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    The Red Queen: A Novel
    The Red Queen: A Novel
    The Red Queen: A Novel
    Ebook453 pages8 hours

    The Red Queen: A Novel

    By Philippa Gregory

    4/5

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    The inspiration for the critically acclaimed Starz miniseries The White Queen, #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings to life Margaret Beaufort, heiress to the red rose of Lancaster, who charts her way through treacherous alliances to take control of the English throne.

    Margaret Beaufort never surrenders her belief that her Lancaster house is the true ruler of England, and that she has a great destiny before her. Married to a man twice her age, quickly widowed, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph. She sets her heart on putting her son on the throne of England regardless of the cost to herself, to England, and even to the little boy. Disregarding rival heirs and the overwhelming power of the York dynasty, she names him Henry, like the king; sends him into exile; and pledges him in marriage to her enemy Elizabeth of York’s daughter. As the political tides constantly move and shift, Margaret masterminds one of the greatest rebellions of all time—all the while knowing that her son has grown to manhood, recruited an army, and awaits his opportunity to win the greatest prize in all of England.

    The Red Queen is a novel of conspiracy, passion, and coldhearted ambition, the story of a proud and determined woman who believes that she alone is destined, by her piety and lineage, to shape the course of history.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtria Books
    Release dateAug 3, 2010
    ISBN9781416563938
    Author

    Philippa Gregory

    Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned author of historical novels. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. Works that have been adapted for television include A Respectable Trade, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool. The Other Boleyn Girl is now a major film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana. Philippa Gregory lives in the North of England with her family.

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    Reviews for The Red Queen

