Tag: historical fiction

Rival to the Queen by Carolly Erickson

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Yes, my friends, it is another historical fiction. Can you see the trend here?

This book is about Queen Elizabeth I’s cousin Lettice Knollys and her tumultuous relationship with the queen. The novel starts off with Lettice as a young girl and shows her starting life at the court of her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth never really grew to like Lettice because she was much more attractive than the queen. Elizabeth’s jealousy came out in her treatment of Lettice, in how she demanded Lettice go to the house of the newly deceased Amy Dudley, wife of Elizabeth’s favorite Robert Dudley, and get her bed curtains. Robert, after the death of Amy, had intended to marry Elizabeth, but she refused, saying she wanted only to be “married to England.” Elizabeth’s jealousy grew dangerous when Lettice decided to marry Dudley after her first husband died. Robert became the step-father of Elizabeth’s other favorite: Robert Devereaux, the second Earl of Essex. However, Essex did not have the cool head of his step-father and ended up a traitor to the crown, beheaded at the Tower.

Even though this story was clearly heavily fictionalized, I still liked the way that Erickson portrayed Queen Elizabeth. There are a lot of stories and films that show her temper, yet many books are hesitant to show this side of her, preferring instead to see her in a better light. I was surprised, however, that the story did not focus a little bit more on Elizabeth’s worries about Mary, Queen of Scots. It was such a big part of her life and could have been such an interesting dynamic to see through Lettice’s eyes. After all, if rumors were true, then Mary was also cousin to Lettice as well as Elizabeth. While I understand Erickson’s primary focus of the novel was Elizabeth’s relationships with Dudley and Lettice, I would have liked to see how her relationship with Lettice changed as she dealt with the beautiful Mary and her eventual execution.

As far as Lettice goes, I much prefer Margaret George’s interpretation of her in her novel Elizabeth I. George seems to have a more rounded out character, which is always a good thing, but with a character as exciting as Lettice Knollys, it’s even more important. I also liked how George’s Lettice seemed to be more connected to her grandmother, Mary Boleyn. However, Erickson did a good job of portraying Lettice’s attraction to Robert Dudley. He has many times been referred to as “the gypsy,” and Erickson’s depiction of him made him seem very attractive.

I really just wish that Erickson had hashed things out a little bit better. The story seemed to skip many important times, like Lettice’s late life and Elizabeth’s relationship with Mary, Queen of Scots. I think this novel was a little bit rushed, as it seemed like Erickson wanted to get certain points across and ignore other, almost more important, times of Lettice and Elizabeth’s life. However, it’s always nice to see a novel that isn’t from Elizabeth’s point of view, which seems like it would be very skewed. In that aspect, this novel was very well done.

 

 

 

 

If you wish to get yourself a copy of Rival to the Queen by Carolly Erickson, you can get it here. If you wish to read Margaret George’s Elizabeth I, you can get it here.

Earl of Essex, Elizabeth I, England, historical fiction, Lettice Knollys, Mary Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots, Robert Devereux, Robert Dudley, tudor

The Blood Confession – Alisa Libby

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Being part Hungarian, I am always interested to learn about famous Hungarians. One famous Hungarian is the Countess Erzsébet Báthory, more commonly known as Elizabeth Bathory. According to history, Bathory was convicted of brutally murdering hundreds of young women and bathing in their blood. She is also considered one of the most prolific female serial killers in history. She also helped propel the myth of vampires and was mentioned in the Dracula sequel “Dracula: the Undead” by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt.

Now, one thing I have to say is that this story drags a little bit. It seems to focus most of the novel on Elizabeth’s childhood. This might have been to establish her friendship with a peasant named Marianna. As Elizabeth lived well into her 50’s, I would have liked to learn more about her later life. Yes, she was obsessed with looking young and youthful, but that does not mean we have to focus on her youth.

One thing I should probably state is that this book is historical fiction, with a heavy emphasis on the “fiction” part. Yes, most historical fictions change things to suit the narrative, this novel seemed to go out of its way to deny history. Multiple times in the novel, Elizabeth states that she will not marry. In real life, she married and even had children. The book only mentions about 12 of her victims, whereas in real life she had closer to 500. The biggest difference is in her age. In this story, she is around 30 when she is sentenced to death, whereas she lived to be 54 years old.

