Philippa Gregory - The Other Queen

Biographers often neglect the captive years of Mary, Queen of Scots, who trusted Queen Elizabeth's promise of sanctuary when she fled from rebels in Scotland and then found herself imprisoned as the "guest" of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and his indominable wife, Bess of Hardwick.

The newly married couple welcome the doomed queen into their home, certain that serving as her hosts and jailers will bring them an advantage in the cutthroat world of the Elizabethan court. To their horror, they find that the task will bankrupt them, and as their home becomes the epicenter of intrigue and rebellion against Elizabeth, their loyalty to each other and to their sovereign comes into question.
If Mary succeeds in seducing the earl into her own web of treachery and treason, or if the great spymaster William Cecil links them to the growing conspiracy to free Mary from her illegal imprisonment, they will all face the headsman.

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The Other Queen received a lot of mixed reviews and I have to agree, the first third of the book I struggled myself. Although I really liked the multiple-viewpoint technique in The Other Boleyn Girl I found it difficult to get into with The Other Queen.
Later however I began enjoying the book and almost feeling sad to already know it's ending. As the books description mentions the plot is about Mary, Queen of Scot's imprisonment in England which history buffs already tells the most interesting part in Mary's life has already happened. This unfortunately took a lot of momentum from the book which lacks of exciting moments.

In the end I liked it just enough to finish it.

Rating:
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Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Touchstone; 1 edition (September 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416549129
ISBN-13: 978-1416549123

Philippa Gregory - The Other Boleyn Girl

When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII.
Dazzled, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen.
However, she soon realizes just how much she is pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne.
Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king and take her fate into her own hands.

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When I first watched the movie on DVD I was impressed mostly by the historical errors made in the movie and I was eager to read if historical fiction is just that. I had the book and began reading it and quickly fell in love with the whole subject and writing style. Not really minding quite a few historical errors and huge differences between movie and book.

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The whole subject of parents telling you whom to go to bed with, getting pregnant to steady the families wealth and future has a way that makes the modern women blink twice as well as the openly flirtations and degradations towards his wife, queen Catherine, by king Henry himself.

Mary and Anne Boleyn have been rivals from early childhood. While Mary is the golden child with the friendly heart, Anne is the more ambitious, reckless one of the two sisters.
The Boleyn girls are sent to court to become maids in waiting for the king's queen when King Henry himself discovers the beauty of freshly married Mary Boleyn. Sniffing the family's opportunity to grow mostly moneywise Mary is expected to become the king's favorite maid visiting him during nights and offer herself. While engulfed in a tender relationship Mary becomes pregnant twice giving birth to a girl and later to a little boy. However, soon she learns that her sister Anne who originally was sent to keep the kings mind on Mary seduces the king and he falls in love with her. Anne's plans are different from Mary's. She wants everything which includes the throne. The king himself desires nothing more then a son and his hopes rise with his unconditional love for the beautiful young Anne.
With making his own laws and separating from the Romes church his marriage to queen Catherine is declared as invalid but as Anne' fails to fulfill the kings desire to receive an heir she quickly finds herself in the same, much more worse and dangerous position than once queen Catherine found herself in.

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Reading historical fiction is a new genre to me and I have to admit I liked it quite a bit.

Rating:
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Mass Market Paperback: 752 pages
Publisher: Pocket Star (September 25, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416556532
ISBN-13: 978-1416556534