questions with hostility and accusations that Skeeter is not helping anyone but herself.

The interviews bring out the best in the three women as they put the book together and reach out to other maids to share their stories. They also work together to hide the interviews from the white community so no one could be fired or hurt by the revelations in the book. The three women are aware of the enormous undertaking that they are making to report the racism around them and bravely do so.

The book not only brings the trio closer together but opens and changes their lives. Skeeter rejects the life her mother wants  for her by turning down a politician's bigoted son's marriage proposal and she challenges her friends' treatments of their maids deciding to be more than just a spectator and reporter in race relations. Minnie becomes more trusting towards some white people as she begins to bond with Skeeter and her current employer,  an eccentric woman who wants Minnie to teach her how to keep house but is revealed to be a true honest friend to Minnie. While Abilene is removed from her job she emerges a victor because she has proof that her young charge will become a better person who will accept people of all races so her lessons will live on.

12. With Violets by Elizabeth Robards- Historic period: 19th century Impressionist Art Movement, Napoleon III, France

Impressionism is among the most popular art movements. Many painters such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Edouard Manet were known for the outdoor scenes and light captured art work, scenes that suggested an image rather than the Realistic settings. One of the most overlooked artists was Berthe Morisot, one time model and lover of Manet and a talented artist in her own right. Elizabeth Robards rectifies this omission with her spellbinding novel, With Violets that captures the beginning of the movement and Morisot and Manet's difficult love life. 

Berthe Morisot is from a typical upper middle class upbringing with her typical upper middle class family. While she and her sister dabble in painting, her mother only considers that talent for gaining a husband. While painting different art work at the Acadame de Beux-Arts she encounters Edouard Manet, a charming and very married artist that wants to experiment with different art styles with his friends. Edouard and Berthe are captivated by each other's talent, intelligence, and appearance so before long, Manet becomes Morisot's tutor and lover. 

Like many artists, Manet's true emotions are felt within his art. His first portrait La Balconie, features Berthe, and Manet's wife and brother-in-law standing together in a painting and guess who's features are the most prominent. Another painting shows Morisot seated in a white dress and giving what many describe as a very provocative position. Many put the clues together and it doesn't take too long before gossip comes out that the two are lovers. Berthe's mother is horrified considering this will be a mark on her daughter's marriageable status. Berthe's sister wonders what news of the affair would mean to her status as a newly wed. Many of their friends want to avoid their company particularly Manet's. It was alright for him to have a lover, they say. But to put her in a position of a wife and make her prominent in his life, well that's another matter entirely. The attitudes of the various characters towards the Manet-Morisot Love Affair show the double standard of romances in Paris, particularly when one is married. How lovers are accepted but meant to be kept a separate component in the lives of the lovers and that a man can take as many lovers as he can but a woman must remain pure as the driven snow.

There are some strong moments of character development between the two lovers. Manet, in one dialogue explains his relationship with his wife and her lover, making him understandable why he stays with her and makes the Reader feel a little for Madame Manet (who until then was a cypher, present at social gatherings but flat and uninteresting) who was a victim of the choices of other's but never able to make her own decisions in contrast to Morisot's strive for independence. 

Morisot also stands on her own as a character in her passages with and without Manet. When the two are separated by the war against Napoleon III, Berthe worries about her lover's whereabouts and is furious that he was in hiding with his wife and never thought about her. However, she spends her time in exile perfecting her painting craft and getting emotionally involved with another suitor to the point of a proposal. Morisot really comes into her own in her passages without Manet, as an artist and as a woman.

She also comes on her own as an independent spirit and talented artist. When Manet's colleagues discuss breaking from the rigid regulations of the Salon de Paris and form their own gallery that displays their artwork, Morisot is thrilled and gives her support becoming one of the boys. Leaving the Salon with her colleagues gives her a chance to explore art and break free from convention. Manet however objects and Morisot is furious that this man that she once thought of as a trailblazer and an iconoclast is driven to stick to conventions because of his own fear. It is only after Morisot has found her own footing as an artist that she takes control of her life and breaks from her romance with Manet, to become involved with and later marry Manet's younger brother, Edgar Manet, an art dealer and supporter to Morisot and the other Impressionists.

11. Murphy's Law: The Molly Murphy Mysteries by Rhys Bowen
Historic period-Early 20th century Ellis Island, Irish Rebellion, Tammany Hall, Ireland and New York

Many immigrants came to America to search for better work opportunities or because they were displaced by prejudice and violence. In Molly Murphy's case, the violence came from herself. After the protagonist of Rhys Bowen's mystery series murders an English nobleman in self-defense after he tries to rape her, Molly finds herself on the run. In hiding she befriends Kathleen, a dying woman who persuades Molly to pose as the woman and take Kathleen's two children to America to meet their father. (Kathleen can't go, because having Tuberculosis, she would be sent back.)

Unfortunately, murder and trouble follow Molly wherever she goes. At Ellis Island, she encounters a lecherous immigrant who turns up dead. The police are suspicious, especially when they learned that Molly slapped the immigrant earlier when he tried to accost her. While Molly experiences this new country, befriends Kathleen's family, and looks for a job she tracks down clues as to the actual murderer of the dead immigrant.

Molly is a very plucky character who though she is in a lot of dangerous situations, she is never a damsel in distress. She follows leads such as a suspicious bribe-taking Alderman by talking her way into a maid's job. She is also savvy enough to guess potential motives such as realizing that an Ellis Island watchman may have resorted to robbing immigrants but would not have had time to murder them, not to mention too many witnesses.

