Blog Tour ~ The Woman in the Shadows by Carol McGrath

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's penultimate stop on 

The Woman in the Shadows Blog Tour

Hello Carol, I am delighted to welcome you to Jaffareadstoo today...

Hello Jo. You ask why I have chosen to tell Elizabeth Cromwell’s story and if I found out anything surprising about Elizabeth or about Tudor women.

I have always been fascinated by stories that have not yet been told by writers of historical fiction. I am interested in female perspectives on Historical events and personalities. Historical women are shadowy. Unless a woman was very important they remain, during this period, unrecorded. Of course, when you are writing Historical Fiction about lesser known personalities, you may have no idea about how your protagonist looked or what she said or thought and a writer must use her imagination to put flesh on the historical skeleton.

I had several objectives in this novel. I found Thomas Cromwell intriguing and I wondered if looking at his marriage could permit a sideways glance at his life before he rose to power.  I hoped to show him as a family man. What was it like to be married to such a man? Moreover, writing about Elizabeth has permitted me to focus on the Tudor world as it might have been for a Tudor woman from the wealthy merchant class. It is recorded fact that Elizabeth’s father was involved in the cloth trade. It is historical fact that she had been a young widow before her marriage to Thomas Cromwell. I was curious as to why she was widowed so young. Since historians really do not know, that part of my investigation and story line permitted me, as a writer of Historical Fiction, plausible speculation.

Therefore, for me as a novelist, the first surprising discovery about Elizabeth concerns her first marriage to Tom Williams. I strongly suspected that his family, like hers, was connected with the cloth industry. However, he also was recorded as having been Yeoman of the Guard. That fact could have been a misinterpretation as it is just a mention and the word ‘yeoman’ can suggest ‘freeman’. I went with the former, exploring why he might have died and why, considering she had three children with Thomas Cromwell, she had none with her first husband. Of course, there could be alternative answers to this query.

Tudor women often inherited husband’s businesses and could live lives independent of men. Many acquired success and wealth. They employed apprentices and participated in gilds where they often faced male jealousy, and could not take on high office within the gild. I discovered enough evidence to suggest that Thomas Cromwell trusted family and close friends in the city. They were humanists who pursued new learning. Elizabeth was highly respected by his friends. I suspect that she, too, had had an education. Women had enough learning to at least manage household accounts. The Cromwells accumulated wealth and by 1523/4 had purchased a home in a choice neighbourhood beside The Austin Friary.  

Researching and writing this story involved an investigation that yielded many intriguing and fascinating discoveries. I hope your readers enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Accent Press
4 August 2017

When beautiful cloth merchant's daughter Elizabeth Williams is widowed at the age of twenty-two, she is determined to make herself a success in the business she has learned from her father. But there are those who oppose a woman making her own way in the world, and soon Elizabeth realises she may have some powerful enemies - enemies who also know the truth about her late husband..

Security and happiness comes when Elizabeth is introduced to kindly, ambitious merchant turned lawyer, Thomas Cromwell. Their marriage is one based on mutual love and respect...but it isn't always easy being the wife of an influential, headstrong man in Henry VIII s London. The city is filled with ruthless people and strange delights and Elizabeth realises she must adjust to the life she has chosen...or risk losing everything.

Thank you to Jaffa Reads Too for hosting this hop on my Blog Tour for The Woman in the Shadows.

About the Author

Carol McGrath has an MA in Creative Writing from The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast, followed by an MPhil in Creative Writing from University of London. The Handfasted Wife, first in a trilogy about the royal women of 1066 was shortlisted for the RoNAs in 2014. The Swan-Daughter and The Betrothed Sister complete this best-selling trilogy. The Woman in the Shadows, a novel that considers Henry VIII’s statesman, Thomas Cromwell, through the eyes of Elizabeth his wife, will be published on August 4th, 2017. Carol is working on a new medieval Trilogy, The Rose Trilogy, set in the High Middle Ages.  It subject matter is three linked medieval queens, sometimes considered ‘She Wolves’. She speaks at events and conferences on the subject of medieval women, writing Historical Fiction, The Bayeux Tapestry, and Fabrics, Tapestry and Embroidery as incorporated into fiction. Carol was the co-ordinator of the Historical Novels Association Conference, Oxford in September 2016 and reviews for the HNS.  

