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The Queen's Fool - Philippa Gregory
The Queen's Fool
by: (author)
2.80 25
The bitter enmity between Elizabeth the First and Mary Tudor, the daughters of Henry VIII (not to mention the conflict between their mothers Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon) makes the squabbles between modern-day royals seem small beer indeed. This is particularly clear after reading... show more
The bitter enmity between Elizabeth the First and Mary Tudor, the daughters of Henry VIII (not to mention the conflict between their mothers Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon) makes the squabbles between modern-day royals seem small beer indeed. This is particularly clear after reading something as enjoyable as Philippa Gregory's The Queen's Fool, which treats the period and its turbulent sweep with an almost operatic grandeur. In The Other Boleyn Girl, Gregory delivered a tremendous popular success and lifted this kind of popular historical writing from the realms of romantic fiction to something rich in authentic drama and convincing historical verisimilitude. Mary and Elizabeth, the two young princesses, have a common goal: to be Queen of England. To achieve this, they need both to win the love of the people and learn how to negotiate dangerous political pitfalls. Gregory recreates this era with tremendous colour, and she makes the court an enticing but danger-fraught place. Into this setting comes the eponymous fool, the youthful Hannah, who (despite her air of guileless religiousness) is not naive. She soon finds herself having to deal with the beguiling but treacherous Robert Dudley. Dispatched to report on Princess Mary, Hannah discovers in her a passionate religious conviction (to return England to the rule of Rome and its pope) that will have fatal consequences. From Tolstoy's War and Peace onwards, historical novelists have set fictitious characters among real-life personages with mixed success; the author's creations can often pale beside the historical figures. That is emphatically not the case here, and Gregory ensures that all her characters have a full and teeming life. Expect a major movie: something as colourful and exuberant as The Queen's Fool is a natural for screen adaptation. --Barry Forshaw
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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9780007166596 (0007166591)
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages no: 400
Edition language: English
Series: The Tudor Court (#4)
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Community Reviews
Malin
Malin rated it
4.0 #CBR6 Book 137: The Queen´s Fool by Philippa Gregory
Young Jewish girl Hannah Verde flees the Inquisition in Spain with her father after her mother is burned for heresy. They travel through Europe to England, calling themselves "Green" and making a new life for themselves as loyal Christians. Hannah´s father has a printing press and soon his skilled w...
notemily
notemily rated it
I've been reading a lot of historical novels lately, and I quite enjoyed this one. While it has the familiar backdrop of Tudor England, with all the drama and heartbreak and beheadings you'd expect, the addition of an original character as the narrator gives the story new life. As a secret Jew prete...
kcwbc
kcwbc rated it
1.0 The Queen's Fool: A Novel (Boleyn)
So far I've really struggled to read this book. I don't like the main character. I find her very irritating and the story is really slow.UpdateI've totally given up on this book. I was unimpressed with the main character. She was inconsistent and even when I skipped ahead I couldn't connect with her...
Bonnie
Bonnie rated it
4.0 The Queen's Fool
It took me a while to read this novel and even longer to really get into it. Overall though I enjoyed the story and am still a huge fan of Philippa Gregory. :)
The Night Owl
The Night Owl rated it
2 1/2
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