While she is definitely an amateur detective and makes plenty of rookie mistakes such as being left alone with the actual killer after foolishly calling attention to herself, Molly learns from them and has an uncanny knack for survival. In later installments, Molly shows herself to be a top notch investigator even to the point where she starts her own private investigation firm and gets a good-sized clientele.

Murphy's Law is an excellent start to the series that has some questionable plot points. (The subplot with the children gets overdone and they aren't near as interesting as Sid and Gus, Molly's flamboyant friends who appear in later books in the series; Also the killer meets their end in an almost deus ex machina fashion). But it is a wonderful suspenseful series with a great setting of early 20th century Ireland and New York. Plus, Molly Murphy makes for a fun engaging lead that any Reader would enjoy finding out what trouble she gets into next.

10. Absolution by Murder: The Sister Fidelma Mysteries/Mysteries of Ancient Ireland by Peter Tremayne 
Historic period- 5th Century Dark Ages, Ireland's Golden Age, Irish Catholic Church, Ireland 

Most people think of the Dark Ages as a time of repression for women, where women were subservient to men. Not so says Peter Tremayne in his introduction to the Sister Fidelma series. Women had many rights in the early Christian-era in Ireland. They could own property, divorce, and were capable of receiving high positions of power like chieftain, abbots, and in the case of Tremayne's fictional protagonist Sister Fidelma of Cashel, they can be a Brehon, which was similar to a criminal attorney/judge in those days. Tremayne described 5th century Ireland as a "feminist's paradise."  

In Tremayne's mystery series, Sister Fidelma encounters murders among church members and in the aristocracy often with the background of times of great turmoil and change. In the opening book in the series, Fidelma solves the murder of her mentor, Abbess Etain during a debate between followers of the Irish Catholic and Roman Catholic Church.She teams up with Brother Eadulf, a Saxon monk with experience in herbalism. With her knowledge of the law and his knowledge of medicine and 5th century forensics, Fidelma and Eadulf make an unstoppable team (that develops in subsequent books from friendship to romance to marriage and parenthood, something that was actually encouraged between monks and nuns in early 5th century Catholicism. Celibacy was not encouraged until much later.) They bounce off each other and have some cute couple-like moments such as one upping each other with their knowledge. 

The mystery itself is pretty detailed. The clues are apparent once it is figured out (though astute readers will guess a motive if not a suspect early on with one throw-away line) but there are strong motives towards the murder. There are passionate characters passionate about their attractions and their ideas of religion. There is constant war, suspicion, and jealousy between characters. This is the type of atmosphere that would produce a murder and many motives, and just as many red herrings. 

Nowhere is the tension as prominent as in the debates between the Christian factions. Men and women constantly argue over such details as the placement of Easter and the style of tonsure, haircuts, that the male priests wear. These arguments seem trivial, but show how people have argued for years over interpretations of religion and why these interpretations led to centuries of conflict. Conflict often leads to violence and of course murder. 

The Sister Fidelma series is a great series into the early years of Christianity and how they effected people around them in ways that did not always include good will towards men and women.

9.  The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
Historic 19th century- Ellis Island, Gilded Age, Jack the Ripper, Union Formations 


The Tea Rose does three things and all of them rather well. It is a romance between two likeable characters driven apart by circumstances. It is a Thriller that pits the characters against one of the most notorious serial killers of all time. It is also a coming of age story about a woman coming into her own as a self-made millionaire.

Fiona Finnegan, a tea factory worker and Joe Bristow,. a vegetable costermonger have dreams of getting married and opening their own grocers and tea shop. The two work and save pennies for the day when it will come true. They do this despite objections from relatives who tell them that their dreams are foolish and they should accept their lots in life as poor East Ender's. Both Fiona and Joe show their stubborn tenacity early one as Joe suggests improvements to his father's stand and Fiona becomes an expert on identifying types of tea just by smell.

Unfortunately their relationship.comes to an abrupt end as Joe gets involved with his boss's conniving daughter. Joe and Fiona spend most of the book driven apart by circumstances that border on the comical and at times ridiculous. While the two are heart broken, they are able to pick themselves up and find success on their own terms.

The thriller aspect comes in the for of Whitechapel's Most Infamous Son, Jack the Ripper. The book gruesomely describes the deaths of the"Canon Five", the five prostitutes known to be Ripper victims:  Polly Nichols, Dark Annie Chapman, Long Lizzie Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Kelly. The book's version of Jack is involved in London's Underworld and has more victims, including Fiona's family which sends her and her little brother, Seamie on the run to America. These are very tense passages as Fiona's adopted uncle investigates the Ripper murder and talks to some disturbing local character. Most disturbing of all is the Ripper himself (who yes is revealed in this version) whose back story is revealed in a truly graphic manner.

The coming of age aspect appears when Fiona moves to America. She takes over her inebriated uncle's failing grocery business and turns it into a success. She listens to her consumers by offering unusual items such as teas from around the world. She befriends a pair of advertisers and an art dealer who make attractive ad campaigns for her. It isn't long before Fiona. creates Tastea her own brand of teas. Even after success, Fiona continues to innovate her brand by selling scented teas, implementing tea bags, and offering iced tea, particularly for Southern consumers. She even gets property to build a beautiful tea shop creating a chain of tea shops. Fiona's plucky spirit, determination, and business acumen make her a memorable protagonist.

While The Tea Rose is a great book, it has some glaring flaws. Fiona's younger brother is tacked on and disappears towards the end of the book to the point that the plot could have done as well without him. Fiona has a romance with an American businessman which falls by the wayside and is barely mentioned after it ends. The woman Joe gets into a relationship instead of Fiona is written as conniving but irritating so it's almost a blessing when she disappears. Also the ending is rather rushed as it pulls together all aspects to the book: the romance, the thriller, and the coming of age story in an almost too quick resolution (especially as it involves the resurrection of one character presumed dead through the book, a plot point irritatingly left open ended.) But it is a good book to follow, enjoy, and relax with. Like a warm cup of tea.

