The Other Queen (The Other Queen - Philippa Gregory)

Member Name: Katy_roberts85

Product:	The Other Queen - Philippa Gregory
Date:	17/09/09 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well researched, interesting historically

Disadvantages: Long, labourious, not a compelling read

A historical novel by Philippa Gregory, based on the life of Mary Queen of Scots. Published in September 2008, 448 pages long. It can be purchased from all good booksellers, paperback retailing at approximately £4-£5.

This novel is similar to Gregory's other hostorical books but is set a lttle further forward in history, during the reign of Elizabeth I.

It takes place away from the Royal Court, detailing Mary's house arrest in England after fleeing from Scotland. It is written from the perspective of 3 people, Mary Queen of Scots, Bess of Hardwick and George Talbot (Bess of Hardwick's husband, The Earl of Shrewsbury.)

The story develops through the perpective of these 3 individuals, it can be quite confusing to follow at first until you get used to switching points of view.

Mary is a seductive woman and deceives people and seduces them into doing her will. George Talbot falls in love with Mary and thoughout the novel we see the conflict in Bess and George's marriage and how Mary comes between them. Additionally we learn a little about social climbers in this era. Bess is obsessed with money and profit, she thinks that playing host to the Queen will elevate her socially. Instead their finances are drained and they are ruined. It isan interesting spin on the social expectations on members of the Royal court. Elizabeth expected them to house the Queen and essentially fund a royal household. She contributed little to the upkeep of the Queen but iinsisted on maintaining the house arrest for years.

I am a big Philippa Gregory fan but I did find this novel quite disappointing, It was slow and predictable and I was waiting for the climac/pinnacle point which never came. It was quite flat as a story. Although it is well written and quite historically accurate I did struggle to read it. It is one that I kept putting down and had to remind myself to keep reading it, it was a little bit labourious and not overly compelling.

Summary: I would only reccomend to historical novel enthusiasts. Not a light read.