Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory

Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory
The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels #8
556 pages / 21 hrs, 9 mins

"As sisters they share an everlasting bond; As queens they can break each other's hearts...The three sisters will become 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."  --from the publisher

Gregory tells the story from Margaret's point of view and fills in the historical account with possible thoughts and feelings she may have experienced.  This is the first I've read of the series and the subject matter doesn't interest me much.  However, the writing is exceptional and so was the reader of the audio version.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

                                   The White Queen by Philippa Gregory, 464 pages

Elizabeth Woodville is a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition. Her mother is Jacquetta, also known as the mystical lady of the rivers, and she is even more determined to bring power and wealth to the family line. While riding in the woods one day, Elizabeth captures the attentions of the newly crowned King Edward IV and, despite her common upbringing, marries him in secret. 

When she is raised up to be his queen, the English court is outraged, but Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for her family’s dominance. Yet despite her best efforts, and even with the help of her mother’s powers, her two sons become pawns in a famous unsolved mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the lost princes in the Tower of London.

In this dazzling account of the deadly Wars of the Roses, brother turns on brother to win the ultimate prize: the throne of England.

*My curiosity was piqued when I saw the preview for the new miniseries The Red Queen, so I decided to try the first in the series. The White Queen was really enjoyable. I don't know much about Elizabethan times, so it was very interesting!

The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory

The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory --- 450 pages including Author's Note and Bibliography.

The final volume in the Tudor Court Series tells the story of Henry VIII's sixth and final wife, Kateryn Parr. The twice-widowed daughter of a northern knight, Kateryn is ordered to put off her mourning and attend the court, where the King announces his intention of marrying her.  Kateryn had hoped to marry Thomas Seymour, one of the brothers of the late Queen Jane, but both she and Thomas understand their lives will be forfeit if the King ever hears even a hint of their affair.

Kateryn, a woman with strong religious convictions, does her best to be a good wife to her aging and devious husband, a good mother to the king's three motherless children, and a good queen to the people who have endured Henry's increasingly tyrannical rule.  She convinces herself that her devotion has secured the King's affection and respect. It is a terrible shock to discover that no one, not even his wife --- especially his wife --- should rely on Henry for anything at all, ever.

An  mix of historical fact and true confessions-style fiction.

Click HERE to read a review from the UK Telegraph.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus Review.

Click HERE to read a review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read a review from the Historical Novel Society web site.

Click HERE for a video Q&A with the author from Amazon.com.

The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory

The King's Curse: The Cousins' War, Volume Six by Philippa Gregory --- 612 pages with Author's Note and Bibliography.

Philippa Gregory has retold the oft-told tale of the War of the Roses and the emergence of the Tudor dynasty through her Cousins' War series. Each volume is narrated by one of the principal women involved. Overall they present the viewpoint of the Plantagenets, whose internecine feuds eventually lost the crown to the cunning schemes of Margaret Beaufort and her son, Henry Tudor.

In an effort to mend the country and secure his hold on the throne, Henry Tudor married the York princess Elizabeth, whose two young brothers had disappeared into the Tower of London when their uncle Richard II usurped the throne. The "Little Princes in the Tower" were never seen alive again. But their disappearance and presumed death cast a shadow over the new Tudor regime that continued to roil the peace of the realm. Henry VII was never easy on his throne, and the early death of his eldest son and heir, Prince Arthur, was a devastating blow. His younger son, Henry, was charming but willful and jealous of Arthur's preferment over himself.

The King's Curse tells the sad end of the Plantagenets in the person of Margaret Plantagenet, first cousin of Elizabeth of York. Over the course of her long life, Margaret's fortunes rise and fall and rise and fall again, dependent upon the good will or paranoia of Henry VIII.

As several reviewers have noted, this book chillingly portrays how Henry VIII began his reign, a young man of brilliant promise and immense popularity that lasted for twenty years, then insidiously metamorphosed into a brutal, malicious tyrant who destroyed everyone he touched.

In the book the curse is a witch's curse that predicts the death of sons and the end of the Tudor line. In her Author's Note Gregory cites recent medical speculation that a genetic defect passed through the maternal line to Henry VIII could have been responsible for both the deaths of so many of his children by Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, and his own mental and physical deterioration over time.

Click HERE for a British review of The King's Curse; click HERE for an American review.