One of my favorite historical fiction writers is Phillipa Gregory. She has a series of books set in the tudor Courts of England. George Martin's Westeros has nothing on the Tudors and their courtiers.
The Other Bolyen Girl is the story of Henry VIII and how he went from his fiorst queen, Katherine, to his ssecond queen, Anne. It is told from the eyes of Anne Boleyn's sister, Mary - who had been the king's mistress before her sister became his wife.
The Queen's Fool tells the story of Edward, Henry's son, and then that of his cousin Jane Grey and then that of his older half-sister, Mary. It is told through the eyes of a "holy fool" - a girl with secrest Jewish roots (her family had fled Spain) who has visions of the future.
The Virgin's Lover tells the story of the young Queen Elizabeth I and her dangerous lover, her beloved Robin. She walka a tightrope between keeping her power and keeping her lover.
Now I have read the fourth book, The Constant Princess. It goes back in time to the court of Henry VII, and the arrival of Katherine of Aragon, who is to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales. Katherine was born on one of the campaigns of her parents, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. She grew up in the Alhambra Palace, just taken from the Moors on the power of a promise her parents couldn;t wait to break. England is a backwards and ignorant place to her. She is arrogant, confident that she is special to God just like her mother before her, and ambitious beyond anything. Her life in England becomes interesting with the death of her first husband, and she eventually has to realize many things about herself and about her parents before she becomes likable.
A fifth book, The Boleyn Inheritance, which will be about Henry VIII's fourth and fifth queens, will be out next month. ******************************************************
Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell <i></i>
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