The Other Queen: A Novel (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels) by Philippa Gregory (Epub)

Description

Fleeing violent rebellions in Scotland, Mary looks to Queen Elizabeth of England for sanctuary. Though promised protection, Mary, perceived as a serious threat to the English crown, is soon imprisoned by her former friend as a “guest” in the house of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and his indomitable wife, Bess of Hardwick. The newly married couple welcomes the condemned queen into their home, certain that serving as her hosts and jailers will bring them an advantage in the cutthroat world of the Elizabethan court.

To their horror, they grow to realize that the task will bankrupt their estate and lose them what little favor they’ve managed to gain as their home becomes the epicenter of intrigue and rebellion against Queen Elizabeth. And Mary is not as hopeless as she appears, manipulating the earl and spinning her own web of treachery and deceit, as she sharpens her weapons to reclaim her Scottish throne—and to take over Queen Elizabeth’s of England.

User’s Reviews

Review “Mary’s hell-bent assuredness combines deliciously with brisk chapt ers and rich historical detail. Indulge.” — People “A mesmerizing novel that will keep readers turning pages deep into the night…as sweet and thorny as a wild English rose.” — BookPage “Mary’s hell-bent assuredness…combines deliciously with brisk chapters and rich historical detail. Indulge.” — People “The queen of royal fiction” –USA Today “Sexy … Scandalous … Smart.” –Redbook magazine “Philippa Gregory turns real-life historical royalty into royally entertaining novels.” – Time Magazine “If only grade-school history books were written so vividly.” – Entertainment Weekly “Spunky female protagonists… in thoroughly researched, wonderfully realized settings, she can make a period come alive.” –The Boston Globe

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I only paid $2.99 for this book (check out bookbub!), but I paid too much. I truly enjoy most of PG’s novels, but take them with a grain of salt. I always read a reliable source (such as Alison Weir) if I really want to read what is actually known about a given monarch. PG does so well bringing facts alive, but takes liberties everywhere. Regarding this novel: it is the same material, repeated (using some of the same words and phrases), over and over and over again. Some reviewers have mentioned this, but truly, it would be laughable if it weren’t so frustrating. MQS is a fascinating woman; so much more could have been done with her character. Additionally, Bess is the reason I gave this book two stars rather than one–she’s intriguing. Unfortunately, the fascination ends after the 4th and 5th repetitions of the same exact thoughts and actions. Margaret George wrote 870 pages about MQS, and I found the novel compelling. PG phoned in this one.*Full disclosure: I could not go past the halfway point.*

⭐ I have been a huge fan of Gregory’s for years and have been reading her Tudor series in chronological order during the quarantine. It’s seldom for me to not enjoy a story of hers, but I found the three main characters all to be extremely unlikable. I really WANTED to like Mary and was excited to learn a bit more about this elusive Tudor heir. But she came off not unlike her cousin Elizabeth and dear ole’ King Henry VIII: vain, self centered, and repulsively selfish. The story didn’t drag; the writing was wonderful. Gregory is nothing if not a phenomenal story teller. The imagery and conversations between characters was as spot on as usual. The content is what fell flat. You find yourself rooting for the book to be over, rather than hoping for a happy ending for anyone. It was disappointing to see this part of the Tudor series end on such a flat note when other entries into the series were so stellar. As always, it’s researched and accurate, with a little bit of Gregory’s red hot spice. But it’s hard to read about people who were just so terrible or flimsy.

⭐ I can’t believe that this book was written by Philippa Gregory. It reads more like a first year Creative Writing student decided to ‘make’ a story for term end. Constant repetition, stilted dialogue and treating the reader like an idiot. I do not recommend this book unless you need something to put you to sleep and have a grouchy dream.

⭐ I’ve recently become interested in learning about Mary, Queen of Scots; this gives an interesting take on the period of her life that seems to be the least talked about, when Mary seeks protection in England and in exchange Queen Elizabeth causes her to become restrained in an English earl’s home to make her comfortable, but not technically free. Other depictions I’ve seen of Mary make her more likable; Gregory portrays her as quite shallow and selfish, yet still fun to read about. The switching up of narrators throughout this book makes it easy for the reader to see how Mary impacted people around her – George, her genteel imprisoner the earl who has been given the contradictory instructions by Queen Elizabeth to treat Mary with respect as a queen deserves but also monitor her to make sure she is not plotting to steal the English throne, finds Mary to be the most irresistible woman despite his undying loyalty to his wife and his queen. George’s wife Bess is jealous of Mary for the bewitching effect her beauty has on men and bitter at all the money and assets housing Mary costs her, but she even admits to the reader it is impossible not to warm to Mary. My only criticism of the book is there’s so much anticipation as to what will happen between Mary and her “frenemy” Elizabeth and then all of a sudden, it’s several years later and there’s a quick description of the circumstances of Mary’s death, from Bess after she has received the news. I would have liked Mary’s first person point of view leading up to her death, so I found the end to be abrupt and lackluster. But up until that point I couldn’t put the book down.