According to HistoryToday.com, “She believed that drinking the blood of young girls would preserve her youthfulness and her looks. Witnesses told of her stabbing victims or biting their breasts, hands, faces and arms, cutting them with scissors, sticking needles into their lips or burning them with red-hot irons, coins or keys. Some were beaten to death and some were starved. The story that Elizabeth used to bathe in their blood seems to have been added later on.”

One thing that the book got right was her death. She was locked in a room all alone where the windows were closed up, where she lived for five years before her death. In “The Blood Confession,” the story of her life is her last confession in an attempt to appease the ghosts of her victims and her dear friend Marianna.

One thing that I am glad they got right was the arrest of four of her servant girls, who allegedly (though, in the book, concretely) assisted her in her crimes. This is a nice addition, as it’s often a fact that could get lost to history.

This book is a good read, but don’t take it as fact. It is very, very far from fact. I would say that it was a young adult novel, but for the level of violence. I do have to say that if this does get you interested in the story of Elizabeth Bathory, then great! She is a woman who deserves to be learned about. However, do not make this your be-all, end-all of her story. She deserves much better.

 

 

 

You can get a copy of “The Blood Confession” by Alisa Libby here.

 

Countess Bathory, Elizabeth Bathory, historical fiction, Hungary, murderess, vampire

The Other Boleyn Girl (Movie)

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So, you all know that I love me some Philippa Gregory. I’ve read all of her books about the Tudors/Wars of the Roses/Elizabeth I. Heck, most of the reviews I’ve posted are related to her.

The other day, after I finished “The White Princess” book, I realized I haven’t read my first Philippa Gregory novel in a while. That novel is “The Other Boleyn Girl.” It was my first foray into the world of Historical Fiction, and I loved it. Now, after having read so many novels regarding Anne Boleyn, I see how flawed the novel really is. But I digress. This review is about the movie. Now, this is not the first time I’ve seen the movie, but it is the fist time since I’ve read many books on the subject.

The movie stars Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Eric Bana. Johansson plays Mary Boleyn, who is the younger Boleyn daughter (though there are some who think she was really the oldest), Portman plays Anne Boleyn, and Eric Bana plays Henry VIII. Now, my first impression was that it was sorely miscast. Natalie Portman is more innocent, whereas Scarlett Johansson is the “sexier” of the two. I figured that Johannson should play Anne and Portman play Mary, but it’s very much the reverse. And while Bana is no Johnathan Rhys Meyers (who is the perfect Henry VIII), I did find that Bana’s quiet anger fit more for Henry. I was also surprised to see Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne in the movie, but I don’t know them well enough to know their IMDB profile beyond their most famous roles.

The plot of the movie is standard “Tudor” storytelling. Henry is married to Katherine of Aragon, has an affair with Mary Boleyn, who has two of his children (one a boy), falls for Anne Boleyn. Anne forces him to put aside Katherine, as she would not sleep with him unless they were married. Since the pope wouldn’t grant a divorce, Henry split and created the Church of England, of which he was the Supreme Head. This allowed him to grant himself a divorce under the pretext that he and Katherine married against the teachings of the bible, which was evidenced at their inability to conceive an heir (as they only had Princess Mary). After Henry marries Anne, she too is unable to conceive an heir (save for Princess Elizabeth). Henry believes that she is guilty of witchcraft, incest, and cuckolding him, so he puts her on trial. She’s found guilty and is beheaded. The movie ends with Mary taking Elizabeth to the country to raise her with her own children.

Now, I have many problems with this movie. For one, they depicted Mary as married to Henry Carey. Later, they show her married to William Stafford. They don’t tell what happened, which is very confusing. There is a deleted scene which shows Carey dying of the Sweat, but they left that out of the final film. They could have made an offhand mention of her husband dying, but the way they have it is just confusing.

I also have issue with the fact that they only show Mary giving birth to one child, her son Henry. In reality, Mary gave birth first to Catherine, then later gives birth to Henry. Where this would just be a historical inaccuracy, it’s troublesome because they show both of her children playing with Elizabeth at the end of the movie, with the daughter clearly being the older of the children. While this could easily be dismissed as the girl being just another child, as someone who has read many books about this era, it’s just strange.