8. A Time For Courage: The Suffragette Diary of Kathleen Bowen Washington D.C, 1917 by Kathryn Lasky/ One Eye Laughing, The Other Weeping, The Diary of Julie Weiss, Vienna Austria to New York, 1938 by Barry Denenberg (Dear America Books)-
Historic period: 1917 Women's Suffrage WWI, Washington D.C.; 1938 Holocaust, WWII Vienna, Austria, New York 

The Dear America  books are an excellent Juvenile series that take a first person view of American History through the eyes of young girls. These girls describe various events such as the Revolutionary War,  the Underground Railroad, the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, and many others.  Their narratives are observant, witty, courageous, and give the Reader excellent details of what it's like to be a girl in those time periods. While they are all good books,  the two best focus on girls' lives during the Suffrage Movement in 1917 and the Holocaust in 1938.

A Time For Courage focuses on 14 year old Kathleen Bowen as she recounts her mother's involvement in the Suffrage Movement and her sister and best friend's involvement in WWI.  Kathleen's diary entries graphically recount her mother and the other suffragist's arrest and placement at the Occoquan Prison with moldy food infested with lice, their hunger strikes, and the guards force feeding them through a tube. Kathleen also shows the difference within families as they deal with dramatic times and causes. Kathleen's father and sisters are supportive of the suffrage movement while Kathleen's Uncle Bayard dominates his family to the point where he divorces his wife and kidnaps his children, ultimately shipping them to Virginia.

One Eye Laughing, The Other Weeping tells of 12-year-old Julie Weiss' life before and during the German occupation of Austria and her subsequent life in New York as she goes to live with her aunt and uncle, alone. Julie describes the awful prejudices that the Austrian Jews faced such as having to post Jewish signs outside their homes and stores and the insults and abuse endured from Nazis. The post-trauma is very real as Julie has a hard time adjusting to life in New York, still plagued by nightmares and fear of the world around her despite her aunt and uncle's kindness.

An aspect that the authors do well is that they never lose sight that their narrators are still very young children. While they exhibit much maturity about their situations, they are still capable of great emotional moods and naivete, qualities that most Readers can relate to. In Kathleen's book, she is very supportive of her mother's suffrage cause quoting Sojourner Truth's "And Arn't I a Woman?" speech, detailing a report in her Latin studies class about how many didn't want to question society's standards in Roman times and 1918 Washington D.C., and even writing a letter to Woodrow Wilson questioning "What is so bad about letting women vote anyway?" However, she also shows very real feelings that many children have in stressful times. When she first hears about the U.S. getting involved in WWI, she fears her father getting called up. When her father is swamped with work, her mother with the suffrage pickets, and her sisters and friend volunteer their services for the war effort, Kathleen feels isolated from her family and complains that she's being ignored. This is a very real sentiment that many people, children especially, feel when their families are involved with causes. They feel strongly for the cause and want to lend their support, but they also want to be with Mom and/or Dad. Lasky captures that confusion well.

Julie Weiss is also captured well in Barry Denenberg's writing especially how it feels when the atmosphere around a young girl can change almost overnight. One month, Julie is laughing with her friends, catching up in school, taking after-school English classes, and arguing with her older brother. The next minute Adolf Hitler conquers Austria without a single shot. Schoolmates who once teased her in a friendly manner are now openly abusive. The family housekeeper who Julie once thought of as a second mother turns on Julie and her family. It is also moving to read about the loss of various friends and family members during the book such as Julie's mother's suicide and her older brother, Max,'s decision to run away to Palestine. The book is filled with the tension of a changing world in which anyone, especially a child, lives in fear of what will happen next.

My favorite parts in each Dear America book are the Epilogues in which the authors tell of the future lives of their protagonists, friends, and family subtly reminding the Readers that these girls were not locked in time where they never aged. Instead they matured, had careers and families of their own, and never lost sight of what they learned living in such dramatic times. For example the reader learns that Kathleen Bowen became a professor in Classics and Archaeology and was involved in the excavation of King Tut's tomb and that Julie Weiss triumphed playing Emily Webb in Our Town and followed her aunt's footsteps as a stage actress on Broadway. They also became shaped by their time periods and the lessons that they learned from them. Kathleen was involved in feminist causes including the League of Women's Voters and Julie traced the whereabouts of most of her friends and family and was visited by her brother who emigrated to Palestine and became involved in forming the government of Israel.

7. The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland- Historic period: 16th century The Renaissance, Florence, Rome, Padua Italy

Art is often created through suffering. No one understood that concept more than Artemisia Gentileschi. She was taught portrait painting by her father, Otto until she was raped by one of his students. Enduring a public trial, Gentileschi married and moved to Florence where she became one of the few female artists of her day (and at the time the only female accepted into the prestigious Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence). She was known for her portraits of Biblical females such as Judith beheading Holoferness and Susannah being accused of adultery by a pair of elders. Because of her earlier rape and trial, many art historians and critics believe that Gentileschi put the pain of accusation in her Susannah painting and her rage against her rapist in her Judith painting.

Vreeland's novel beautifully captures Gentileschi's life and art giving us a passionate woman who was not afraid to question a woman's place in her society and to challenge the expectations of her.