⭐ When historians paint the picture of the Elizabethan age, they call it The Golden Age and have a tendency to sweep the danger and intrigue under the rug. It’s understandable that Elizabeth grew up in fear of her life when her own mother was beheaded. But I’m sure that Cecil promoted fear of boogie men in Elizabeth’s court for his own benefit. In fact, he may have intentionally ruined Shrewsberry financially for not standing against her in her first trial. Love and power do not mix and those who crave power will usually loose both. I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to everyone.

⭐ If you like historical fiction than you will LOVE any book by Phillipa Gregory!!! She writes not from the male perspective, like we usually see, but from the female side of things. How females were treated and she gives good possibilities of why the women of history may have made the decisions they did make! These books are full of hard facts as well.. just another great book from a great author!!!

⭐ I love historical fiction and I usually love Phillipa Gregory’s books. But this one didn’t quite do it for me. Mary Queen of Scots is an interesting character who led a fascinating life but in this book the best parts are all behind her–France and her marriage to the king, Scotland and her husband and lover. Here she is merely a pawn in everyone’s power game. The book is an elaborate chess game where one queen is moved from place to place while the opposing queen tries to decide what to do with her. As well written as it is, it isn’t the best of this series.

⭐ This book took me a little longer than usual to read, not because of the quality of the writing, but because this was a part of Tudor history I didn’t know much about and I found myself constantly looking up the characters and places Gregory mentioned in the book.I think writing this book from 3 different first person perspectives gave an interesting view of the time period. Three different people have three very different views of the same event. I found myself constantly thrown for a loop by Mary. She never thought twice about lying and it was interesting to see how she would portray an event to others, and then how she actually thought of the same event.Bess is one of the best historical fiction characters I’ve read in a long time. From Gregory’s book, as well as the researching I did on my own, I’ve come to really love her strength and determination. She was a smart business woman and used that to her advantage. She worked her way up and earned the things she had, even if it was through marriage, and worked hard to keep herself safe and secure for the future. I think more women in books should be like her.Yet again, Gregory has me thinking about the little things in history and how one simple decision can change the fate of a country, and the world. While not my favorite book (The Queen’s Fool has that title), it was a great read and sheds more light onto the Tudor era of history.

⭐ You can’t always have a happy ending, so with that being said I loved it! Philippa Gregory astounds me!!! The storyline is amazingly thorough, she always uses many references. People don’t realize how much work she puts into her books because the words flow effortlessly:) England was a cruel world of strong women and yes flighty at times unable to rule. Bess(Elizabeth) is an example as is Mary Queen of Scotland. The torture of the times is cruel and inhumane but so were other times in history! Elizabeth should have stood her ground in the beginning of her reign and kicked Cecil to the curb,lol. Excellent book I would recommend it! A little pricey but worth the money…

⭐ For me, Gregory is hit or miss, and this was mostly a miss.The book is about Mary Queen of Scots exile and imprisonment from the throne. Written in three voices — Mary, Shrewsbury, and his wife Bess, the latter tasked with housing her.I had just finished the 5th book in this Tudor series and Cecil was the redeeming character. Therefore it was incredibly difficult to slam on the brakes and read of a nasty, scheming Cecil ten years later.I was thoroughly disgusted with Bess, whose “I am an independent woman” shtick grated on my last nerve. Queen Mary is just delusional, and Shrewsbury loses pretty much all regard by the end, and I felt sorry for him.I was deeply disappointed by the ending. Anyone with history behind them knows the Scots queen was beheaded, yet for some inexplicable reason, Gregory chose to cover the entire POINT of the book in a dream sequence of Shrewsbury and the loathsome gloating of Bess. After committing myself to a long, drawn out account of the Queen avoiding The Tower, why didn’t the author at the minimum give Mary a final voice?Not the best. I feel like I wasted my time and bought a different book about this instead.

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