The Virgin's Lover
Registered by k00kaburra of San Jose, California USA on 4/14/2006
This book is in a Controlled Release!
This book is in a Controlled Release!
1 journaler for this copy...
Swapped with Pinkbug for Alice in Wonderland, I believe.
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Amazon.com: Bestseller Gregory captivates again with this expertly crafted historical about the beautiful young Virgin Queen, portrayed as a narcissistic, neurotic home-wrecker. As in her previous novels about Tudor England (The Queen's Fool, etc.), Gregory amasses a wealth of colorful period detail to depict the shaky first days of Elizabeth I's reign. The year is 1558, an especially dangerous time for the nation: no bishop will coronate Henry VIII's Protestant daughter, the treasury is bankrupt, the army is unpaid and demoralized. Meanwhile, the French are occupying Scotland and threatening to install "that woman"—Mary, Queen of Scots—on the throne. Ignoring the matrimonial advice of pragmatic Secretary of State William Cecil, the 25-year-old Elizabeth persists in stringing along Europe's most eligible bachelors, including King Philip of Spain and the Hapsburg archduke Ferdinand. It's no secret why: she's fallen for her "dark, saturnine" master of horse, Sir Robert Dudley, whose traitorous family history and marriage to the privately Catholic Amy make him an unsuitable consort. Gregory deftly depicts this love triangle as both larger than life and all too familiar; all three characters are sympathetic without being likable, particularly the arch-mistress Elizabeth, who pouts, throws tantrums, connives and betrays with queenly impunity. After a while the plot stagnates, as the lovers flaunt their emotions in the face of repetitious arguments from Amy, Cecil and various other scandalized members of the court. But readers addicted to Gregory's intelligent, well-researched tales of intrigue and romance will be enthralled, right down to the teasingly tragic ending.
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Amazon.com: Bestseller Gregory captivates again with this expertly crafted historical about the beautiful young Virgin Queen, portrayed as a narcissistic, neurotic home-wrecker. As in her previous novels about Tudor England (The Queen's Fool, etc.), Gregory amasses a wealth of colorful period detail to depict the shaky first days of Elizabeth I's reign. The year is 1558, an especially dangerous time for the nation: no bishop will coronate Henry VIII's Protestant daughter, the treasury is bankrupt, the army is unpaid and demoralized. Meanwhile, the French are occupying Scotland and threatening to install "that woman"—Mary, Queen of Scots—on the throne. Ignoring the matrimonial advice of pragmatic Secretary of State William Cecil, the 25-year-old Elizabeth persists in stringing along Europe's most eligible bachelors, including King Philip of Spain and the Hapsburg archduke Ferdinand. It's no secret why: she's fallen for her "dark, saturnine" master of horse, Sir Robert Dudley, whose traitorous family history and marriage to the privately Catholic Amy make him an unsuitable consort. Gregory deftly depicts this love triangle as both larger than life and all too familiar; all three characters are sympathetic without being likable, particularly the arch-mistress Elizabeth, who pouts, throws tantrums, connives and betrays with queenly impunity. After a while the plot stagnates, as the lovers flaunt their emotions in the face of repetitious arguments from Amy, Cecil and various other scandalized members of the court. But readers addicted to Gregory's intelligent, well-researched tales of intrigue and romance will be enthralled, right down to the teasingly tragic ending.
I liked this book, but did not love it. Gregory's style of writing still draws you in and wraps the story around you, but these characters are utterly unlikeable. Dudley is a cad, a man-whore, who thinks only of power and ambition and does whatever necessary to grab it. He may have truly loved both of his 'wives' but he certainly loved himself more.
Elizabeth - the amazing Queen Elizabeth, beloved monarch of English history - is such a brat. She whines, she complains, and she can't make a single decision on her own. I know that ruling a country is certainly difficult, and she certainly must've struggled in those first few years, but frankly she seemed to inherit the worst from both of her parents.
Amy, Dudley's first wife, is just pathetic. She lives and breathes for her husband and acts like a little puppy around him. It's quite sickening. She only wants a small home and a happy family, and I truly pity her that she never gets it, but her absolutely lack of initiative without Robert is frustrating to the extreme. She and Elizabeth are truly polar opposites; perhaps in the two of them Robert finds himself a whole woman.
Elizabeth - the amazing Queen Elizabeth, beloved monarch of English history - is such a brat. She whines, she complains, and she can't make a single decision on her own. I know that ruling a country is certainly difficult, and she certainly must've struggled in those first few years, but frankly she seemed to inherit the worst from both of her parents.
Amy, Dudley's first wife, is just pathetic. She lives and breathes for her husband and acts like a little puppy around him. It's quite sickening. She only wants a small home and a happy family, and I truly pity her that she never gets it, but her absolutely lack of initiative without Robert is frustrating to the extreme. She and Elizabeth are truly polar opposites; perhaps in the two of them Robert finds himself a whole woman.
Lending to my sidekick Jeannie; we saw Philippa Gregory speak up in San Rafael about a week ago and now Jeans wants to try out her books.