Much of the analysis that Vreeland gives us focuses on Artemisia's relationship with the people in her life, particularly her father, Otto, her husband, Pietro, and her daughter, Palmira. Her relationship with Otto, once close becomes strained because of the rape trial. Artemisia is furious when after her father retrieves a painting that his student stole before the rape and drops all charges. Feeling less valued by her father than his precious painting and suffering from the humiliating trial in which women painfully observed her body, Artemisia is  estranged from her father. She proves to be a very passionate woman in her loves and her hates and never forgives him until her father is an old man. Even then she still carries some anger towards him. 

Because of her humiliation of the rape and accusations of being a whore, Artemisia throws herself into a marriage with Pietro, a fresco painter. Hoping to see a kindred spirit in the art world, Artemisia at first discovers someone to bounce ideas off of, to share ideas about art and philosophy, and who understands and sympathizes with her past. Once the two move to Florence however, Pietro becomes jealous of Artemisia's success at the Accademia di Arte del Disegno and of her budding artistic career. He turns to drink and verbally abuses his wife, even implying the rape was her fault. He shows his true colors when he admits to not only having an affair with one of Artemisia's models, but also having such a bad reputation in his hometown that he was forced to marry Artemisia even though she was considered "damaged goods." Artemisia shows a lot of spunk within her unhappy marriage by leaving Pietro and starting life as an independent artist and single mother, brave by today's standards even more so during the Renaissance when women were forced to remain in marriage no matter how unhappy they actually were. 

The relationship between Artemisia and her daughter, Palmira shows a vast difference between the two in their upbringing and values. Artemisia, while attractive was raised to love and appreciate beauty in art; Palmira is also raised to love and appreciate beauty as well....her own. She grows into a vain and vapid young woman who is less interested in her mother's art than she is in snaring a rich husband. She is constantly frustrated with Artemisia moving them from place to place and being made to live in common surroundings so it is no surprise that she settles into a stable marriage with a wealthy older man, almost as a need to be rid of her mother. While Artemisia challenges convention by being an artist and single mother, Palmira retreats into convention by getting married and becoming a typical Renaissance woman of her day. 

The details of the art world are wonderfully observed throughout the book particularly through Artemisia's talent of observing people around her and capturing them in her paintings. She sees a fisher woman's strong arms and gives them to her painting of Judith. She sees a homeless woman's sore feet and is inspired to paint Mary Magdalene with those feet. While she does not intentionally use herself and her rape for her paintings of Judith and Susannah, she is able to capture the rage and judgement because she recalls those from the people around her. She comes by this gift of putting her observations through her art naturally through her father. This becomes most evocative when she sees a fresco that Otto Gentileschi made of a woman that resembled Artemisia but not as a teenager, as the older bitter woman that she later became. This tells Artemisia more about her father's internal struggles about her situation than any words could. 
Artemisia's life and work show a true artist. Susan Vreeland was able to give that artist a voice and a mind that went into that art and shows us the true woman.

6. Alternate Presidents Edited by Mike Resnick- Historic Period: Various Presidential Elections from 1790-1988

During the presidential elections, various people play the "what if" game. Armchair politicos often grumble, "If my president won, this country would be in better shape." Well Mike Resnick and various other science fiction authors took it upon themselves to ask the question "What if" the elections turned out differently. What if a defeated candidate won? What if a President's administration began earlier or later than what really happened? What would happen to the country, would it be better, worse, or stay the same? The questions are answered in Alternate Presidents.
History's losers are given the spotlight in this anthology by a group of very gifted science fiction authors that take this basic premise: what if the presidential elections that we know turned out differently? Some of the stories are disturbing, some satiric but all are fascinating, none more so than these  five  stories about would be Commanders of Chief finally given their chances in the Oval Office:



 Aaron Burr:"The War of '07" by Jayge Carr-Aaron Burr is known in history for two things-the infamous 1804 duel against Alexander Hamilton and for having a very shady personality that often put him at odds with the other Founding Fathers. Carr pushes Burr's presumed megalomania up to eleven in a Presidency in which he removes his enemies by questionable means, eradicates the African and Native American races, and creates a false war in which he emerges Supreme Commander. The final paragraphs give the story an eerie sensibility as the United States devolves into the very thing they tried to break away from: a monarchy and in Burr's world a dictatorship.



Victoria Woodhull: "We Are Not Amused" by Laura Resnick-Among the would-be POTUS, the most interesting in both alternate and real history is Victoria Woodhull. In reality, the first female candidate in 1872, she was an advocate for "free love" and the legalization of prostitution and exposed the scandalous affairs of many including Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. In Resnick's saucy amusing story, Woodhull takes her free love stance to the White House. In a series of letters between President Woodhull and Queen Victoria, the Queen is shocked by the direction America takes under Woodhull's decisions: returning land to the Native Americans, women who cut their hair, wear short skirts, and talk openly about sex. Not to mention Woodhull herself who lives openly in the White House with her husband and lover! This story gives new meaning to the term "Victorian Era."




 Samuel J. Tilden: "I Shall Have A Flight To  Glory" by Michael P. Kube-McDowell- Probably none of the candidates in the anthology deserve to have their day in the sun more than Tilden. Winner of the popular vote in the 1876 election, some 20 disputed votes and a compromise to withdraw troops from Reconstruction-era South caused Tilden to concede to Rutherford B. Hayes. In McDowell's story, Tilden, in reality a reformer, embraces the corrupt political machine to take the 1880 election from James A. Garfield. The final pages show through the acquaintanceship between Garfield and one Charles Guiteau that sometimes fate cannot be escaped even in an alternate history.