Find Carol on the following :

https://www.facebook.com/daughtersofhastings

http://scribbling-inthemargins.blogspot.gr/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Follow me on Twitter @carolmcgrath

http://pinterest.com/carol0275/

www.carolcmcgrath.co.uk

Huge thanks to the author for inviting me to be part of this blog tour and to Kate at Accent Press for my copy of The Woman in the Shadows.

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Review ~ Anne Boleyn:A King's Obsession by Alison Weir..

**Happy Publication Day**


18th May 2017

Headline
May 18th 2017

What's it all about..

Anne Boleyn. The second of Henry's Queens. Her story. History tells us why she died. This powerful novel shows her as she lived.

What did I think about it..

Alison Weir's second volume in her Six Tudor Queens series starts in 1512 when Anne Boleyn leaves her childhood home at Hever Castle to take up a position as fille d’honeur to the Archduchess Margaret of Austria. In the glittering courts of Burgundy and France, Anne discovers that charm, wit and intelligence will be her saving grace, and as she grows to young adulthood, it becomes obvious that Anne's ambition will take her in a very different direction than that of her older sister, Mary.

Beautifully written and meticulously researched, the author puts very human emotion at the heart of Anne’s life story. Anne’s early relationships with her family, her sister Mary in particular, is explored in detail, as is her later adult association with Henry Percy and Thomas Wyatt. All are contrasted against the wider significance of Anne’s burgeoning relationship with King Henry VIII.

The author writes with authority on the Tudor period and instils a real sense of personality into Anne so that you can’t help but be captivated by this young woman whose sparkling personality set the English royal court alight. I think what comes across is the very human face of a young woman who glittered and charmed her way into the affections of a King, a King whose capricious nature would be her very undoing.

After all that has been written about Anne's life you would think that there can't be much new to be revealed. However, in this fictional version of Anne’s life the Henrician court comes alive with all the gossipy intrigue, calculated scheming and deadly manipulations which are so reminiscent of this time in England's chequered history. And even though you know how Anne Boleyn’s story plays out, you can’t help but become completely caught up in her life story, which is so beautifully recreated by this talented writer.

This second volume follows the successful Katherine of Aragon. I can’t wait to see what happens in the third volume when Jane Seymour’s life will be laid bare and held up to scrutiny.

Best Read With ..Gold and jewelled goblets filled with rich, red wine..

About the Author

Find on Facebook

Follow on Twitter @AlisonWeirBooks

Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession is published today by Headline Review 

Amazon

My thanks to Caitlin Raynor at Headline for the opportunity to read and review this book

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Review ~ First of the Tudors by Joanna Hickson

Harper Collins
December 2016

The book blurb..

Jasper Tudor, son of Queen Catherine and her second husband, Owen Tudor, has grown up far from the intrigue of the royal court. But after he and his brother Edmund are summoned to London, their half-brother, King Henry VI, takes a keen interest in their future.

Bestowing Earldoms on them both, Henry also gives them the wardship of the young heiress Margaret Beaufort. Although she is still a child, Jasper becomes devoted to her and is devastated when Henry arranges her betrothal to Edmund.

He seeks solace in his estates and in the arms of Jane Hywel, a young Welsh woman who offers him something more meaningful than a dynastic marriage. But passion turns to jeopardy for them both as the Wars of the Roses wreak havoc on the realm. Loyal brother to a fragile king and his domineering queen, Marguerite of Anjou, Jasper must draw on all his guile and courage to preserve their throne − and the Tudor destiny.

My thoughts about the book..

Living in the shadow of the royal court was both fragile and unpredictable, and for Edmund and Jasper Tudor, the half-brothers to the king of England, their time in the spotlight was dangerous but also the opportunity for great advancement. However, the Tudor brothers find out to their cost that spending time at one of the most capricious court in Europe can be treacherous. The internal politics of the time is well explained as is the relationship between the king and his feisty wife, Queen Margaret of Anjou.

Jasper Tudor has always been something of an enigmatic figure, often overshadowed by the relationship of his older brother Edmund, whose ill-fated marriage to Margaret Beaufort resulted in the birth of Henry Tudor, and yet, Jasper was the one who was charged with the protection of Henry Tudor when things went so badly wrong for the Lancastrians.