    4/5

    142 ratings80 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I definitely don't like this series as much as the Elizabethan ones. To sound like a teenager for a moment, the War of the Roses is boring and tedious and it is not made less so in these books. If I wanted to read history I would read something else. I want to read a completely implausible tale of treachery and lechery with some names I recognize to ring out summer. I hope that the series picks up and turns into that but I fear it won't.
    • 5/5
      Outstanding! Fantastic series.
    • 4/5
      The more I read about Tudor England, the more fascinating I discover it to be. I’ve read historical books about royalty before and enjoyed them – Reay Tannahill’s Fatal Majesty (about Mary, Queen of Scots) and The Seventh Son are just two, (I enjoyed the former more than the latter) but this book is different. Maybe because I recently started watching The Tudors and I'd just read The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion (you can read my review of The King's Mistress here). They both piqued my interest and I wanted more. Then along came The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory and now I can’t get enough!The first in this historical series is called The White Queen (which I have not read yet) and is the story of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England and wife to King Edward IV. The Red Queen is Margaret Beaufort. She is born into the house of Lancaster and from an early age is raised to believe that she has one purpose – to bear a son who will one day rule England as the one true king. Her life is therefore dedicated to achieving this goal for her son, Henry Tudor, born when Margaret is just fourteen. She is blocked by the Yorks who want the kingdom for their line and so battles rage back and forth over the years. Never does she waver from her belief that her son is the only rightful heir to the crown.I enjoyed this book tremendously for several reasons. It fed my growing addiction to historical novels about the royals and it was well-written and not overly romanticized. I found the writing to-the- point in that there was little description of gowns, styles, cloth, not to mention the various activities such as hunting and hawking that people spent time doing in that century. Depiction of life in the 1400’s was shown rather than described.My favourite character in The Red Queen was Margaret Beaufort’s second husband, Henry Stafford. I found him very sympathetic and he was the only one I could relate to. Margaret thought him weak and a coward but the way he was written showed he had character and didn’t buckle under prevailing opinions. During stressful events, he showed maturity while she displayed anger. And that brings me to Mary. I would say that the author did not write this character to be liked at all. Her one-track mind – getting her son on the throne – was unpleasant. Granted, her mother taught Mary that her only raison d’etre was to bear a son, and so I can see where she would have learned this righteous attitude. Still, the added distraction of this character using her piety and belief that God had ordained her son to be the one true king, just made her unlikeable. And now I’m curious – was her arch enemy, the white queen, equally unlikeable? Or was she a more sympathetic woman? Either way, the facts are known – I just have to read them!The Red Queen is a must read for anyone who loves historical novels and it’s a stand-alone book - you don’t need to read The White Queen first to enjoy it. And for anyone who hasn’t tried this genre yet – I’d say go for it!
    • 5/5
      I loved this book despite the fact that many people say it is not historically correct. But I guess that wouldn't make it a novel, would it?
    • 4/5
      The Red Queen follows Margaret Beaufort, starting as a young girl dreaming of being the next Joan of Arc. We watch her marry at the young age of 12 and shortly give birth to Henry Tudor. Her son fills her with purpose, and while she is separated from him for most of his life this never stops her from plotting to make him King of England.Margaret Beaufort is one of Gregory's least likable characters. She is strong willed, but believes that all of her wants are the will of God. It's easy to how being shuffled from husband to husband has made her into the pious woman she thinks she is. My biggest annoyance with her is her unending hatred of Elizabeth Woodville. Especially since she interacts with and serves her for several years. Her petty jealousy is annoying to read, and made me long for the pages of The White Queen, with it's more accessible heroin. Even with her annoying characteristics she is a perfect love to hate character.The Red Queen reads like any Gregory novel. It's very straightforward and easy to follow. It is especially interesting to read this having already read The White Queen. The stories completely intersect for the latter third of the novel, detailing the death of Edward Vi, the rise and fall of Richard III and yet another take on what happened to the Princes in the Tower.Worth the read if your a Gregory fan, and are ready to put up with the typical historical inaccuracy's.
    • 2/5
      I listened to the audio version of this book. I almost gave up on it several times, which is rare for me -- I generally finish books, even if I'm not that keen. I stuck with it because of interest in the history of the period, and reviews here which promised it would get better. It did...a little, and for awhile. Most of the book is written from the 1st person POV of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England. And what a bleak head hers was to be stuck in! As a child she is full of little but self-aggrandizing faux piety, and as she gets older she add bitterness and spitefulness to the mix. While I appreciate that she had a hard life (married off at the age of 12, giving birth at the age of 13 to her only son), but I could not find her sympathetic or even entertaining as a conniving villain or unreliable narrator. Part of the problem is that as a noblewoman, she's far removed from the action (she's seldom even at court), so most of the book is long internal monologues that read like bad fanfiction. Thankfully we leave her head in a couple of places to visit major battles narrated by an omniscient voice. I had hoped to read all three books in the series, but I don't think I can face it. OTOH, I am currently reading Philippa Gregory's nonfiction work about the era, "The Women of the Cousins' War." *That* I'm enjoying