 Thomas E. Dewey "No Other Choice" by Barbara DeLaPlace-Most famous in our timeline as the candidate against Harry Truman in the 1948 election, he also ran against Roosevelt in 1944. In this story, he wins the election because of concerns about Roosevelt's ill health. When Japanese officials remain unswayed by the atomic demonstration (a move that Truman in real life did not do) Dewey has to make the heartbreaking decision to drop the atom bomb on a much larger target than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many of DeLaPlace's words are moving as Dewey weighs the outcomes picturing the children on both sides who would suffer and how "he wished that he were someone else, anyone else."

 "Dispatches from the Revolution" By Pat Cadigan -While one would expect an alternate story about Robert Kennedy to explore his Presidency, Cadigan takes another approach to the idea. Instead she only gives Kennedy a temporary reprieve to escape Sirhan Sirhan's bullet in Los Angeles only to die with other political leaders in an explosion in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention protest. In a series of  thoughtful and engaging first-person narratives from activists in hiding, Cadigan tells of the fall out that results in a United States where segregation runs rampant, where libraries are audited for objectionable materials, where psychological tests are required to vote and for "conditional citizenship," and where passports are required to move from one state to another.

Other candidates are portrayed thoughtfully such as Benjamin Franklin, David R. Atchison, Belva Ann Lockwood, William Jennings Bryan, Robert LaFollette Sr., Huey Long, Adlai Stevenson, Barry Goldwater, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and Michael Dukakis. In all of these tales, the authors gives a glimpse of a history that could have been and maybe in some cases we should be glad that never was.

5. The Mammoth Book of Historic Whodunnits Edited by Mike Ashley Historic  Period: Various from Neolithic Australia to early 1900's
There is nothing better than a good mystery except a good mystery with a historic setting. The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits/Detectives present short stories of some of the best detectives, both professional and amateur from days gone by.
These mysteries are sprinkled with various details of characters exploring the murderous dark sides of their environment. The five best stories in this anthology are:

"A Mithraic Mystery" by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer- John the Eunuch, Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora, investigates the possible ritual murder of a stranger in the Byzantine court. John enters the mysterious world of secret societies including the male -only cult to worship the god Mithras and it's members who fear competition from the Christian faith practiced publicly (though sometimes not in private) by the Court. Experiencing the Court through the observant John, particularly it's ruthless cunning Empress Theodora, the Reader understands why political intrigue is sometimes referred to as Byzantine with their plots within plots and characters who say one thing and do another.

"The Midwife's Tale" by Margaret Frazer- Medieval era nun, Dame Frevisse investigates the death of a peasant husband. Using a common sense approach and a sympathetic nature to both victim and perpetrator, both traits put Frevisse at odds with the established male-dominated courts of the time. Both this and a previous story, "The Witch's Tale" give not only a memorable lead as Frevisse proves herself an equal and at times superior to make counterparts such as Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael, but the stories also gives us interesting insights about what it's like to be an outsider in the marginalized groups in society. Particularly the world of peasant women who are thought of as property to their feudal Lords and their own husbands.

"The Murder of Innocence" by P.C. Doherty-Molly Frith, High Sherifess and member of an Elizabethan Secret Service recalls her first case when as a young teen, she and her Worshipful Guardian encounter a dead body at the inn that they are staying. Even at a young age, Molly shows a deft reasoning in solving the murder and a deep understanding of human nature that is wiser than her years. The story takes a dark suspenseful tone when Molly discovers the identity of the murder is closer to her than she originally believed.

"The Curse of the Connecticut Clock" by S.S. Rafferty-Captain Jeremy Cork and his sidekick, Wellman Oakes solve the accidental death of a schoolboy who was trying to solve a puzzle at his school in Colonial era Connecticut. Using an immense talent for deciphering codes and deductive reasoning, Cork is able to piece together the boy's findings, the truth about his death, and the answer to the puzzle that was partly responsible for the boy's death. Cork proves to be a pre-Revolutionary War answer to Sherlock Holmes in this fascinating treasure hunt.

"The Eye of Shiva" by Peter McAlan-Chief of Detectives Inspector Ram Jayram investigates the theft of a very rare, valuable, and possibly cursed jewel in a room of suspects in 19th century British-occupied India. While the jewel hunt is solid and Jayram is up to the task in locating it, the story's most interesting feature is the amount of prejudice that occurs between the white British and Indian characters. Such as when Jayram wittily corrects a bigoted officer's remark that all branches of the Hindu religion are the same. Through these bits of mistrust and racism, McAlan shows that crime often occurs in situations where tension, prejudice, and hatred already thrive.

Other detectives include Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder, Peter Tremayne's  Sister Fidelma, Edward Hooch's Ben Snow, Robert Von Gulik's Judge Dee, and real historic figures such as William Shakespeare, Captain Cook, and the Biblical Three Wise Men. In all of the stories the wise and winning detectives are able to preserve justice and face up against the worst vices of their days.

4. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton-Historic period: 1940's WWII, England

What if you received a letter many years after it was sent? Wouldn't it bring back memories of your experience with the sender, rekindle an old love, recall a long abandoned ambition? Would you yearn to speak to that person again long after time and distance have separated you?
That is the dilemma facing mother and daughter Meredith and Edie Burchill in Kate Morton's evocative novel, The Distant Hours. Meredith receives a letter from a mail bag that had been discovered after fifty years. For Meredith it brings back memories of her childhood when she was sent to the country to the mysterious Milderhurst Manor as an evacuee during WWII. For Edith, it brings a mystery connected to her favorite childhood book, The True History of the Mud Man by Raymond Blythe, famous author as well as owner of Milderhurst Manor.

