I read The Kingmaker’s
Daughter with my Nook in one hand
and my Ipad in my other so that I could have a quick and direct line to
Wikipedia. I have never spent so much time looking up the history of people to
see if what I was reading was true.
I found The Kingmaker’s
Daughter” to be a compelling and very readable book about a relatively
unknown character in British history. We have all heard of Richard III, if only
from the Shakespeare play, but little is apparently actually known about Anne
and her sister Isabel. Because of this, it must have been fun for author
Philippa Gregory to fill in the blanks.
I think that Gregory portrayed Anne as a young and impressionable
girl who was starved for love and willing to do whatever her father told her to
do because she thought it would be best for her country, and because she so
wanted him to love her. I never felt as though she had a strong desire to be
queen to fulfill her own ambitions, but only to do what was best for her
country.
Poor Anne had very little going for her in the way of
relationships. In her ever changing world, she was uncertain who to trust and
who to fear. And frankly, throughout the book, I wasn’t always certain who was
the good guy and who was the bad guy as it seemed to keep changing.
So, then I would again reach for my Ipad and try to find
what historians said, and frankly, it seems as though Gregory took a lot of
liberty in how she portrayed everyone. I don’t think this is a bad thing at
all. As a fiction writer, Gregory undoubtedly went for drama and excitement. I
just had to keep reminding myself that what I was reading was not necessarily
the truth.
Poor Anne had what seems to be a totally one-sided relationship
with her father, a terribly confusing relationship with her sister, and
virtually no relationship with her mother (who I found to be despicable). History supports the idea that her father was
an ambitious man who would do anything he could to be in power.
I never quite knew how to feel about Isabel. She too was a
pawn in her father’s ambitious plans, and the scene in which she gives birth to
the baby at sea is horrifying. She seemed to be the only one (at least prior to
marrying Richard) who gave a hoot about Anne, though it often seemed to only be
when it was in her best interest. I wonder how the book would have read had
Isabel been the narrator. I don’t think she had the same feeling for her father
as did Anne. I think Isabel was much more realistic.
By the way, history tells us that Edward the King was
actually a very good ruler overall. And while Elizabeth is presented as a
fairly vile witch-like character, history doesn’t necessarily support that
portrayal. But the number of children is accurate. My, didn’t she just seem to
crank them out?
I found Richard to be a very interesting character. In this
book, he is portrayed as a decent man who loved Anne. Other portrayals are
obviously different (e.g. Shakespeare’s Richard III). I kept waiting for him to
become evil. Even his relationship with the princess was presented (at least by
Richard to Anne) as necessary in order to save England. Well, Anne bought it
anyway. I am interested to know how the rest of you felt about Richard, and
whether you bought his love for her (at least in this novel).
It was sad that Anne couldn’t have more children.
I really liked this book. I read all of Gregory’s stories
about Henry VIII and all of his wives, and then got a bit burnt out. But I
think I want to read the Cousins series. Apparently Gregory deals at least a
little bit with the mysterious boys in the tower in the next novel. In my
journal, I gave this book an 8.
What did you all think?
I really liked this book. I carried it everywhere with me....all 3 pounds...and read it whenever I had a spare minute. So, unfortunately I was done with it in early April and at this point am trying to remember why I liked it so much.
ReplyDeleteI do remember liking Anne. I liked that she cared so deeply about her sister. She even cared for the queen when the rest of her family had switched allegiances.. I thought she was portrayed as a more sincere down to earth figure than most of the others. So much happened to her at such a young age. (I also spent a lot of time looking up events or people just to determine what was more fact and what was more fiction.)
I thought how brave she had to have been to accept "the bad queen" as her mother in law and to travel with her after she was widowed. I actually liked "the bad queen" more than I liked her mother. At least "the bad queen" cared about her son.
I did like Richard and I did think he truly loved Anne. There were times as I was reading that I questioned it, but I did read on Wikipedia that he agreed to do something out of his love for her. I was so sad when their son died. In the book Anne loved him so much. I had to wonder where she and her sister got their maternal instincts because they were not shown much love from either parent. I wonder if that is the author's creativity.....I remember in The Other Boleyn Girl- a book by the same author - one of the daughters loved her children desperately, and again all her parents had cared about was getting a queen in the family.
I think one of the reasons I liked this book as much as I did, was that I found myself reacting one way or another to most of the people involved in the story. I had strong likes and dislikes for even the people who were barely mentioned. I even liked Richard's mother, although I didn't like that she had a favorite son and made no effort to hide that fact. (Actually, I may have liked her because I read that she and Anne spent a lot of time discussion books they had read and had a friendly relationship as Anne grew older, which couldn't have been that old since she died so young.)
I wonder how true the part about the father killing his horse was. That made me so sad. He could have just given him to someone to ride off on and made the point that he was not going to desert his men. I found the ending so sad. I hated that Anne died so young and I hated that she believed herself to have been poisoned. But considering the world she lived in, it is not surprising.
I am excited to read the next book. I subbed for a fifth grade for a couple months and read with the class and article about Nellie Bly as a journalist exposing the truth about institutions for people who had mental problems and were unable to pay for care. Even before I saw the book on this list I was anxious to read it!