    • 2/5
      Dieses Buch ist nun also das Gegenstück zur "White Queen". Hier erzählt Margaret Beaufort,wie sie ihren einzigen Sohn Henry unterstützt und so, durch die Heirat mit Elizabeth von York die Rosenkriege beendet werden.Das ist ein sehr interessanter Stoff und trotzdem konnte mich das Buch nicht fesseln. Weder fand ich die Person Margarets gut dargestellt, noch waren die politischen Hintergründe spannend genug. Es ist zwar ein Buch wie alle von Philippa Gregory, doch dieses konnte ich nicht fertig lesen.
    • 5/5
      Margaret was not a likable character, but she was determined. In the end, she accomplished what she wanted to do, put her son on the throne of England. All that praying was a bit tedious.
    • 3/5
      British historical fiction author Philippa Gregory crosses the line to the Lancaster side in the next installment of her Cousins' War series, The Red Queen.The Red Queen tells the story of Margaret Beaufort, a member of the House of Lancaster and, most famously, the grandmother of Henry VIII. At the age of twelve Margaret is married to Edmund Tudor in an effort to create a royal Lancaster heir and help secure the throne. Though Edmund dies shortly into their marriage, he leaves Margaret with a son named Henry, whom she swears to put on the throne as the rightful Lancaster heir. Caught up in a dangerous civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York, Margaret must navigate ever-changing court politics and carefully plot to get her son on the throne. But in a world where the king of England is constantly changing and no line of succession is secure, Margaret must walk a thin line between loyalty and betrayal to get what she desires.Margaret Beaufort is an interesting contrast to Elizabeth Woodville, the York Queen Gregory discussed in The White Queen. While Elizabeth clings strongly to her mother's mysticism and witch-like superstitions, Margaret is a strict religious woman, clinging to the belief that she is a British version of Joan of Arc and it is her duty, as well as God's will, that the House of Lancaster rule England through her son. Gregory's descriptions of the two women are also at completely opposite ends of the spectrum: Elizabeth is described as a tall, blond and beautifully seductive woman who becomes involved in politics mostly through her chance meeting with Edward III, and who appears to have no real ambition of her own prior to the meeting. Margaret, however, is described as a shorter, dark-haired woman who is modest and was taught, from the earliest days of her life, that she is descended from a royal line and it is her job to fill the Lancaster cradle with sons, as well as put him on the throne as the rightful heir.Many of the events that take place in The Red Queen where also documented in The White Queen, though this time there's a different slant to the events and some information is added -- and some is removed. While it was interesting to see the same happenings in a different context from the other side, I couldn't help but think that I've read this book before, so the events weren't as new and, well, felt a tiny bit recycled.An interesting twist though, as in The White Queen, was the inclusion of violent battles. It did bug me when Gregory broke the first-person viewpoint of Margaret to shift to some third-person battles without warning, but it did add an interesting and unexpected facet to the story. I personally enjoyed the change, but some Gregory fans may have trouble with it.Something Gregory fans may also have trouble with is the lack of virtually any romance in the novel, especially fans of The Boleyn Girl and historical romance. Other than a dash of very subtle spark between Margaret and brother-in-law Jasper Tudor, there is absolutely no romance between Margaret and any of her husbands and no romantic subplots between other characters. Seriously, I think this is the first Gregory novel I've read that has no romance in it at all.The pacing in this novel also seemed a little off to me. In fact, I found the first 200-ish pages to be kind of boring, with Margaret doing little else than taking orders from others in charge of her life. Once Margaret takes charge of her own life though and starts to really play political games, things start to get really interesting, eventually culminating in a high-action climax with a highly satisfying, though abrupt, ending.But as always, Gregory's storytelling skills shine through. The descriptions of Medieval England are well-constructed and enjoyable to read, and the characters are throughly developed, especially Margaret. Margaret's transformation throughout the novel from a somewhat spoiled, dramatic child to an intelligent, passionate and ambitious woman is believable and compelling. Fans of biographical fiction will embrace Gregory's portrait of Margaret Beaufort.Though many readers and reviewers will disagree with me, I actually found The White Queen to be more enjoyable than The Red Queen. Something about the Lancaster side just didn't enthrall me as much as the York side. Though not a horrible book, not one of my favorites.I'm interested to see what happens in the next Cousins' War novel which, according to Gregory's website, will be called The Rivers Woman and document the life of Elizabeth Woodville's mother Jaquetta Rivers, instead of the previously announced White Princess.
    • 5/5
