Another Queen, Another foolish plot (The Other Queen - Philippa Gregory)

Member Name: blackviolets

Product:	The Other Queen - Philippa Gregory
Date:	14/06/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good story and making mary stuart more real

Disadvantages: bit pricey and quite a lot of pages.

Philippa Gregory is quickly becoming my favourite historical novelist, (just behind Jean Plaidy) this is the 6th book out of her Tudor series and excels each of them. It covers the life of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, during her long imprisonment in England from 1568-1587.

Like other Gregory novels this book is narrated by three characters, them being Mary herself, George Talbot and his wife Bess. Throughout the course of this novel you see how dramatically they realise their mistakes have changed the way they live.

It starts off with the fact that Mary has had to flee from Scotland despite that she is the rightful heir and Queen of the country. Due to the Scottish Lords disliking of her and that it is rumoured she had a hand in the murder of her husband it is no wonder that they have not welcomed her with open arms.

Hoping to seek refuge from her cousin Queen Elizabeth I she expects help and protection from those she feels will set out to have her killed. Giving promises that she will be reinstated as Queen of Scotland, Elizabeth places her in the safe keeping of George Talbot, a man she knows she can trust. Especially as he is newly married and could not possibly have his head turned by a beautiful young woman.

With her trusted advisor, Cecil, always beside her she is somewhat manipulated into making decisions based on what he wants. Instead of being taken to Chatwsworth House as what was first decided, Mary gets taken to Tutbury Castle. Much to Bess's dismay after spending years making Chatsworth fit for a Queen, she has the task of just a few days to make a run down building equally acceptable.

I have been unable to come to a conclusion as to whether I have much sympathy towards Mary Stuart. At the beginning she comes across as being a Queen who has been mistreated by those around her. Putting too much trust in people who cannot possibly have her best interests at heart. Despite that Lord Bothwell had imprisoned , raped , got her pregnant and forced her to marry him, she continually trusts and relies on him to set her free.

Yet whilst Elizabeth has promised her a protected arrival back to Scotland, Mary continues to encourage plots which would mean her becoming Queen of England as well. She feels set that when this comes about Elizabeth will be punished as Mary believes herself to of been by her loving cousing.

I see her as being ruthless and manipulative. A woman who knows she is beautiful and is willing to charm and seduce the men around her to do as she pleases. However there are times when you see maybe a glimmer of somebody who cares about these people, especially George Talbot her 'guardian'. Clearly a man who has fallen in love with her.

There is only very few words which can describe the Earl of Shrewsbury. Weak being one of them. He is obviously a man who is willing to have people tell him what to do even though in some cases he is higher up the ladder than they are.

Then there's Bess. She was a poor woman, daughter of a farmer who married well to get her fortune. In the book she does come across as someone obsessed by money but you have to feel that she doesn't want to fall down into a life of debt again. Which is why I can forgive her for her complaining about losing all her things because of her 'fool of a husband'

This is a good read if a little bit long. 437 pages to be exact. The retail price is £18.99 which I'm sorry but no book is worth that amount of money. No matter how good it is. It will set you back £9.65 for the hardback copy or £3.86 for the paperback from Amazon. A considerable difference in price!

It brings the story of Mary Queen of Scots to life and thanks to Philippa Gregory I now know that she was the grandaughter of Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. So that's something to go away with.

I like how Philippa Gregory has managed to write about the different plots that were going on at the time as the only one I knew about was where she was climbing out of a window, and then got caught. It's a good read and is one which I found difficult to put down. In a way it does make you think about the situations which the 3 put themselves in.

Risking everything for a Queen who isn't your Queen is not the right way to go about things, no matter what she can offer you at the end.

Summary: .