I enjoyed the story very much. The author has a nice way of making history very readable and infuses her characters with such warmth that they become very real in the imagination. I liked the way that the major characters were given their own voice thus allowing the different strands of the story to evolve gradually. There is a good sense of history throughout, and time and place is captured perfectly. The inclusion of a romantic element into the story allowed Jasper Tudor to become more of a rounded character and gave an interesting insight into the important Welsh aspect of the Tudor story.

First of the Tudors is the start of a new series of novels by this author, which looks at the continuation of the Tudors, with Henry Tudor’s story to follow in due course.

Best Read With....Chunks of roasted boar and a goblet of fine French wine...

About the author

More about Joanna can be found by clicking here

Find on Facebook 

Follow on Twitter @joannahickson

Read an interview with the author by clicking here

My thanks to Harper Collins for my copy of First of the Tudors

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The author in my spotlight is ...Joanna Hickson

I am delighted to welcome back to the blog 

Joanna Hickson

 Today Joanna is talking to us about her latest historical novel

The First of the Tudors - Published December 2016

Jasper Tudor, son of Queen Catherine and her second husband, Owen Tudor, has grown up far from the intrigue of the royal court. But after he and his brother Edmund are summoned to London, their half-brother, King Henry VI, takes a keen interest in their future.

Bestowing Earldoms on them both, Henry also gives them the wardship of the young heiress Margaret Beaufort. Although she is still a child, Jasper becomes devoted to her and is devastated when Henry arranges her betrothal to Edmund. 

He seeks solace in his estates and in the arms of Jane Hywel, a young Welsh woman who offers him something more meaningful than a dynastic marriage. But passion turns to jeopardy for them both as the Wars of the Roses wreak havoc on the realm. Loyal brother to a fragile king and his domineering queen, Marguerite of Anjou, Jasper must draw on all his guile and courage to preserve their throne – and the Tudor destiny…

Hi Joanna, Jasper Tudor is the main protagonist in First of the Tudors; tell us about him and why you decided to tell his story.

First of the Tudors is not a sequel to my previous novels The Agincourt Bride and The Tudor Bride but it may be seen as a logical development from them. It was always my intention to explore the Tudor dynasty from its very roots and with it, to portray the progression of English history through the fifteenth century and the Wars of the Roses. 

It is an extraordinary fact that the name Tudor was unknown in England before 1450 and yet thirty-five years later there was a man of that name on the English throne. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly a young soldier was enlisted in Lord Hungerford’s retinue for Henry V’s expedition to France in 1415 under the name Owen ap Meredith ap Tudur, naming his father and grandfather in the Welsh patronymic form of identification. Later English scribes shortened the name to Owen Tudor but it might easily have been shortened to Owen Meredith, with historic consequences! Secondly, this same Owen Tudor later became a servant in the household of the child-king Henry VI and well known to his young mother, Queen Catherine de Valois, widow of King Henry V, the celebrated victor of the Battle of Agincourt. So began arguably the most intriguing and romantic ‘misalliance’ of medieval history and one that gave birth to at least four children. Jasper was the second child of this union and the one who was responsible for ensuring the destiny of the Tudor dynasty. Just the name Jasper, unusual and probably unique among the nobility of the time, would have been enough to intrigue me but add that to the dramatic events surrounding his see-saw life, his own clandestine romance and his unswerving loyalty to his unfortunate half-brother King Henry VI and I believe you have an irresistible narrative.

In this novel Jasper spends time in Wales. In researching the book did you walk in his footsteps, to the places he once visited and did you have a favourite place?

I certainly did visit most of the places he frequented but I’m not sure that I could choose one favourite. After his half-brother the king made him Earl of Pembroke, Jasper made a home for himself at Pembroke Castle in the far west of Wales and of course I went there. It is an enormous, sprawling fortress, established soon after the Norman Conquest and developed and extended over the next four hundred years by its various owners, including Jasper himself. History records it as the birthplace of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, and tradition put his birth in a particular tower that is presently named after him. However, I begged to differ for very good reasons, which you will find in the novel and which may have turned out to be justified. I am saying no more for fear of spoilers!