      After being disappointed by the last two Phillipa Gregory offerings (The Other Queen and The White Queen) I began this more out of duty than pleasure. How wrong I was! I really feel Gregory is back on top form, with good dashes of humour which I have not found in her books before. Lady Margaret Beaufort is a complex and often unlikeable character with absolutely no self-awareness whatsoever, but she really keeps you reading. Gregory has done a wonderful job of telling the forgotten story of the original Tudor queen, and the extensive bibliography is a welcome sight in an historical fiction novel. I was also impressed with the battle scenes, which rush along in a blur of gore and blood, especially Towton. The book ends with the death of Richard III at Bosworth field, and I am excited to see where Gregory goes next.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this book of Philippa's latest series better than The White Queen. Both books cover the same time period, but tell the story from different perspective. I didn't relate to Elizabeth Woodville at all. I wasn't sympathetic towards Margaret Beaufort, but I could relate. I was surprised that this book also lacked the court drama and intrigue and really focused on the battles and relationships made outside of the court.I was able to read this book faster than the first book in the series as well. I'm not sure if it was because I "knew" the basics of the story already and didn't have to follow closely the relationships of the characters. I am curious what the next perspective that Philippa might write about.
    • 1/5
      The dangerous thing about writing historical fiction is that you are confined by the events that took place during the time period you have chosen. Sure, the author can make choices as to the personal stories of her characters (depending on how well known they were) but they are often forced to describe events that are confusing and often down-right boring for today's reader. During The Cousin's War players are constantly changing sides and it is difficult to keep straight who is with whom. It is also, incredibly pointless and boring. As a modern day reader, I am unable to relate to characters who are willing to wage war and waste lives over who has more royal blood rather than who is better leader for the country. I found it difficult to cheer for any of the characters - they were all despicable. The battles themselves left me bored and I ended up skimming the last 50 pages just to be done with this book. I don't think I will continue with the third book.
    • 2/5
      Have yet to work out what I didn't like about this book. Margaret Beaufort isn't the most sympathetic of characters being best known for her piety and severity of nature. However much Gregory attempted to make her likeable, Beaufort just wasn't. Her characterisation had no appeal, even her love for her son seemed obsessive. It was extremely difficult for women to gain power during this period and Beaufort did manage to have considerable influence over events, but in the book it just all seemed so contrived. Not Gregory at her finest, probably would have worked better as a novella.
    • 4/5
      The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory; (3 1/2)It was my great pleasure to read this, the 2nd of the Cousin's War series. This one covers the life & times of the one day to be Queen Mother, Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor and heiress to the Lancaster line to the throne. She tells the tale in her own words, including her 3 loveless but profitable marriages, her plans and struggles to keep Henry in the lineage & moving up the line closer and closer to the throne of England.She also talks of her religious ardor and dedication to God even though she, at times feels personally abandoned by God, she never loses faith that it is the will of God that her son one day inherit & sit on the throne of England.Gregory's writing style makes it comfortable to follow the tale and follow the characters albeit there are a few pages that are a bit of a tedious go. However, it was all worth it to this reader and I enjoyed the novel. I am looking forward to going on with the series.
    • 3/5
      For as much as I enjoyed The White Queen, I found this story very hard to get through. It seemed to have much less action, to the point of nearly being boring for me until the last quarter of the book. to me, Margaret's story just didn't seem to be as interesting as Elizabeth's.
    • 2/5
      Boy did I want to like this book, but the character of Margaret Beaufort is so relentless two dimensional, she's obsessed with her dynastic legacy and her faith, it was hard for me to be sympathetic with her. I just found out she's one of my great great grandmothers and I ended up being sympathetic to the York cause. Yikes! In her nonfiction work, "The Cousins War," Philippa Gregory writes about the tendency for contemporaries to support the political powers in place at the time of their writing. In Margaret Beaufort's case, she was presented as a sympathetic figure by her contemporaries, according to Gregory, possibly because her son came out on top following the War of the Roses (or "The Cousins War," as it was called at the time). This may be true, but you wouldn't have been able to tell that from the fictional account Gregory wrote.
    • 5/5
      I found that I could hardly put this book down. It's much different than Gregory's other books, but no less enjoyable. It was fast paced and though I despise King Henry VIIs mother I still found the book excellent. I didn't like Margaret Beaufort in The Constant Princess and I didn't like her here. Elizabeth Woodville seems much more personable and less holier than thou compared to Margaret.
    • 4/5
      This book about Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VI, is gripping, as are most of Philippa Gregory’s historical novels. She’s definitely brought the War of the Roses to life, by retelling it through the eyes of the two most influential women on the scene. Margaret Beaufort is not as sympathetic as Elizabeth Woodville, whose story is told in “The White Queen”. But it was Margaret who changed the course of history as much as anyone, with her persistent plotting to put her son on the throne.