The acting is okay. While I believe it was miscast, I found that only Bana’s performance was believable. I would love to have seen a version with the girl’s roles reversed. I also would have liked to see a little bit more of Stafford and Mary’s relationship. The movie doesn’t really discuss how they came to be together, which is a shame because their story is very sweet. He was one of her uncle’s men and she gave up quite a lot to marry him for love.

As for the claim that Anne had an incestuous relationship with her brother George, I like how the movie handled it. The movie has Anne vehemently denying that any such thing took place, where the book insinuates that it most certainly did. I think that this is one of the movies few redeeming features. I don’t believe that the incest happened, as do many historians. While it does seem like George and Anne were very close, incest just seems like they needed to add another charge with which to arrest Anne.

I do realize that often the book is different than the movie and that they have to cut out a lot for runtime and other reasons, but this movie does it very poorly. It leaves out a lot of important points which could have easily been addressed with an additional half hour of runtime. I think that it would have benefitted from the extra time, but alas, we have what we have.

 

 

If you wish to purchase or stream “The Other Boleyn Girl,” you can find it here.

Anne Boleyn, book, film, Henry VIII, historical fiction, Mary Boleyn, movie, Philippa Gregory, Review, The Other Boleyn Girl

The White Princess on Starz

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So, after I finished “The White Queen” on Amazon video, I, of course, had to continue the story and watch “The White Princess.” This was not the first time I have seen the show, but as a Philippa Gregory fan, I had to watch it again.

My first reaction was that I wish they had kept some of the same cast. I understand that they’re all older, but “Princess” happened right after “Queen.” Like, literally right after. “The White Queen” ends with Richard III dying at the battle of Bosworth and Henry Tudor being crowned king. “The White Princess” starts off with Elizabeth of York (Lizzie) finding out that Henry was now king. Now, I understand that making the parents of the main cast older, as they are much older than they were at the start of “The White Queen.” Still, they could have used the same actress for Lizzie and Henry. The only person who was played by the same actress was Lizzie’s grandmother, Duchess Cecily. I know this shouldn’t have bothered me, but it did.

Another thing that bothered me was that Lizzie went from hating Henry to loving him in such a quick fashion. I realize that after a few years you grow to love someone, but Henry had done so many bad things to her. He practically raped her. He locked up her cousin, who was a very innocent, mentally challenged young boy. He even ordered that, when the soldiers went to fetch her at the end of the battle of Bosworth, the soldiers should kill “any boy they find there.” So, he essentially ordered the death of her brother. He also killed Richard III, who was supposedly Lizzie’s love and lover. I don’t understand how she is able to forgive him all of that, let alone love him.

The book goes a little more into Lizzie’s feelings towards Henry. He’s very suspicious about those around him and is always thinking that there is a plot going on. He often accuses Lizzie of conspiring against him, and she resents him for it. While the book does say that they love each other, it seems more plausible to have them dislike each other.

Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing series. It follows the book fairly well, minus the animosity between Lizzie and Henry at times. Lizzie is a very relatable character. I felt very sorry for her, since her mother seemed to care more for her son than she did Lizzie and Lizzie’s children. She was constantly plotting to get Henry off the throne, even though she had married Lizzie to him for her to be queen. I realize that Elizabeth’s son Richard would have been the rightful king, but she is basically plotting against her own daughter in favor of her son. I felt so bad for Lizzie because she is forced into the marriage against her will and then has her mother going against her.

I would have liked to have the series continue until Elizabeth’s death. A big part of the story was the curse that Elizabeth and Lizzie cast upon the people who killed the princes in the tower. It’s revealed that Henry’s mother ordered the deaths, but since the youngest boy, Richard, got away, the curse was not complete. With Henry ordering the death of the “pretender,” who Lizzie believes is her brother, the curse would be completely upon the house of Tudor. The curse said that the male line would die out. Lizzie is constantly telling Henry that they cannot kill the “pretender” because it would be the death of her boys. If the story continued, we would see Lizzie’s reaction to her oldest Arthur’s death, which is part of the fulfillment of the curse. However, the story ended almost abruptly after Lizzie witnessed the death of her cousin Teddy and her supposed brother. It just felt incomplete.

Anyway, don’t think I’m too harsh on this series. Is it as good as “The White Queen”? No, I don’t think so. That seemed to be a more complete story. However, if you watched that, you really should continue the story.

 

 

To purchase the season of “The White Princess,” go here.

book, historical fiction, Starz, the white princess, the white queen, tudor, tv series

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