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Sep 14, 2017Janice21383 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
There have been many books about Katherine of Aragon, maybe too many, so why not write one about a woman in her circle -- Henry VIII's elder sister, no less, tumultuous queen and grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots? You get two stories for the price of one. A good idea, except for two things: 1) little is known about Margaret Tudor's thoughts and feelings, and the author defaults to irritable and bitchy. Picture a less evil Cersei from Game of Thrones. And 2) the life stories of the three queens, with their cycles of tragedy and triumph, love and hate have a great deal of repetition. But there are advantages to seeing history through the eyes of a less than perfect heroine, particularly in judging people like Katherine, who have been sainted by time and good PR. And you can certainly see where Mary, Q. of S. got her headstrong, impulsive behaviour. She was like her grandmother, but more foolish and unlucky.