      As a character study, it’s also fascinating. Margaret Beaufort was a religious zealot with a compressed core of pure ambition. Philippa Gregory writes in the first person, allowing Margaret to reveal her true motivations as she reacts to the events around her. And when told this way, everything seems to unfold in an inevitable way.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the book. I have never read anything about Margaret Beaufort. I will say that it dragged slightly, however you can't take away from the interesting history.
    • 3/5
      I am becoming addicted to Ms Gregory's books! This was a good read. I think I enjoyed the White Queen a little more but the saga continues...on to the next in the series.
    • 3/5
      This is the story of Margaret Beaufort who was the mother of King Henry VII of England. It traces her life from her early marraiage at the age of 12 to Edmund Tudor, through the birth of Henry and later, to her subsequent marraige. She was a devout Catholic and truly believed she and her son were destined for greatness. She was in line to the throne herself but due to the Wars of the Roses when the Yorks and Lancasters traded the throne, she lost that advantage though never gave up. She devouted her life to backing her son, even when it posed a danger to her. Her husband, Lord Stanley, sat firmly on the fence, and was famous for it, not deciding who to back until he saw who had the advantage. In the end, he backed the Tudors. The book ends with the decisive battle at Bosworth when Henry won the crown.The book is well written as are all Ms. Gregory's books though some of the facts are a bit "fast and loose", also as in her other books but are a good read and give you a good feel for the time period.
    • 3/5
      Margaret Beaufort, the Red Queen of the title, was a driven and ambitious woman. From a young age she chafed at the restrictions her time placed on women, convinced that she was chosen by God to be the English equivalent of Joan of Arc. Her dream is to see her son, Henry, restored as the rightful King of England and eventually having everyone recognize that she is as great as she believes herself to be.Sadly, the portrayal of this Red Queen is one-dimensional and Margaret comes across as almost a caricature, rather than a real person. Margaret was not a sympathetic person to start with, but Gregory reduces her to a woman completely blinded by her ambition. The few moments of humanity are so brief as to only emphasize the image of a cold-hearted monster. I am a fan of historical fiction and had high hopes for this book when I saw the care Gregory took to be historically accurate. But in the end, I couldn't bring myself to care at all about Margaret or any of the other characters. I almost quit reading two-thirds of the way through because I knew what would happen and really wasn't interested in what else Margaret went through to achieve her ends.For diehard fans of all things Tudor, this book is a must read. But those seeking a more subtle approach with well-rounded characterizations will likely be disappointed.
    • 4/5
      The Red Queen was a decent novel. I know the history, so there wasn't anything to surprise me, however, the way the character was portrayed was defiantly interesting. She didn't come off as nearly as much as a ruthless person as I was expecting. There was nice character development. I enjoyed seeing her develop into the women she became.Overall it wasn't Phillipa Gregory's best book, but it wasn't bad either. I would recommend it to someone who enjoyed her other books or enjoys the Cousins' War era.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this, the second novel in the Cousins War Series by Philippa Gregory. Told once again in the first person, but this time with Margaret Beauforts voice, and a pious and bitter voice it is too! Someone so "in tune" with her God but so vicious and self centered without any feeling for anyone but herself, whilst all the time saying she is working towards fulfilling her son's destiny! She was treated harshly as women tended to be in those times, used to further men's ambitions and fortunes.But her single mindedness got her what she wanted in the end, the respect she desperately wanted, and the right to be called Margaret Regina! She almost has to be respected for her tenacity!
    • 4/5
      As other reviewers have said, you really don't need to read Philippa Gregory's The White Queen in order to read The Red Queen. Based on the life of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England and grandmother of Henry VIII, this book takes place during the Wars of the Roses, during which rival branches of the Plantagenet family vied for the throne of England.I liked this book a lot more than some of Gregory's recent work, especially The Other Queen, which I could barely get through. If you have read Gregory's other historical novels, I recommend this book. If you are just starting to read her, I suggest first trying more entertaining fare such as The Other Boleyn Girl, The Constant Princess, or, my favorite, The Queen's Fool.
    • 1/5
      Philippa Gregory must've been drinking the Richard III Society Kool-Aid for this one. Even counterfactual fiction has to have some plausible basis to build a story. But turning Margaret Beaufort into the Cruella De Vil of the Wars of the Roses so as to make Richard III the noble blameless hero? I'm afraid that puts this series into the Science Fiction section!
    • 4/5
