From #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory, the little-known story of three Tudor women who are united in sisterhood and yet compelled to be rivals when they fulfill their destinies as queens.As sisters they share an everlasting bond; as queens they can break each other’s hearts… oldest princess, Margaret, takes her measure. With one look, each knows the other for a rival, an ally, a pawn, destined—with Margaret’s younger sister Mary—to a unique sisterhood. The three sisters will become the queens of England, Scotland, and France.
United by family loyalties and affections, the three queens find themselves set against each other. Katherine commands an army against Margaret and kills her husband James IV of Scotland. But Margaret’s boy becomes heir to the Tudor throne when Katherine loses her son.
Mary steals the widowed Margaret’s proposed husband, but when Mary is widowed it is her secret marriage for love that is the envy of the others. As they experience betrayals, dangers, loss, and passion, the three sisters find that the only constant in their perilous lives is their special bond, more powerful than any man, even a king.
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Love Philippa Gregory books!
This one has exceptionally interesting angle, written from the perspective of Margaret Tudor.
M.T. – Loving and criticizing her sister-queens, full of self-indulgence, self-pity with rare streaks of wisdom.
Another captivating peek into the heart and mind of a historical player in the saga of the Plantagenets and Tudors, as Philippa Gregory imagines it. I’m going to state right up front that not every character Gregory chooses as her narrator is likable, what’s more, I don’t think they need to be. Since almost every span of time ends up told from multiple points of view within the series as a whole, I like getting different perspectives and some of these individuals are bound to be less palatable than others.
At first, I thought I was simply pro-Plantagenet, but it occurred to me around halfway through this book that I just don’t seem to like the Margarets! Margaret Beaufort was chillingly ambitious. Margaret de la Pole was spineless and wishy-washy. And in this book, we have Margaret Tudor. Margaret Tudor was almost as petulant as her infamous younger brother, Henry VIII. She was fickle. She was easily swayed from good decision making by following her…well…loins and ego. (I don’t even think you can say her heart, no matter how many times she claims it is for love.) She is bitter and jealous and whiny. She changes face as often as a performer can change masks. She also seemed hard headed enough to never learn from her mistakes, if and when she was forced to admit their existence at all. And can we talk about what a hypocrite she was when it came to her sisters? So, no, I did not find Margaret Tudor to be likable.
None of her lack of likability affects the readability of Gregory’s novel though. I couldn’t turn pages quickly enough. While I am aware that this is a work of fiction with known fact woven in, it paints a captivating picture nonetheless. And the format (small sections rather than lengthy chapters, as in all her books of this series) combined with Gregory’s writing style being easy to read meant I could lose myself in a hundred pages if I wasn’t mindful of my time.
I’d also like to mention that I loved the portrayal of Margaret’s husband, King James of Scotland, who saw her for what she was and the potential she might have had. If only he had lived, maybe she’d have had a shot at him grooming her and teaching her how to be a good ruler (and a decent person)! And I loved her son, the next King James, as well — very much in the image of his father, Stewart and Scottish, through and through. Archibald gave me the heebiejeebies right from the start, and, while I don’t believe he was scheming and treacherous like Archibald, I felt like Henry Stewart was just a nicer version, with all the smoldering looks and romantic pining…but at least he was loyal to her son, rather than manipulating her for his own political gain.
All in all, I have enjoyed each novel in this series and this one did not disappoint. I liked the change of scenery, with England being on the periphery of the story. I liked seeing the time frame covered in “The King’s Curse” from an additional viewpoint (and I believe “The Constant Princess” will cover it in yet a third, but I ended up needing to read this one slightly out of chronological order) — it really fleshes out the entire story, once you’ve read it from multiple angles. I look forward to the rest of the series, that much is certain!
Phillippa Gregory is a fantastic author. I never miss any of her books. This book does not disappoint. It’s hard to put her books down.
i hate that i love it
Great Scotish history
I like the story-line and characters that hooked me to end. Good read!
I love anything by Philippa Gregrory
I’ve always been fascinated with the Plantagenets of England and especially how maligned Richard III by the Tudor dynasty…this book provided another view point which was informatve and very thought provoking…
I loved it! I am a big fan of the author & have read quite a few of her books. Great historical interesting read. Characters come alive.
The book was long but interesting. The author sees the main character as strong intelligent and flawed.
Gregory has another winner in this novel. Her characters are totally believable considerig their young ages.
I haven’t read it yet but i don’t wanna i got attracted by the cover
The author manages, in this book as in her others, to put you right there with the characters. You look up from reading, surprised that you aren’t in the queen’s rooms in the castle. She makes the characters real and complex.
Not exactly what I thought it would be. I liked the last three books that Ms. Gregory wrote but this one? UGH. If you are expecting to hear about Catherine of Aragon and Henry’s youngest sister, Mary’s points of view, don’t bother to read this book! This book is all from Margaret’s Tudor (Henry’s older sister) point of view. And Margaret comes off as materialistic, whiny, bratty, and altogether unlikable. Margaret is all about ME ME ME to the point of nausea. However, as she ages and life teaches her some harsh lessons she gets a bit easier to take. I never warmed to her but the one thing this book did was to get me to search out other books about Margaret and see if she was truly as Ms. Gregory writes her. I suspect not but since I haven’t read the other books yet, I will reserve judgment. 🙂 I gave this book 3 stars simply because of the historical content.
Well written. One rarely finds much about Henry VIII’s sister who married into Scotland and this made a very interesting read.
Excellent, as are all of her books.
Not nearly as good as she usually writes. It is hard to believe that anyone could be as self-centered as Margaret was portrayed in this book.
This was a very good read; I’ve ready nearly all of PG’s books. If you enjoy fictional history, pick up one of hers. You are always hooked from Page 1.
A novel perspective on the time of Henry the eighth and his world, seen through the eyes of the noble women , rather than on the men. Very revealing about women’s (lack of ) power and place. Amazing what their views were, in contrast to ours today. Great author; good book.
I love this period of English history which is filled with memorable characters who shaped Europe.