Let’s just put it out there: this author has an agenda regarding the position of women during the Renaissance! I’m not arguing with her point, but sometimes I feel as if she pushes it a bit too hard. That being said, I really love that her books are always from the point of view of a woman, and usually one who is not particularly important historically.
ReplyDeleteI felt a lot of the same things Kris said. I, too, spent a lot of time, especially at the beginning of the book, looking things up on line. I found the family tree at the beginning of the book wasn’t nearly enough for me. And, I’m embarrassed to say that it wasn’t until quite near the end of the novel that I realized that Anne’s beloved Richard was Richard III, reviled by so many writers and historians. I loved that surprise! It gave me a whole different perspective on Richard III. And, because of that, I’m anxious to read her next book, which deals with the infamous circumstances of the “Princes in the Tower.”
One thing I enjoy about Gregory’s books is that I seldom feel “iffy” about a character. Her portrayals develop distinctive characters, who feel real. And, often, really bad or really good. But, also, believable, in that she sometimes creates an incident or scene that softens a unlikeable character or, conversely, shows an unpleasant edge in a protagonist. Gregory has a talent for bringing alive historical people and periods.
I’ll continue to read this series, I think. Philippa Gregory gives me just enough history to make me feel somewhat virtuous, and just enough soap opera to keep me coming back!
When I read the first few pages of this book I was a bit disappointed. This novel was rated very high in the best books of 2012. But it felt just like reading one of Gregory's books about Henry VIII. But I got hooked during the birth of Isabelle's first child on the ship. I really did enjoy the book and am glad that Gregory is writing another series that interests me. I truly enjoy historical fiction.
ReplyDeleteWhile I know Gregory weaves fact with fiction, some of the facts fascinating to me. I found both of Anne's parents dispicable, but truly could not fatham being locked in a tower for many years as Anne's mother was.
After completing this book I find myself wondering why one would have coveted being involved with the court, or being king or queen for that matter. As quickly as they were put on the throne their demise was being plotted and planned. I know it was all about power but really even their excessive lives seemed awful.
I liked the character of Richard in this book. I loved that he saved Anne from her terrible imprisonment. I was sad when her son passed and think she surely died of broken heart, or her broken heart led to her illness.
Like Kris & Bec, I spent a lot of time checking out these people and facts on Wikipedia. It's fun to read how Gregory weaves the fact with fiction.
Elizabeth Woodville? I think I liked her. Where in the world did she hide her 2 sons?!
Tudor, York, Lancaster.... I enjoy trying to keep all of these royal lines straight. Drama, drama, drama.
Jen, I also always wonder why anyone would want to be ruler or even at court. As you say, it's about power, obviously, but there's never a moment that the ruler can be at peace, much less really accomplish anything.
ReplyDeleteAbout the two princes: historians have traditionally believed that Richard had them killed, so that they would not be a challenge to his power. This theory was in no small part due to Shakespeare's play about Richard, which absolutely had the agenda of demonizing Richard. A really cool book that deals with that mystery is Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey.
I'm glad I read this book. I found it very interesting. For the first few chapters, though, I felt like I had come into a theater in the middle of the first act. The characters engaged in their dialogue, but there wasn't enough helpful background narration for me. I kept wondering if I was reading Book 2 in the series, or if I just had a terrible recollection of history.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed the allusions to chess (people as pawns, taking the king, the powerful queen as a strong player even though the main object was the king). I learned chess from my brother, and when I got married, my husband and I had an ongoing game where he would move a piece before going to work; I would move a piece before going to class, and both might make another move at night. We played this way because he was very good, and I was mediocre, and it annoyed me to have him watch me try to figure out my next move. So this book reminded me very much of those games. Chapters were quick bursts of action; move over; next move. I was so captivated by the analogy that I looked up an average chess game to see if the number of chapters corresponded to an average game! Though true chess nerds claim there is no average length (too dependent on skill level of players), others cite 60-80 moves as being fairly standard. So, happily, the book fits with my paradigm.
How terrible it must have been for the kingmaker to have sired 2 daughters and no sons. Skillful manipulation gets his bloodline on the throne in an extra generation, if he's lucky. I wonder if that's why Gregory decided to make Anne's and Isabel's mother so despicible. Even though we know differently, women were judged as failing if they had daughters. Actually, with Isabel and George on one side and Anne and Edward on the other, there was truly a wonderful chance of one of them being Queen -- except for pesky Edward and his progeny. It occurred to me that at the time, Edward would have been considered to be blessed by God as the rightful king because he had so many children, so many sons. I wish we had seen a bit from the papal side -- did the pope ever receive those notes asking for dispensations or not?
Richard lost my favor when he started the affair with his neice. All I can say is, ICK, ICK, ICK!
I loved the notion of the box with two names written in blood, and I was even intrigued with the witchcraft theme.
I am interested in reading the book about the boys in the Tower. By the way, there wasn't much humor in the book, but I totally cracked up when someone was cited as having "their usual rooms" in the Tower.
I would recommend this as a read; great choice for book blub!