      Amato brings to life yet another of Gregory's characters as we follow the life of Margaret Beaufort. Ever since Margaret was a young girl she felt that the Lord has given her a special calling. Her plans are thrown into turmoil when her hand is promised in marriage to a Tudor. This puts Margaret on a new path as she fulfills her wifely duties, resulting in the birth of young Henry.Margaret barely survives the experience of childbirth, but after Henry is born she feels the Lord has given her a new calling--To raise and prepare young Henry for the throne. Even when she finds herself a widow at an early age, she must make decisions that will advance her son Henry to the throne, even if her personal life must suffer.I love that this novel takes place during the same time period as The White Queen, but from another perspective. This makes you think back to the first installment, recalling who was blamed for specific attacks, realizing who truly was responsible.Besides Amato narrating the majority of the book, there was also a male narrator reading the war scenes. I found this a very nice change and brought these parts of the story more to life for me. Unfortunately, I'm not sure who the male narrator was, as I found multiple names on-line listing male narrators.I'm glad I listened to this segment before starting to watch The White Queen on Starz. The series is based on The White Queen, The Red Queen, and The Kingmaker's Daughters. Luckily these are the only ones in the series I have listened to so far, but I do plan on completing the series. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook and with themes of war, royalty, and destiny, you may enjoy this one as much as I did. I highly recommend this novel for either personal leisure or as a book club selection.
    • 4/5
      The first book that I've read that I actually am not cheering for the main character. What a bad person. How often do we read book where the main character does not learn anything and is just as selfish as at the beginning? I enjoyed the change!
    • 3/5
      I have heard it said (or written) by scholars of history, that Phillipa Gregory distorts history sometimes in the interest of dramatizing the events in her novels. Not being a scholar of history myself, I can't be sure but she is certainly a prolific author of historical fiction. I have listened to many of her novels on audiobook.The Red Queen is one of the saddest novels she has written. While many of the novels focus naturally on traumatic world changing events in our history, or most often, England's history, they fluctuate between joyous occasions and occasions of sadness and mourning. This novel focuses primarily on the trials experienced by Margaret of Lancaster, whose sole purpose in life is to put her son on the English throne. Her life is determined by the political machinations of the people maneuvering for posiions of power closest to the royal family. She loses her first husband to war, as well as her 2nd husband,Both are arranged marriages at the hands of her mother, neither of which brought her any happiness, except for the birth of her son, Henry. Most of his life is spent away from her,though, in order to keep him safe as a potential rival to the throne., he lives in exile with his uncle Jasper, the only man Margaret has ever loved, despite his being her husband's brother.The reader of the audiobook, Bianca ? is one of my favorite readers. Her voice as the young Margaret is filled with pathos, and as the older Margaret, is filled with bitterness and regret. Margaret sees herself as divinely appointed by God to put her son on the throne, but throughout the novel, the House of York prevails, requiring her to succumb to their rule and falsely place herself in court as one of the most beloved of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting. She even becomes godmother to one of the Princesses. This role in Court requires yet a third loveless, passionless marriage, this time to Lord Stanley, under the promise there will be no children from this union.They are a perfect match, though, as Stanley is a man who keeps a "foot in both camps always", protecting his interests while appearing fully invested in whoever is in power at the moment. Margaret can appreaciate this approach as she is willing to do anything to see her son on the throne.Fate intervenes time and again to prevent Henry from becoming King, but Margaret never gives up, nor does she lose her faith in God, who she believes wants the same things for her son that she does. She longs to be called,"My Lady, the King's mother, and to sign herself Margaret Regina. I recommend listening to this for the pleasure of listening to a story told by a practiced reader, talented in filling her roles with emotion enough to display and portray her characters, giving substance to stories that could seem redundant otherwise.
    • 2/5
      The second book in Philippa's stunning new trilogy, The Cousins War, brings to life the story of Margaret Beaufort, a shadowy and mysterious character in the first book of the series - The White Queen - but who now takes centre stage in the bitter struggle of The War of the Roses.

      The Red Queen tells the story of the child-bride of Edmund Tudor, who, although widowed in her early teens, uses her determination of character and wily plotting to infiltrate the house of York under the guise of loyal friend and servant, undermine the support for Richard III and ultimately ensure that her only son, Henry Tudor, triumphs as King of England. Through collaboration with the dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret agrees a betrothal between Henry and Elizabeth's daughter, thereby uniting the families and resolving the Cousins War once and for all by founding of the Tudor dynasty.


      I get that Philipa Gregory is telling the story of the cousins’ war from different viewpoints and that fine is until you have to tell the story of the most boring, deluded, egotistical female character...ever

      The White Queen was good mainly because Elizabeth Woodville was such a charismatic character and her story was well told. I do admit to almost enjoying the first quarter of The Red Queen with Jasper Tudor and the future king but then, for me, it went rapidly downhill.

      I was listening to it on audio book but think I would have given up pretty early on if I had been reading it.

      Every incident was either "The Will of God" (good for Margaret) or "The Work of the Devil" (bad for Margaret) …interspersed with lots of praying, and non-stop whining about destiny

      Disappointing and TOO MUCH PRAYING….

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    The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory

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