In contrast a significant portion of the first part of the novel takes place on a farm situated on the shores of Tremadog Bay, just north of present-day Barmouth and while there is a lovely old mansion called Cors-y-Gedol on the site of this farm today, I used another, older farmhouse up in Snowdonia called Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant as the blueprint for my setting. It belongs to the National Trust now so can be visited by the general public and gives a really good idea of the harsh life and unremitting toil of the farming families of that time. If I had to I would probably cite this as my favourite and most inspirational place on my Jasper research list.

I enjoyed reading of Jasper’s connection with his sister-in-law, Margaret Beaufort, but his relationship with Jane Hywel is quite special. How did you bring her character to life with so little documented information about her?

This is where my preferred description of what I write as ‘creative history’ rather than ‘historical fiction’ comes into play. I do extensive research on the characters I choose to bring to life but some of them require more creation than others! There is no doubt that a woman called Jane Hywel did exist and was well known to Margaret Beaufort, who employed her to run the nursery of her baby grandson Prince Henry, later to become King Henry VIII. From that miniscule mention in a historical source however I have created a whole and, I hope, believable character in Jane (or Sian), distantly related to Jasper through her father Hywel Fychan, another minor character only briefly mentioned in history, and in The Tudor Bride, as a Welsh cousin brought into Queen Catherine’s household by Owen Tudor. I do this because I don’t want to concentrate entirely on the court and nobility but there is little record of the actions of commoners in historical sources, for the very good reason that they were mostly illiterate and therefore left no written material. I want all medieval life to be in my novels, not just the part of it that we glean from letters, chronicles and court and parliamentary rolls.

Mixing historical fact with fiction must be quite a challenge. How do you get the balance right without compromising on authenticity?

If I do get the balance right it’s because I try to put myself in the positions in which I put my characters. I guess that’s what all writers do, whether they’re writing contemporary or historical fiction. Of course for the latter it means you must immerse yourself in the life of the times in which your tale is set and that means making sure that you know the differences between life as it was led then and as we lead it now. So in my imagination I spend a lot of time in the fifteenth century, dressing as they do, eating as they do and thinking as they do, whether they be nobles or nobodies. It’s fun when the characters take you over and tell you what they would do next in the situation you have put them in!

Whilst you are writing you must live with your characters.

 Yes. (See above!)

How do you feel about them when the book is finished?

 Bereft – that’s why I keep dragging back characters from my previous books into those that follow.

Are they what you expected them to be?

No because they keep going in directions I didn’t expect them too and improving the story in the process. And do you have a favourite character? I think it’s always the one I am writing about at the time and as I am continuing the Tudor story in my next novel I can stay with my present favourite for a while, which is Jasper of course! Although another character is beginning to take over as I progress through the century... No prizes for guessing who that is! Also I think I will always love Mette, the narrator of my first two novels – and readers will soon find that she makes a guest appearance in First of the Tudors.

What can we expect next from you?

See the previous answer. More Tudors, more lives and more drama of the 15thC.

More about Joanna can be found by clicking here

Find on Facebook 

Follow on Twitter @joannahickson

My thoughts about First of the Tudors..can be found by clicking here

My thanks to Joanna for her insightful answers to my questions. Joanna, it's been a pleasure to have you spend time with us today.

Thanks also to Jaime at Harper Collins for her help with this interview.

~***~

Review ~ Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen by Alison Weir

Headline Review
5 May 2016

Six Tudor Queens #1

History tells us how she died. This captivating novel shows us how she lived.

Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen by bestselling historian Alison Weir, author of The Lost Tudor Princess, is the first in a spellbinding six novel series about Henry VIII’s Queens. Alison Weir lets you walk in Katherine’s footsteps and so understand this extraordinary woman as never before. History tells us how Katherine died; this captivating novel shows us how she lived.

I've read fictional stories about the Tudors since I was in my early teens,always finding something fascinating about the plots and intrigues of their lives, and none more so than Katherine of Aragon who landed in England in 1501 betrothed to marry Prince Arthur, the heir to the Tudor crown. Of course, we later know more about her marriage to Henry VIII,and the trials and tribulations of her acrimonious divorce, following Henry's tumultuous affair with Anne Boleyn.

As always, Alison Weir has given us a comprehensive look at the life of this fascinating Tudor Queen. For those who are familiar with the history of the Tudors there will be no surprises in the content of the story , as it's been told so many times, but there is no doubt that this is a very good fictional version, filled, as always, with the intrigue and machinations which we have come to expect from this exciting time in English history.

