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ClareR (5827 KP) rated Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen in Books

May 3, 2018  
Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen
Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen
Alison Weir | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
10
8.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Tudor England at it's best!
Everyone knows the stories of Henry VIII and his six wives, don't they? Jane Seymour always seems to be the quietest, almost childlike, always doing as she's told. This novel paints a very different picture of her. She is a young woman of her time: obedient to her parents and the males in her family, religious, and ready to do her part as a woman (and that means bearing children!).
This novel looks at how she probably wasn't as innocent as we have always been led to believe. In all honesty, she lived at court - a place where family loyalties and wealth were above all else in importance: she couldn't afford to be an innocent.
I like the Jane that Weir portrays. She's resilient and cares deeply about her family and HER Queen (Katherine of Aragon). I really liked this book and all of the courtly intrigues: Tudor England has always fascinated me. It was such a sad end for Jane, and the authors extended notes at the end really explained well what she and some experts thought had really happened to her and why she died (heres a clue: it wasn't childbirth). I will be going back to the first two books in this series to read about Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn in preparation for Katherine Howard (wife #4 - and that should be a good one!!).
  
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ClareR (5827 KP) rated Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen in Books

Jun 3, 2024  
Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen
Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen
Nicola Tallis | 2024 | History & Politics
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen by Nicola Tallis is such an interesting non-fiction account of Elizabeth’s life: from her mother, Anne Boleyn meeting Henry VIII, to the day she succeeds to the throne. In those intervening years, Elizabeth is pronounced a bastard after the execution of her mother, is predated on by her stepmothers husband, is accused of trying to topple her sister Mary from the throne, is imprisoned in the Tower and other great houses - as long as she is out of Mary’s way. She is spied on and may well have really been involved in plots against her sister.

Elizabeth was far too clever to be caught, and that comes across really clearly. She was her parent’s daughter: clever, resilient and she knew the best people to have around her. These personality traits and the things that happened to her, formed the young woman and queen she would later be.

Nicola Tallis read through, and included, a lot of Elizabeth’s personal correspondence. It must have been exhausting for Elizabeth. She was constantly under suspicion of treason. She may well have been though, and she certainly didn’t conform wholeheartedly to Catholicism as Mary wanted her to.

This was such a fascinating read - and I’m notoriously picky with non-fiction. I often find it dry and hard to concentrate on, but not with Young Elizabeth. It was riveting, and held my attention from start to finish!