While Meredith is moved by receiving this letter, she refuses to reopen old wounds considering the subject of Milderhurst Manor and her time there closed. Edie, a young  editor with a fondness for books, finds this adventure too tempting. She visits Milderhurst and joins a weekly guided tour where she encounters three eccentric sisters, Persephone "Percy", Seraphina "Saffy," and Juniper Blythe, the elderly daughters of Raymond Blythe.
After encountering and clicking with the "Sisters Blythe" (as Edie refers to them: "It seems proper like the Brothers Grimm."), Edie's fascination with them and the mysteries inside Milderhurst Manor, increase as she is requested to interview the Blythes for a prologue for a special edition of the Mud Man.

While Edie's story is fascinating wit her investigations in Milderhurst and her mother's history with the Blythes, it is the flashback story that is the most prominent in the book. In the days before and after WWII, the Reader is introduced to the Sisters Blythe, three women with buried secrets and desires to care out their own identities. These secrets and desires explode one rainy night when Juniper Blythe and her fiancee are scheduled to arrive for dinner and one doesn't turn up.

Percy Blythe, the eldest, is seen as a prim and proper woman who has given her all to Milderhurst, considering it more important to her than any spouse or child. Despite her prim exterior, Percy shows a very independent spirit. She is content to wear trousers despite reservations from others. In one of the more revealing passages, Edie learns that Percy had a forbidden love affair that had ended badly. This aspect of her hidden life shows Percy as a vulnerable woman underneath that prickly exterior and makes the Reader look at her differently through the remainder of the book.

Saffy, Percy's twin, also has her own secrets that threaten her life at Milderhurst. Unlike Percy who is content to remain at her childhood home, Saffy dreams of an independent life in London. She applies for curator and governess jobs without telling Percy and waits patiently by the phone to hear from them hoping that Percy never answers. Despite her ambitions to get away, Saffy has troublesome dreams and flashbacks recalling dark monsters that inspired the writing of her father's Mud Man book. Though she longs for a life of her own, Saffy knows that she is too connected to Milderhurst and the past to leave.

Juniper, the youngest, has her own ambitions colliding with the darkness of Milderhurst. She shares her father Raymond's writing talent and creativity which he strongly encourages. However, she is a woman of great passion and romance which her father objects to never wanting her to make friends or fall in love. This changes as Juniper and her sisters take in Meredith. Juniper and Meredith bond through a love of writing and become friends, becoming Juniper's first real friend. Meredith introduces Juniper to her teacher, Thomas Cavill who strikes a romance with Juniper. However, Juniper exhibits signs of schizophrenia which she reveals by hearing voices which she calls "The Visitors" and has unpredictable bouts of temper which causes her to fear being outside. Not to mention her father left an unusual clause in his will, which prevents any of his daughters to live independent lives outside of Milderhurst keeping a hold on them beyond death.

Into this family circle roams Meredith and eventually Edith. Meredith, a girl from a working class background discovers a new life with the Sisters Blythe, one that encourages books and reading and fills her imagination with thoughts of a better life for herself. Her family however are infuriated with her attachment to the Blythe family telling her to remember her place, a lesson she learns all too well upon adulthood.
While uncovering the mysteries inside Milderhurst, Edie discovers a deeper connection to the mother that she had long thought of as an emotionless cypher, one who she believed never understood Edie's own attachment to books and writing. She learns that Meredith and she shared deeper interests and connections than she ever knew.

The Distant Hours is a strong novel about the bonds between family, parents and children, and between siblings. These bonds change over the years and how we never really know those that surround us every day. That family members carry secrets, goals, and past histories that we may never know until we are older.

3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield- Time period: 19th-early 20th century Victorian, Edwardian Period, England

Gothic literature is one of the most intriguing literary genres. When you read a Gothic novel and you hear about a sinister mansion or castle, you know that there is a past connected to it, one of scandal, intrigue, eccentric family members, and ghosts both literal and figurative. The heir apparent to the mantle of the works of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and the Mysteries of Udolpho  is The Thirteenth Tale which takes the Gothic novel to more modern psychological approach.

Margaret Lea, a young biographer and bookstore co-owner receives a request to interview Vida Winter, the best selling author. The book says that Vida Winter is the most popular modern English author of all time. (Agatha Christie and J.K. Rowling would have a few words with that distinction), but she is a woman of many secrets. In previous interviews, Vida has reported different contradictory things so no one knows her real story. Not anymore, Vida says. Not she will tell Margaret "the truth." Intrigued, Margaret visits Vida's home and hears Vida's story about Angelfield Estate and its bizarre inhabitants.

Vida's story begins with Isabel and Charles, a brother and sister who share a mutual attraction. (Think Jamie and Cersei Lannister.) This union possibly results in Isabel's elopement with a man named March and the birth of Adeline and Emmeline March, , twins who may have been fathered by Charles.

Adeline and Emmeline March are a fascinating pair of characters and steal just about any passage that they are in. They speak in a private language that only they know and no one else can follow. They are capable of one minute sending a perambulator down a meadow just to scare a local nurse and the next minute giggling about the handsome young gardener boy. They are very intriguing in their feral strangeness in which the very thought of separation causes them to react violently or retreat into themselves. Their eventual separation because of outside influences and their own growing maturity causes a division and violence between the twins and a moving resolution to their story.

The more Margaret hears Angelfield's story, the more confused she is about Vida's role in it. Who was she in the story? How much of her story is true and how much is misleading? How much is she telling and how much is she concealing? Who is the mysterious ghost in the story who keeps wandering both in the past and present around Angelfield dressed entirely in white?

Margaret's journey discovering the truth about Angelfield asks just as many questions as it provides answers and is filled with other characters who want to find endings to their stories as well. There is a sweet family of a mother and children who may have a connection to the sinister dealings. A governess who once tried to bring humanity to the March twins disappeared mysteriously and Margaret wants to find her figuring she may have some answers. Then there is a male journalist who had previously visited Vida with a desire to "learn the truth." Each character has a link to Vida's story making the story of Angelfield even larger and involved more people than just Vida and the March Twins.

Even Margaret has a link to the story that she begins to become aware. The biographer is haunted by her own ghost, of a deceased sister. As Margaret opens up the story of Angelfield, she opens up her own past with her sister finding her own resolutions becoming a part of Vida's story.

The Thirteenth Tale  reveals the importance of storytelling and how every person has their own story. Through these stories, people may discover deeper connections and answers to their questions. The characters reveal their beginnings and discover their stories' endings.

2. The White Queen/The Other Boleyn Girl (The Cousins' War/The Tudor Court) by Philippa Gregory; Historic period:
15th-16th centuries,The War of the Roses, The Court of Henry VIII, The British Monarchy, Plantagenet and Tudor Courts, England

Good historic fiction takes a character only known from historic accounts and puts us inside their heads. The Reader learns their thoughts and feelings about situations that otherwise we would not know them at all, or only know them through secondary sources. Philippa Gregory is among the best to write about English royalty. She wrote a wonderful ongoing series about the Royal family from Henry VI to Queen Elizabeth I. Each book in the series offers an inside look, usually first person from a female character, that gives us the power struggles over who will take the throne and whose heirs will leave the longest lasting legacy.

The whole series is a marvelous look of English royal history told through various eyes including Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII, Lord Robert Dudley, the lover of Queen Elizabeth I, Lady Margaret Pole, who was beheaded by Henry VIII, Henry VIII's wives including Katharine of Aragon, Anne of Cleves, and Katharine Howard, and Hannah Green, a fictional Jewish girl in the court of Mary I "Bloody Mary, and Jane Grey who was queen for less than nine days.  The two that stand out the most and certainly have the most attention are The White Queen and The Other Boleyn Girl.

The White Queen stars Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of King Edward IV and sister-in-law of Richard III. Elizabeth has been portrayed differently in various sources (usually depending on how the writers and filmmakers perceive Richard III who has been classified as one of her sworn enemies.) Anything from a naive innocent to an emasculating bitch. Gregory's account portrays her as a strong-willed multifaceted woman, a commoner who dares to greet King Edward to ask for restitution for her family. She not only gets it but receives a proposal of marriage from the king who is besotted by her good looks and charm. King Edward and Queen Elizabeth's marriage for love brings dissension in the court over a king daring to marry a commoner and put her family in positions of trust and power.

Elizabeth encounters many enemies, none more so than Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick AKA "The Kingmaker" who helped put Edward on the throne and Edward's greedy younger brother, George Duke of Clarence. When a battle results in the death of her father and brother, Elizabeth blames both Warwick and George for it. Using her powers that her mother says were descended from Melusine, a water spirit from French legend, Elizabeth curses them.She also brings about curses to other enemies such as when her sons, Edward V, and Richard, the young Duke of Gloucester are sent to the Tower of London and never return.

Elizabeth is a fascinating character as she pushes herself forward in life. She is a strong guide to her husband, such as when she argues for executions of his enemies or for their release. She also knows when to keep silent. In one frightening moment, she has a  vision that Edward and his brothers suffocate King Henry VI in his sleep even  though he was practically catatonic and no threat to him. However, she does not question or challenge it since she believes that Henry is her husband's enemy and therefore hers. She also  rewards the loyalty of those closest to her, particularly when she gives Warwick's orphaned daughters the chance to be her ladies-in-waiting

Even though she is forced to spend some her time in sanctuary (particularly in one memorable passage where she has to give birth to her eldest son), before and after her husband's reign Elizabeth is never at a loss for a plan. She is someone who is always able to use her wiles, supernatural abilities, and alliances to her advantage. When Richard III becomes king, she forms an alliance with her family's enemies the Lancasters so their son could marry her daughter, seeing them as the lesser of the two evils.When her daughter Elizabeth of York marries Henry Tudor, it ends the War of the Roses by combining the Houses of York and Lancaster forever.
The strongest statement is in her curse after her sons were believed to be killed. She curses that whoever killed them would have no male issue on the throne for very long and that the family line would end with a barren girl. (Of course history shows how that turned out with the subsequent reign of the Tudor family).

While Elizabeth Woodville is able to bring about power with her alliances and supernatural abilities, Anne Boleyn possesses no such abilities. Instead she achieves her goals by using charm, beauty, and an ability to win a monarch to her side. In Gregory's novel, The Other Boleyn Girl, Anne is just one of the many ladies-in-waiting to Queen Katharine of Aragon hoping to catch the eye of Henry VIII. Not wanting to be simply bedded and discarded like her sister, Mary, who is also the narrator of the book, Anne wants to play the long game. She wants to be Queen of England.

Anne is equal parts prostitute and CEO as she manipulates and seduces Henry. Anne uses the tricks she learned in the French court to seduce the king just enough and then withhold so she and her family can receive favors. She also brings books about Protestantism that challenges Henry VIII's Catholic court and his way of thinking so he can believe "Hey maybe a religion that allows a monarch to divorce is not such a bad idea."She also subtly uses hints that bring about suspicions in Henry's mind about Katharine, comparing her appearance and fertility to Katharine's as well as challenging the idea that Katharine had been married to Henry's older brother previously and how it could be considered a sin against God. (Hence why God has punished Henry and Katharine with only one girl and various miscarriages and deceased infants). While she does not exhibit as many positive traits as Elizabeth such as strength or intelligence in making alliances (in fact Anne loses many), Anne is also a memorable character because she is so bad. She is conniving, charming, and very skillful in her abilities to win Henry.