The story is very readable and spans the story of Katherine's life from 1501 when she landed in Plymouth, through to her death at Kimbolton Castle in January, 1536. There is much detail about her early marriage to Arthur, her young widowhood and her later relationship with Henry, with all the heartbreak and sadness of frequent miscarriages, all played out against the backdrop of the Tudor court, with its salacious gossip and devilish intrigue. It's far too easy to dismiss Katherine, as she is so often overshadowed by her sexier, and rather more tragic love rival, Anne Boleyn, and yet, it must not be forgotten that Katherine was such a valuable asset to England during the important early years of Henry's reign. 

The book is hefty coming in at over 550 pages, so it's not something to be read in a rush, but more to be savored slowly in order to appreciate the fine attention to detail. The way that Katherine comes alive on the page is credit to the author who has such a breadth of knowledge about this Tudor period that it's a real pleasure to read her fictional work.


This is the first of six historical novels planned which will each detail one of Henry's six Queens. Anne Boleyn is next, I can't wait !



Best Read with...Spiced wine, wafers and candied plums...



About the author

Visit the author's Website
Twitter @AlisonWeirBooks

Amazon UK

My thanks to Caitlin Raynor at Headline for my review copy of this book.

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Review ~ The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory

Simon & Schuster
August 2015

In The Taming of the Queen, Philippa Gregory succeeds in bringing the latter years of the Henrician court to vibrant life. Kateryn is depicted as a fiercely intelligent woman, deeply devout, with a real sense of family, offering a safe and loving pair of hands to Henry's bewildered children. On the other hand, Henry is portrayed as an irascible, gargantuan monster, who manipulates and controls everyone around him, and whose psychopathic tendencies are all too often disguised under a mask of benign indifference. I felt huge sympathy for Kateryn, to be at the whim and mercy of such an irritable monster, and no matter how disguised or how feted with fine clothes and rich jewels, she must have been, during her four years with Henry, constantly in fear of her life. I can’t begin to image how scary life at court must have been for her, to live alongside Henry, as she did, and to share in his daily life, and to be completely at his mercy.

As always, with a new Philippa Gregory novel, I want to read until my eyes ache and I always have a real reluctance to put the story down until it is finished. Everything is well explained, the places and its people are so beautifully depicted that Tudor life really does come gloriously alive. I think the author has done an excellent job in bringing Kateryn's precarious position to life and her abiding love for Thomas Seymour is sensitively handled.  Kateryn's religious fervour comes across well and it's terrifying to imagine just how fine a line she crossed when she attempted to translate God's word into English, when to do so, however discreetly, was tantamount to being branded a heretic. The aging Henry doesn’t come across as having any redeemable qualities and to be subjected to the whims and fancies of such a tyrant must have been terrifying for anyone who ever crossed him.

The Taming of the Queen is beautifully written and works exceptionally well as standalone historical fiction. It also forms a really good continuation of this author’s very successful Tudor Court series of historical novels.

About the Author

Website

Facebook

Twitter @PhilippaGBooks

Amazon UK
Amazon.com

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Review ~ Elizabeth I and her Circle by Susan Doran

Oxford University Press
June 2015

The inner circle of courtiers who surrounded Elizabeth I during her momentous reign is the focus of this beautifully written book, which aims to put the personal into the myth and legend which all too often surrounds this charismatic Queen of England.

Not only does the book look at Elizabeth's personal relationships with her limited family, namely her father and elder sister, but it also shines the spotlight on the interactions Elizabeth had with those courtiers who have come to symbolise the first Elizabethan age, particularly the brightest and best of her statesmen, men like Burghley and Walsingham and adventurers like Raleigh, whose far reaching expertise ensured the overriding success of Gloriana.  The well documented effect that Elizabeth had on certain male courtiers is described in some detail, but perhaps lesser known and beautifully highlighted, is the influence that Elizabeth had on the women of her court, particularly those she treated as maid-servants.

If you enjoy Tudor history and want to add another well written and easily readable version of the Elizabethan age to your collection then this book would be a welcome addition to any bookshelf.

My thanks to NetGalley and Oxford University Press for my copy of this book.

