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)

Book Review: The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn

When the young Queen Elizabeth I is entrusted with Anne Boleyn's secret diary, she discovers a great deal about the much-maligned mother she never knew. And on learning the truth about her lascivious and despotic father, Henry VIII, she vows never to relinquish control to any man. But this avowal doesn't prevent Elizabeth from pursuing a torrid love affair with her horsemaster, Robin Dudley -- described with near-shocking candor -- as too are Anne's graphic trysts with a very persistent and lustful Henry. Blending a historian's attention to accuracy with a novelist's artful rendering, Maxwell weaves compelling descriptions of court life and devastating portraits of actual people into her naughty, page-turning tale. The result is a masterpiece of historical fiction -- so prophetic of our time that one would think it were ripped from today's headlines.

I heard a lot about the book before actually reluctantly reading it; its page number was so small (I typically enjoy longer novels) and I'm not such a fan of stories told in the form of diaries, and so it was a long time before The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn found its way to my read-list. I decided to read it for a school project since it was the only Anne Boleyn related book on the list, and after the first few pages I was simply pulled in. Maxwell's book is brilliant; I've always known that the lives of the mother daughter duo, Anne and Elizabeth, had many similarities, and in a lot of ways Elizabeth reflected her martyred mother despite their too-short time together, but everything between them is magnified and brought together to form two breathtaking intersecting stories full of twists, irony and parallels. Neither of them had easy lives and the difficulties Anne experienced and how she went about solving these problems translate perfectly into her daughter's life making for guidance and counsel that guides her most.

What I absolutely adored about this novel was how there was the perfect amount of each side of the story, so that neither made the other fall flat. Anne is an alluring, bold, and headstrong girl, witty, daring and the perfect alchemy of 'chaste lady' and seductive, fun-loving minx; Henry falls instantly and deeply in love with the woman strong enough to be his partner, beautiful enough to be his lover, and despite her warming affections toward him, Anne knows that to fall too passionately for an all-powerful king could be potentially dangerous, and whether he loves her or not she is at his mercy. Her adventurous ups and downs are mirrored by the story of Elizabeth, and the roles are entirely switched: Elizabeth is the twenty-five-year-old, all-powerful Queen of England, but it's a far from glamorous life. In love with her childhood playmate and teenage lover and friend, she aches with heartbreak at the knowledge that it would take the moving of the very Earth to have him her king; he is a married man far from beloved by her people, of a family line infamous for treachery toward the crown... and she is the Queen of England, sought by kings and princes of Europe's greatest powers. Every step she takes is met with harsh judgment and criticism and followed speedily by scandal. She learns quickly that to survive and thrive it will take not simply guidance from the council, but her own fallen mother.

Their tales collide and explode and it's simply masterful. I had no problems with any part of it. Maxwell's The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn is an emotional powerhouse, and it's neither of their stories told like you've ever seen them before. Their characters grow, mature, discover the truth and shape their own destinies as one and it's absolutely breathtaking. I'll always see Anne Boleyn in Elizabeth Tudor's greatest decisions which transformed her into Gloriana, and it's because of this book, unquestionably one of the greatest Anne Boleyn related novels ever written, and one I am begging all Tudor-enthusiasts or simply one looking for a good book, to read. The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn is timeless magic; you're heartless if you don't shed a tear.

Statistics
Pages: 281
Publisher: Touchstone
Year Published: 1998
Kylie's Rating: ♛♛♛♛♛♛/♛♛♛♛♛ (6/5 Stars)

Book Review: The Virgin's Lover

As a new queen, Elizabeth faces two great dangers: the French invasion of Scotland, which threatens to put Mary Queen of Scots on her throne, and her passion for the convicted traitor Robert Dudley.
But Dudley is already married, and his devoted wife Amy will never give him up, least of all to an upstart Protestant Princess. She refuses to set her beloved husband free to marry the queen; but she cannot prevent him from becoming the favorite and the focus of the feverishly plotting, pleasure seeking court.

Others too oppose the marriage, but for very different reasons. William Cecil, the queen's wisest counselor, knows she must marry for policy; her uncle hates Dudley and swears he will be murder him first. Behind the triangle of lovers, the factions take up their places: the Protestants, the priests, the assassins, the diplomats and the moneymakers. The very coin of England is shaved and clipped to nothing as Elizabeth uncertainly leads her bankrupt country into a war that no-one thinks can be won. Then someone acts in secret, and for Elizabeth, Dudley and the emerging kingdom, nothing will be as planned.

Blending historical fact with contemporary rumor, Philippa Gregory has created a dark and tense novel of Tudor times, which casts Elizabeth I in a light no one has suggested before. Passionate, fearful, emotionally needy, this is a queen who will stop at nothing.

This was the first novel by Philippa Gregory that I ever read, and I found it at the library whilst searching for The Other Boleyn Girl. At the time I knew little of Elizabeth's reign, and unfortunately did not take away much about it from my reading experience. The Virgin's Lover tells the complicated story of Elizabeth's relationship with Robert Dudley, her Master of Horse from a family line of traitors to the crown -- and little else save for her short war with the French involving the Scots and the difficulties of ruling a bankrupt and religiously-torn country. Elizabeth is portrayed as anything but the strong, feminist and brilliant Virgin Queen she is known as today, and is instead at twenty-five immature, flirtatious, and reliant on the guidance of counselors and the love and support of Robert Dudley. Ironically I don't have much of a problem with this, although Gregory's portrayal of Elizabeth deeply disturbs many other Tudor readers; Elizabeth had to start somewhere before becoming Gloriana.

I surprisingly had very few problems with the novel, save for one regarding its plot. From start to finish I feel as though Gregory is really just chasing the sun. There is no flow or direction, just event after event after event with a raw ending which leaves the reader feeling incomplete and unsatisfied. Overall I enjoyed The Virgin's Lover and admit to getting emotional at different parts of the book. Gregory may not always bring all the correct information, but she writes masterfully and I've never read history and romance more perfectly intertwined. I would say that this is a good start if you'd like to explore Elizabeth's long, seventy year reign.

Statistics
Pages: 448
Publisher: Touchstone
Year Published 2004
Kylie's Rating: ♛♛♛/♛♛♛♛♛ (3/5 Stars)