Tudor history as fiction
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"I wanted not a husband who was fine to look on but useless for counsel, company or conversation. What would I do with such a flower? Put him in my buttonhole and wear him as an ornament?"
I read the first in Gemma Lawrence's Elizabeth of England series, The Bastard Princess, last year, and was hugely impressed by it. This is even better. I started it yesterday, read about twenty per cent, and today I let nothing take me from it; it's seven pm and I haven't even got dressed. I'm not being over the top here, and neither am I drunk: honestly, this book is a masterpiece.
This second episode takes Elizabeth and the reader through the dangerous world that was the reign of her sister, Mary. Much of the story I knew, much detail I didn't. Written in the first person, Ms Lawrence's writes Elizabeth just as I have always imagined her, showing her strength, charisma, wit and confidence, her love for her family (both blood and from the bonds of loyalty and friendship), and her sense of duty towards her country. She shows so well all the Princess's motivations, in particular the reasons why she would never marry. I enjoyed her understanding of other characters, too: Stephen Gardiner, Philip of Spain, The Duke of Norfolk, and in particular Anne of Cleves; there is a delightful tribute to her at the time of her death, ending with this line, which I loved: "She passed from this life the greatest and least celebrated survivor of my father's reign." How true!
The other leading lady in the story is, of course, Mary ~ and Ms Lawrence made me see (and feel) Elizabeth's conflicting emotions towards her; the fear, the pity, the sadness, resentment, frustration, all bound up together, never forgetting that in her own bitterness she cause so much pain and suffering to so many.
"She put the wishes and wants of her heart above those of her people, and covered it all in a mask of religion."
The narrative is interspersed with the occasional short chapter from the viewpoint of the older Elizabeth, fifty years later and nearing death; in both this and the main story Elizabeth speaks so many truths.
"The heart is the most dangerous enemy, and all too often it becomes the master of the mind."
"A thousand people could read the same text and see a thousand different ideas. Writers and their books are but platforms for the imagination of a million minds. We can take nothing from books but that which is possible in our own imaginations."
I highlighted so many quotes, too many; I could write an essay on this book. We see Elizabeth's wit, too (inherited from her mother, one presumes!); the descriptions of Henry Bedingfield, under whose weak but watchful eye she suffered house arrest, made me smile a lot.
The story is written in the first person, in a simple way, never trying to overdo the language of the time, and it's completely convincing. I was reminded of another series of books I'm reading at the moment, 'The Last Kingdom' by international bestseller Bernard Cornwell. Ms Lawrence's style is very similar and it's as good, it really is. Aside from the accessibility of the way she writes, she shows so much insight into the spiritual beliefs of the time, into the desires and machinations of men.
Love, love, love this book. If you've got any interest in this period of history (it's one I find fascinating), I do hope you will take my recommendation and read this. It's the best Tudor fiction I've read.
"If ever something is done in the name of religion that brings naught but disorder and destruction, then you can take a fine bet that it is not the heart of God that is involved, but the heart of man."
THE BASTARD PRINCESS by Gemma Lawrence is reviewed HERE