~***~

Review ~ Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle

Penguin
29th January 2015

** Out  January 29th in Paperback and eBook**

In Sisters of Treason, the author weaves together historical fact and fiction and brings to life the story of the enigmatic Grey sisters, who together with their more tragic sister, Jane, were forced to live within the ominous shadow of the Tudor crown, and who were destined to leave their own mark on Tudor history. 

In the aftermath of the execution of Lady Jane Grey, Mary Tudor’s court is a scheming hive of plot, counter-plot and malice, and for the Grey sisters keeping close to the Queen is not a comfortable arrangement. However, keeping your enemies close is a theme which will reverberate throughout the reigns of both Tudor queens.

Told in the combined voices of sisters, Katherine and Mary Grey, and also of Levina Teerlinc who is a court painter, we are given a unique insight into just what life was like at the centre of Tudor politics, and of how both Katherine and Mary were always kept within a hair’s breadth of the Tudor crown. Both sisters lived a tragic life which is sensitively and emotionally explored in this novel which covers both the reigns of ‘Bloody Mary’, and her more charismatic, but no less terrifying sister, Elizabeth.

There is no doubt that this new voice in historical fiction really knows how to bring the royal court alive in a believable and realistic way. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, Sisters of Treason, abounds with danger and political skulduggery. It offers a unique insight into a royal court where being a potential Tudor heir and female was fraught with danger, and which, ultimately would have no happy ending for any of the trio of Grey sisters.

I am completely captivated by the strength of historical detail in Sisters of Treason. The sheer readability of this novel takes you back in time and leaves you feeling that you are walking the same cramped corridors of power, to a place where the whisper of candle smoke reminds you that deadly and uncompromising danger is always just a heartbeat away.

I am already eagerly awaiting Elizabeth Fremantle’s next historical novel 

 Watch the Lady is due to be published in June 2015.

About the Author

Elizabeth Fremantle holds a first in English and an MA in creative Writing from Birkbeck. As a Fashion Editor she has contributed to various publications including Vogue, Elle,Vanity Fair and the Erotic Review. Sisters of Treason is her second book following on from Queen’s Gambit(2013).

**Queen’s Gambit has been selected as a World Book Night 2015 title**

My thanks to Francesca Russell at Penguin UK for my copy of this book.

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Review ~ Lamentation by C J Sansom

Shardlake Book 6

PanMacmillan
2014

The latter days of the reign of Henry VIII are overshadowed by political and religious strife. No one who has any religious conviction feels safe to worship any religion other than that which is dictated by the King. For Queen Catherine Parr, Henry’s last stoical Protestant Queen, there are forces at work who would like to see nothing more than her downfall. When the Queen’s highly controversial confessional book goes missing, Shardlake is enlisted to track down the book on the pretext of looking for a missing jewel. Should anyone discover the real reason for Shardlake’s investigation, then the Queen, and all who are associated with her will be brought down.

Sansom writes about the Tudor age with great conviction, and allows Shardlake, as always, to take centre stage. The superb attention to detail, from the closeted elegance of the Tudor Court, through to the raggle-taggle print works in Paternoster Row, takes the reader on a journey through the vagaries of life in London during 1546. The noise, the stink, the sheer perversity of living alongside cut purses and murderers, as well as the stirrings of religious mania gives Shardlake one of his most complicated investigations. It’s a real joy to watch the pernickety lawyer and his dastardly sidekick, Jack Barak, go about solving such a convoluted murder mystery.

It’s a hefty read, well over 600 pages, filled with the usual subplots, red herrings and dangerous subterfuges, and if I have to be a little bit picky, I would say that its about 200 pages overlong, however, having said that, the story flows well; the political and religious turmoil is written about with great authority and the portrait painted of the failing Henry VIII, is both poignant and terrifying in equal measure.

I can’t see any time soon when Sansom’s legions of fans don’t demand another Shardlake adventure. The ending of this one certainly lends itself to a continuation and  I for one, can’t wait to see where Shardlake's story goes next.

About the Author

Review ~ Tudor: The Family Story 1437- 1603 by Leanda De Lisle

8 October 2013
Perseus Books Group,Public Affairs Books

I love all things Tudor and despite having many historical factual books about the Tudors already sitting on my bookshelf, there is always room for one more.

Leanda De Lisle has created a very readable account of this fascinating family and provides the facts in an easy to understand, and very enjoyable manner. The founding of this tumultuous dynasty was fraught with danger and political upheaval, all of which is expertly explored.