Anne of course is not alone in her plan. She is backed by her mother's family, who behave almost like a mafia family with their control over others' lives. Her sister, Mary, Henry's earlier mistress is aware of the fact that her husband received titles just because he allowed Henry to sleep with his wife. Her brother, George, is also very encouraging towards Anne's progress particularly as he hides his own disgust at his conniving wife, Jane and his lust for a young nobleman. Then there's her uncle, who behaves like the Mafia Don. Her uncle Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk pimps out his nieces to the king so he can gain power for himself. He is able to control Anne from behind the scenes until she decides that she no longer needs him. With a family like that, it is easy to see where Anne gets it.

Anne's position in court is challenged not only by her disassociation with Norfolk but also her inability to produce a male heir resulting in the birth of only one girl, Elizabeth. Anne begins to also fear the accusations of witchcraft that somehow she seduced the king  with her powers away from Katharine. In one last desperate attempt at survival, so she doesn't end up divorced and abandoned like Katharine or tried and executed, Anne does something desperate to conceive a baby. Her decision and its aftermath resulting in a monstrous dead baby are rather graphic but show Anne's anguish about doing anything to stay alive and foreshadows the monster that Henry becomes.

There are some historic inaccuracies to these books (The story about Anne Boleyn's monster as well as its conception were merely rumors and not factual as the books imply; While the books portray Henry VII as uncaring and abusive towards Elizabeth of York, in reality theirs was a very loving marriage; Not to mention the identity of a young man claiming to be the younger of the two Princes in the Tower is verified in the book but was under much suspicion in real life) But Philippa Gregory's writing gives us very real believable characters whose struggles, triumphs, family relationships, and love affairs are identifiable and understandable. These characters just happened to have sat on England's throne.

1. Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley- Historic period: 1st century, Arthurian Age Camelot, Paganism, Goddess Religions, Christianity, England

The stories of King Arthur could almost get their own section in a book store or a library. Everybody has had their voice heard, Merlin, Arthur, Mordred, and in Bradley's case the women of Camelot tell their sides to the story. Besides retelling the Arthurian legend from another pair of eyes, this book takes a look at religious dissension and the power of women in a society that is slowly being dominated by men.
Morgan Le Fey, the lead protagonist, is the latest in a long line or Priestesses of Avalon, recipients of the Goddess and protectors of magic and ancient secrets. She inherited the title from her mysterious aunt, Vivienne and recounts the life of King Arthur and eventual fall of Camelot.
All of the usual points in the Arthurian legend are present in the novel, Arthur's birth at Tintagel from his mother Igraine and father, Uther; his marriage to Gwenyfahr and her affair with Lancelot; the conception of Mordred; and of course Arthur's death by Mordred's hand. However, they are given well-rounded perspectives that characterizes all of Camelot's cast of characters into interesting perspectives. For example, Arthur's conception is less of a magical form of trickery and deception of Merlin, than it is the ultimate fulfilling of a prophecy and a chance to give Igraine a sense of free will from her tyrannical husband, Gorlois.

Each character is given a new perspective, but none more strongly than Morgaine AKA Morgan Le Fey. The half-sister of Arthur, Morgaine has usually been portrayed as an evil seductive witch sleeping with one knight after another, in some versions, her half-brother. Bradley instead sees her as one of the few remnants of a dying race. A woman desperately clinging to her pagan faith as it becomes swallowed by Christianity and the warfare around her. Morgaine is a strong-willed character trying to fight against the prophecies that are written and the Second Sight that blesses and curses her, each time falling into the predictions no matter what choices she makes.
Morgaine is also given a romantic nature, which she reveals in her encounters with Lancelot, Kevin (a bard who is destined to be the next "Merlin"), and Sir Accolon, fighting her role as a studious priestess and a hot-blooded young woman searching for true love.
Morgaine becomes a symbol for the pagan faith, particularly in her scenes with Gwynefahr. Morgaine feels the connection from the Goddess and nature, while Gwynefahr prays to the Saints and Jesus inside stone chapels. Morgaine struggles to keep Goddess worship alive while fighting with Vivienne; while Gwynefahr clashes with her husband's pagan background and her own lustful feelings for Lancelot. The two women vie in their spiritual pursuits, and their own claims to Camelot's legacy.
Mists of Avalon gives a fresh perspective of the world of King Arthur that opens the reader's eyes to a deeper perspective of the legend.

Update:  I have only just recently learned of the abuse allegations towards Marion Zimmer Bradley from her daughter. I find the situation appalling and believe Moira Grayland. However I continue to love Mists of Avalon and recommend it highly as a beautiful look at the Arthurian legends, one that explored the roots of early Paganism, and a strong feminist statement. Next month, I will post a blog entry that will discuss my feelings towards Bradley, Mists of Avalon, the sex abuse allegations, and the separation of art and the artist.


Honorable mention: The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman, I Claudius by Robert Grave, I Victoria by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles,  I Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles, and Mary: Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George, The Secret Diary of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James, Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Walters, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke,The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, My Name is America Books by Various authors, Amethyst by Mary Rose-Hayes, Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ by Lew Wallace, The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, Stardust by Joseph Kanon, The Biograph Girl, by William J. Mann, Swing Sisters by Jeanne Westin, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, Shogun by James Clavell, The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Color Purple by Alice Walker