Book Review: The Lady Elizabeth

Even at age two, Elizabeth is keenly aware that people in the court of her father, King Henry VIII, have stopped referring to her as “Lady Princess” and now call her “the Lady Elizabeth.” Before she is three, she learns of the tragic fate that has befallen her mother, the enigmatic and seductive Anne Boleyn, and that she herself has been declared illegitimate, an injustice that will haunt her.

What comes next is a succession of stepmothers, bringing with them glimpses of love, fleeting security, tempestuous conflict, and tragedy. The death of her father puts the teenage Elizabeth in greater peril, leaving her at the mercy of ambitious and unscrupulous men. Like her mother two decades earlier she is imprisoned in the Tower of London–and fears she will also meet her mother’s grisly end. Power-driven politics, private scandal and public gossip, a disputed succession, and the grievous example of her sister, “Bloody” Queen Mary, all cement Elizabeth’s resolve in matters of statecraft and love, and set the stage for her transformation into the iconic Virgin Queen.

They tell you not to judge a book by its cover, but it was difficult for me to resist plucking Weir's second historical novel off the library shelf due to its beautifully green front cover art. I came to my final decision to read this novel out of a keen interest in Elizabeth's teenage years, especially her infamous times with Thomas Seymour. I grazed the surface of their romance in Meyer's young adult novel, Beware Princess Elizabeth, which simply left me more curious. Beyond that I was also simply interested in another Tudor fiction read, and one about Elizabeth was perfect.

I was absorbed almost instantly; given how most of the Elizabethan novels I read are of Anne Boleyn, I hardly get the chance to take a look at Elizabeth's life in 1536 after her mother's death. Weir brings you up close and personal to the troubled childhood of the bastard princess and the story blasts off. The Lady Elizabeth is rich with emotion, court excitement, and is enhanced with bits and pieces of almost erotic and archetypal romances. The story is the most perfect blend of fact and fiction that I've probably ever read; the author reminds you that whilst she's a talented novelist and story-teller, she's primarily a historian, using sources such as letters and records to create some scenes and dialogue. This novel is like a fun and engaging history book; it's simply amazing.

The Lady Elizabeth is definitely a novel worth reading. Travel through six wives and grow up with a motherless young princess, striving for the affections of an all-fickle father and searching for her place in the world and the truth about the mother she loved. It's a reading experience as educational as an Eric Ives biography, and yet as fun, flavorful, and exciting as a Philippa Gregory novel.

Statistics
Pages: 473
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year Published: 2008
Kylie's Rating: ♛♛♛♛♛/♛♛♛♛♛ (5/5 Stars)