The story starts in 1437, with the contentious marriage between Owen Tudor and Katherine de Valois, the widow of Henry V, and continues in easily divided sections through the subsequent Tudor reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. The book also explores the relationships these monarchs had with their Plantagenet and Stuart cousins ,which provides a more subtle family portrait rather than a gloomy historical documentary.

Beautifully researched and annotated, the book succeeds in portraying the Tudors as living breathing people, and despite the inherent cruelty of the era, in which they lived; the Tudor family are successfully shown as human beings with faults and foibles, and who were doing the best they could to succeed in a turbulent world.

If you are familiar with the Tudors then this book will not offer up any startling new evidence, but as an aide memoir it works really well, especially if like me you devour Tudor fiction.

My thanks to NetGalley and Perseus Books Group and Public Affairs Books

Review - A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir

My thanks to Random House Group and Ballantine Books for a review copy in advance of the US 

Publication

2 October 2012

Dangerous Inheritance

by 

Alison Weir

Ballantine -October 2 2012

In A Dangerous Inheritance, Alison Weir brings to life both the Tudor era, and the last of the Plantagenets, and explores the myth surrounding Richard III’s involvement in the disappearance of the young Plantagenet princes. Her use of two female protagonists, eighty years apart, allows the story to evolve, not just as a royal commentary, but also as an insight into scandalous political intrigue. Cleverly blending fact with fiction, Weir intertwines the story of Lady Katherine Grey, sister to the infamous Lady Jane Grey, with the story of Lady Katherine Plantagenet, the illegitimate daughter of Richard III. The story of the ‘princes in the tower’ has long been the subject of divided historical debate; it’s interesting therefore to have a fictional slant on the story told from two different female perspectives. For the purposes of A Dangerous Inheritance, Katherine Plantagenet has the benefit of having lived through the last of the turbulent Plantagenet dynasty, and by involving her with the tragic story of Lady Katherine Grey; it allows the introduction of a supernatural element linking the two women, and the clever blending of two historical time frames.

As always Weir’s research is impeccable, her ability to weave historical magic is evident in the way she controls the narrative, and she cleverly blends fiction, with factual historical accuracy. Although the story is enjoyable to read a standalone novel, there is some continuation of the story started in Weir’s previous book, Innocent Traitor.


A Dangerous Inheritance is published in the UK by Hutchinson 21 June 2012

Friday Recommends...

Friday again, and it's time for my choice of book for Friday recommends...

This is an exciting book blog hop that book bloggers can take part in once a week to share with their followers, the books that they most recommend reading!

The rules for Friday Recommends are:

Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
Pick a book that you've read, and have enjoyed enough to recommend to other readers. It can be a book you've read recently, or a book you read years ago - it's up to you - but make sure you tell us why you love the book (like a mini review). You make the post as long or as short as you like.
Visit the other blogs and enjoy!




My Friday Recommended Read

 is

The Winter King : The Dawn Of Tudor England  

by 

Thomas Penn

Allen Lane (29 Sep 2011)

My 5 ***** Review

The young Earl of Richmond landed at Milford Haven in June 1485, with an entourage of loyal supporters. Two months later in a battle of hope over adversity, the house of Tudor conquered the last of the Plantagenets in the Battle of Bosworth field. Richard III, erstwhile King of England, lay dead and defeated, and the dawn of the Tudor age rose from the ashes of despair.

This easily readable factual account of the latter years of Henry VII's reign sheds light on this enigmatic King who is so often overshadowed by his successor ,Henry VIII. Seen by many as a Machiavellian figure, it's easy to assume that Henry VII was merely the supporting act before the glitter and glamour of his son. However,without the fortitude and control of this slight and unassuming monarch,the dawn of the Tudor age would have crumbled before it had really got started.

The author Thomas Penn has managed to convey the man behind the myth, and has created a sympathetic account of the Tudor search for stability and recognition. The narrative is never cumbersome, as the book can be read quite easily without the need for an extensive bibliography running alongside.

The impeccable research and fine attention to detail, make this book an ideal aide memoir if you enjoy historical novels set during this early part of the Tudor age. Alternatively, it is enjoyable as a stand alone read, and is an accomplished debut by a knowledgeable historian.