by
The second book in Philippa Gregory's series "The Cousins War" is titled The Red Queen and is about the mother of Henry Tudor aka King Henry VII. To compare it with the first in the series, The White Queen, does a disservice to both books. The White Queen has more emphasis on a love story while The Red Queen is much less romantic. Margaret Beaufort (Henry the VII's mother) is part of the House of Lancaster which has the Red Rose as their emblem. The House of Lancaster had insanity in it as King Henry VI has periods where he is catatonic and his cousin Margaret is delusional and hallucinates. She is very religious and thinks her ambitions are the will of God. She is so sure of this she is willing to lie, cheat and kill to obtain the throne for her son. Two historical themes that the book bring into focus are the lack of choices women had in the 15th century and the role of superstitions in historical events. Part of the time frame that these first two books of the series cover are overlapped which gives the chance for the reader to experience both the perspective of the House of York and the House of Lancaster. In addition to experiencing the events from both perspectives covering some events a second time helps to clear up exactly what happened as since there is so much treachery and betrayal it gets confusing. Also there are many Elizabeths, Margarets, Edwards and Henrys to keep straight. I am enjoying this series very much and recommend it to other historical novel buffs. Be sure and click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to learn more. And enjoy the following videos of the author discussing this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment