The Red Queen: Cousins’ War 2 by Philippa Gregory (Epub)

Description

The second book in Philippa’s stunning new series, The Cousins’ War, brings to life the story of Margaret Beaufort, a shadowy and mysterious character in the first book of the series – The White Queen – but who now takes centre stage in the bitter struggle of The War of the Roses.

The Red Queen tells the story of the child-bride of Edmund Tudor, who, although widowed in her early teens, uses her determination of character and wily plotting to infiltrate the house of York under the guise of loyal friend and servant, undermine the support for Richard III and ultimately ensure that her only son, Henry Tudor, triumphs as King of England. Through collaboration with the dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret agrees a betrothal between Henry and Elizabeth’s daughter, thereby uniting the families and resolving the Cousins War once and for all by founding of the Tudor dynasty.

User’s Reviews

Philippa Gregory is the author of many New York Times bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognized authority on women’s history. Many of her works have been adapted for the screen including The Other Boleyn Girl. She graduated from the University of Sussex and received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, where she is a Regent. She holds honorary degrees from Teesside University and the University of Sussex. She is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff and was awarded the 2016 Harrogate Festival Award for Contribution to Historical Fiction. She is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She founded Gardens for the Gambia, a charity to dig wells in poor rural schools in The Gambia, and has provided nearly 200 wells. She welcomes visitors to her website PhilippaGregory.com. From Publishers Weekly While Gregory’s The White Queen told a story of the War of the Roses from the viewpoint of the House of York, her latest takes the perspective from the House of Lancaster, where Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of King Edward III, accepts her duty to marry whoever the current king chooses, bear a male child, a potential heir to the throne, and to mastermind his path to power. Bianca Amato reads with quiet earnestness and carries Margaret from the fantasies of childhood to becoming a mature woman of experience and arrogance. As in her reading of The White Queen, Amato refrains from dramatic extremes or flourishes in favor of a spare, serene, and engrossing narration. A Touchstone hardcover (Reviews, May 3). (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the hardcover edition. Review ‘This interweaving of the personal and the historical in a way that is fluid and entirely believable is, of course, why one reads Gregory in the first place. But the backbone of this book is the manipulation of her central character, the way in which Gregory successfully guides her from hero to antihero, keeping her compelling all along. Once that job is done, and Margaret has gone truly bad, the action breads into a proper gallop. There is more bitching, double-dealing and downright skulduggery than in an entire series of The Thick Of It, and a splendidly bloody climax to boot. Delightful escapism’ “The Times” ‘The narrative has both drive and immediacy which, combined with the meticulous research characteristic of all Philippa Gregory’s books, bring the 15th century alive… The Red Queen is a vivid and compelling evocation of a turbulent period’ “Daily Express”‘This is a vivid recreation of an unsympathetic and ruthless manipulator…compulsive tale of dynastic deviousness’ “Marie Claire”‘Gregory is a serious historian who steeps herself in source materials.’ “Elizabeth Grice, Daily Telegraph” Gregory’s skill as a storyteller makes the novel fast-paced, wearing its meticulous research lightly as it plunges the readers into a time when power struggles between rival factions resulted in a county at war with itself’ “Metro”‘This dramatic book follows the life of the courageous Margaret Beaufort. After marrying a much older man and becoming a teenage mum, she decides her son will one day be crowned King of England. This gripping novel tells a fictional story of the Tudor monarchy’s earliest roots’ “Hot Stars, OK! Magazine””””Gregory returns with another sister act. The result: her best novel in years.””Gregory delivers another vivid and satisfying novel of court intrigue, revenge, and superstition. Gregory’s many fans as well as readers who enjoy lush, evocative writing, vividly drawn characters, and fascinating history told from a woman’s point of view will love her latest work.””Gregory is one of historical fiction’s superstars, and “The Kingmaker’s Daughter” shows why . . . providing intelligent escape, a trip through time to a dangerous past.””Wielding magic again in her latest War of the Roses novel … Gregory demonstrates the passion and skill that has made her the queen of English historical fiction….Gregory portrays spirited women at odds with powerful men, endowing distant historical events with drama, and figures long dead or invented with real-life flaws and grand emotions. She makes history … come alive for readers.” –This text refers to the hardcover edition. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. SEPTEMBER 1483I go to bed uneasy, and the very next day, straight after matins, Dr Lewis comes to my rooms looking strained and anxious. At once I say I am feeling unwell, and send all my women away. We are alone in my privy chamber and I let him take a stool and sit opposite me, almost as an equal.‘The Queen Elizabeth summoned me to sanctuary last night and she was distraught,’ he says quietly.‘She was?’‘She had been told that the princes were dead, and she was begging me to tell her that it was not the case.’‘What did you say?’‘I didn’t know what you would have me say. So I told her what everyone in the City is saying: that they are dead. That Richard had them killed either on the day of his coronation, or as he left London.’ ‘And she?’‘She was deeply shocked; she could not believe it. But, Lady Margaret, she said a terrible thing . . .’ He breaks off, as if he dare not name it.‘Go on,’ I say but I can feel a cold shiver of dread creeping up my spine. I fear I have been betrayed. I fear that this has gone wrong.‘She cried out at first and then she said: “At least Richard is safe”.’‘She meant Prince Richard? The younger boy?’‘The one they took into the Tower to keep his brother company.’‘I know that! But what did she mean?’‘That’s what I asked her. I asked her at once what she meant and she smiled at me in the most frightening way and said: “Doctor, if you had only two precious, rare jewels and you feared thieves, would you put your two treasures in the same box?”’He nods at my aghast expression.‘What does she mean?’ I repeat.‘She wouldn’t say more. I asked her if Prince Richard was not in the Tower when the two boys were killed? She just said that I was to ask you to put your own guards into the Tower to keep her son safe. She would say nothing more. She sent me away.’I rise from my stool. This damned woman, this witch, has been in my light ever since I was a girl, and now, at this very moment when I am using her, using her own adoring family and loyal supporters to wrench the throne from her, to destroy her sons, she may yet win, she may have done something that will spoil everything for me. How does she always do it? How is it that when she is brought so low that I can even bring myself to pray for her, she manages to turn her fortunes around? It must be witchcraft; it can only be witchcraft. Her happiness and her success have haunted my life. I know her to be in league with the devil, for sure. I wish he would take her to hell.‘You will have to go back to her,’ I say, turning to him.He almost looks as if he would refuse.‘What?’ I snap.‘Lady Margaret, I swear, I dread going to her. She is like a witch imprisoned in the cleft of a pine tree, she is like an entrapped spirit, she is like a water goddess on a frozen lake, waiting for spring. She lives in the gloom of sanctuary with the river flowing all the time beside their rooms and she listens to the babble as a counsellor. She knows things that she cannot know by earthly means. She fills me with terror. And her daughter is as bad.’‘You will have to summon your courage,’ I say briskly. ‘Be brave, you are doing God’s work. You have to go back to her and tell her to be of stout heart. Tell her that I am certain that the princes are alive. Remind her that when we attacked the Tower we heard the guards taking them back from the door. They were alive then, why would Richard kill them now? Richard has taken the throne without killing them, why would he put them to death now? Richard is a man who does his own work and he is hundreds of miles away from them now. Tell her I will double my people in the Tower and that I swear to her, on my honour, that I will protect them. Remind her that the uprising will start next month. As soon as we defeat Richard the king, we will set the boys free. Then, when she is reassured, when she is in her first moment of relief, when you see the colour come to her face and you have convinced her – in that moment quickly ask her if she has her son Prince Richard in safety already? If she has him hidden away somewhere?’He nods, but he is pale with fear. ‘And are they safe?’ he asks. ‘Can I truly assure her that those poor boys are safe and we will rescue them? That the rumours, even in your own household, are false? Do you know if they are they alive or dead, Lady Margaret? Can I tell their mother that they are alive and speak the truth?’‘They are in the hands of God,’ I reply steadily. ‘As are we all. My son too. These are dangerous times, and the princes are in the hands of God.’That night we hear news of the first uprising. It is mistimed, it comes too early. The men of Kent are marching on London, calling on the Duke of Buckingham to take the throne. The county of Sussex gets up in arms, believing they cannot delay a moment longer, and the men of Hampshire beside them rise up too, as a fire will leap from one dry woodland to another. Richard’s most loyal commander, Thomas Howard, the brand new Duke of Norfolk, marches down the west road from London, and occupies Guildford, fighting skirmishes to the west and to the east, but holding the rebels down in their own counties, and sending a desperate warning to the king: the counties of the south are up in the name of the former Queen and her imprisoned sons, the princes.Richard, the battle-hardened leader of York, marches south at the fast speed of a York army, makes his centre of command at Lincoln, and raises troops in every county, especially from those who greeted his progress with such joy. He hears of the betrayal of the Duke of Buckingham when men come from Wales to tell him that the duke is already on the march, going north through the Welsh marches, recruiting men and clearly planning to cross at Gloucester, or perhaps Tewkesbury, to come into the heart of England with his own men and his Welsh recruits. His beloved friend, Henry Stafford, is marching out under his standard, as proudly and as bravely as once he did for Richard; only now he is marching against him.Richard goes white with rage and he grips his right arm, his sword arm, above the elbow, as if he were shaking with rage, as if to hold it steady. ‘A man with the best cause to be true,’ he exclaims. ‘The most untrue creature living. A man who had everything he asked for. Never was a false traitor better treated; a traitor, a traitor.’At once he sends out commissions of array to every county in England demanding their loyalty, demanding their arms and their men. This is the first and greatest crisis of his new reign. He summons them to support a York king, he demands the loyalty that they gave to his brother, which they have all promised to him. He warns those who cheered when he took the crown less than sixteen weeks ago that they must now stand by that decision, or England will fall to an unholy alliance of the false Duke of Buckingham, the witch queen, and the Tudor pretender.It is pouring with rain, and there is a strong wind blowing hard from the north. It is unnatural weather, witch’s weather. My son must set sail now, if he is to arrive while the queen’s supporters are up, and while Buckingham is marching. But if it is so foul here, in the south of England, then I fear the weather in Brittany. He must come at exactly the right moment to catch the weary victor of the first battle and make them turn and fight again, while they are sick of fighting. But – I stand at my window and watch the rain pouring down, and the wind lashing the trees in our garden – I know he cannot set sail in this weather, the wind is howling towards the south, I cannot believe he will even be able to get out of port.The next day the rains are worse and the river is starting to rise. It is over our landing steps at the foot of the garden and the boatmen drag the Stanley barge up the garden to the very orchard, out of the swirling flood, fearing that it will be torn from its moorings by the current. I can’t believe that Henry can set sail in this, and even if he were to get out of harbour, I can’t believe that he could safely get across the English seas to the south coast. My web of informers, spies and plotters are stunned by the ferocity of the rain, which is like a weapon against us. The roads into London are all but impassable; no-one can get a message through. A horse and rider cannot get from London to Guildford, and as the river rises higher, there is news of flooding and drowning upstream and down. The tides are unnaturally high and every day and night the floods from the river pour down to the inrushing tide and there is a boiling surge of water which wipes out riverside houses, quays, piers and docks. Nobody can remember weather like this, a rain storm which lasts for days, and the rivers are bursting their banks all around England.I have no-one to talk to but my God, and I cannot always hear His voice, as if the rain is blotting out His very face, and the wind blowing away His words. This is how I know for sure that it is a witch’s wind. I spend my day at the window overlooking the garden, watching the river boil over the garden wall and come up through the orchard, lap by lap, till the trees themselves seem to be stretching up to the heavy clouds for help. Whenever one of my ladies comes to my side, or Dr Lewis comes to my door, or any of the plotters in London ask for admittance, they all want to know what is happening: as if I know any more than them, when all I can hear is rain, as if I can foretell the future in the galeripped sky. But I know nothing, anything could be happening out there; a waterlogged massacre could be taking place even half a mile away, and none of us would know. We would hear no voices over the sound of the storm, no lights would show through the rain.I spend my nights in my chapel, praying for the safety of my son and the success of our venture, and hearing no answer from God but only the steady hammer of the torrent on the roof and the whine of the wind lifting the slates above me, until I think that God Himself has been blotted from the heavens of England by the witch’s wind, and I will never hear Him again.Finally, I get a letter from my husband at Coventry.The king has commanded my presence and I fear he doubts me. He has sent for my son Lord Strange too, and was very dark when he learned that my son is from his home with an army of ten thousand men on the march, but my son has told nobody where he is going, and his servants only swear that he said he was raising his men for the true cause. I assure the king that my son will be marching to join us, loyal to the throne; but he has not yet arrived here at our command centre, in Coventry Castle.Buckingham is trapped in Wales by the rising of the river Severn. Your son, I believe, will be held in port by the storm on the seas. The queen’s men will be unable to march out on the drowned roads and the Duke of Norfolk is waiting for them. I think your rebellion is over, you have been beaten by the rain and the rising of the waters. They are calling it the Duke of Buckingham’s Water and it has washed him and his ambition to hell along with your hopes. Nobody has seen a storm like this since the Queen Elizabeth called up a mist to hide her husband’s army at the battle of Barnet, or summoned snow for him at Tewkesbury. Nobody doubts she can do such a thing and most of us only hope she will stop before she washes us all away. But why? Can she be working against you now? And if so, why? Does she know, with her inner sight, what has befallen her boys and who has done it? Does she think you have done it? Is she drowning your son in revenge?Destroy what papers you have kept, and deny whatever you have done. Richard is coming to London for his revenge and there will be a scaffold built on Tower Green. If he believes half what he has heard he will put you on it and I will be unable to save you.Stanley.OCTOBER 1483I have been on my knees all night, but I don’t know if God can hear me through the hellish noise of the rain. My son sets sail from Brittany with fifteen valuable ships and an army of five thousand men and loses them all in the storm at sea. Only two ships struggle ashore on the south coast and learn at once that Buckingham has been defeated by the rising of the river, his rebellion is washed away by the waters, and Richard is waiting, dry-shod, to execute the survivors.My son turns his back on the country that should have been his, and sails for Brittany again, flying like a faintheart, leaving me here, unprotected, and clearly guilty of plotting his rebellion. We are parted once more, my heir and I, this time without even meeting, and this time it feels as if it is for ever. He and Jasper leave me to face the king, who marches vengefully on London like an invading enemy, mad with anger. Dr Lewis vanishes off to Wales, Bishop Morton takes the first ship that can sail after the storms and goes to France, Buckingham’s men slip from the City in silence and under lowering skies, the queen’s kin make their way to Brittany and to the tattered remains of my son’s makeshift court, and my husband arrives in London in the train of King Richard, whose handsome face is dark with the sullen rage of a traitor betrayed. ‘He knows,’my husband says shortly as he comes to my room, his travelling cape still around his shoulders, his sympathy scant. ‘He knows you were working with the queen, and he will put you on trial. He has evidence from half a dozen witnesses. Rebels from Devon to East Anglia know your name and have letters from you.’‘Husband, surely he will not.’‘You are clearly guilty of treason and that is punishable by death.’ ‘But if he thinks you are faithful . . .’‘I am faithful,’ he corrects me. ‘It is not a matter of opinion but of fact. Not what the king thinks – but what he can see. When Buckingham rode out, while you were summoning your son to invade England, and paying rebels, while the queen was raising the southern counties, I was at his side, advising him, loaning him money, calling out my own affinity to defend him, faithful as any northerner. He trusts me now as he has never done before. My son raised an army for him.’‘Your son’s army was for me!’ I interrupt.‘My son will deny that, I will deny that, we will call you a liar and nobody can prove anything, either way.’I pause. ‘Husband, you will intercede for me?’He looks at me thoughtfully, as if the answer could be ‘no’.‘Well, it is a consideration, Lady Margaret. My King Richard is bitter, he cannot believe that the Duke of Buckingham, his best friend, his only friend, should betray him. And you? He is astonished at your infidelity. You carried his wife’s train at her coronation, you were her friend, you welcomed her to London. He feels you have betrayed him. Unforgiveably. He thinks you as faithless as your kinsman Buckingham; and Buckingham was executed on the spot.’‘Buckingham is dead?’‘They took off his head in Salisbury market place. The king would not even see him. He was too angry with him and he is filled with hate towards you. You said that Queen Anne was welcome to her city, that she had been missed. You bowed the knee to him and wished him well. And then you sent out messages to every disaffected Lancastrian family in the country to tell them the cousins’ war had come again, and that this time you will win.’I grit my teeth. ‘Should I run away? Should I go to Brittany too?’‘My dear, how ever would you get there?’‘I have my money chest, I have my guard. I could bribe a ship to take me, if I went down to the docks at London now, I could get away. Or Greenwich. Or I could ride to Dover or Southampton . . .’He smiles at me and I remember they call him ‘the fox’ for his ability to survive, to double back, to escape the hounds. ‘Yes, indeed, all that might have been possible; but I am sorry to tell you, I am nominated as your gaoler, and I cannot let you escape me. King Richard has decided that all your lands and your wealth will be mine, signed over to me, despite our marriage contract. Everything you owned as a girl is mine, everything you owned as a Tudor is mine, everything you gained from your marriage to Stafford is now mine, everything you inherited from your mother is mine. My men are in your chambers now collecting your jewels, your papers and your money chest. Your men are already under arrest, and your women are locked in their rooms. Your tenants and your affinity will learn you cannot summon them; they are all mine.’I gasp. For a moment, I cannot speak, I just look at him. ‘You have robbed me? You have taken this chance to betray me?’‘You are to live at the house at Woking, my house now; you are not to leave the grounds. You will be served by my people, your own servants will be turned away. You will see neither ladies in waiting, servants, nor your confessor. You will meet with no-one and send no messages.’I can hardly grasp the depth and breadth of his betrayal. He has taken everything from me. ‘It is you who betrayed me to Richard!’ I fling at him. ‘You who betrayed the whole plot. It is you, with an eye to my fortune who led me on to do this and now profit from my destruction. You told the Duke of Norfolk to go down to Guildford and suppress the rebellion in Hampshire. You told Richard to beware of the Duke of Buckingham. You told him that the queen was rising against him and I with her!’ He shakes his head. ‘No. I am not your enemy, Margaret, I have served you well as your husband. No-one else could have saved you from the traitor’s death that you deserve. This is the best deal I could get for you. I have saved you from the Tower, from the scaffold. I have saved your lands from sequestration, he could have taken them outright. I have saved you to live in my house, as my wife, in safety. And I am still placed at the heart of things, where we can learn of his plans against your son. Richard will seek to have Tudor killed now, he will send spies with orders to murder Henry. You have signed your son’s death warrant with your failure. Only I can save him. You should be grateful to me.’I cannot think, I cannot think through this mixture of threats and promises. ‘Henry?’‘Richard will not stop until he is dead. Only I can save him.’‘I am to be your prisoner?’He nods. ‘And I am to have your fortune. It is nothing between us, Margaret. Think of the safety of your son.’‘You will let me warn Henry of his danger?’He rises to his feet. ‘Of course. You can write to him as you wish. But all your letters are to come through me, they will be carried by my men. I have to give the appearance of controlling you completely.’‘The appearance?’ I repeat. ‘If I know you at all, you will give the appearance of being on both sides.’He smiles in genuine amusement. ‘Always.’ –This text refers to the hardcover edition. From AudioFile Nine-year-old Margaret Beaufort fervently believes she is destined for greatness. She reveres Joan of Arc, spends hours each day kneeling in prayer, and is proud of her rough, scabby “saint’s” knees. Bianca Amato expertly guides listeners through Margaret’s turbulent life–from reluctant bride (she was forced to marry four times) to the agony of childbirth to her seething jealousy of Elizabeth Woodville (THE WHITE QUEEN) and her limitless ambitions for her son, Henry. As the War of the Roses rages (bloody battle scenes are read, uncredited, by Graeme Malcolm), Margaret’s fortunes rise and fall and rise again. Philippa Gregory is the queen of British historical fiction, and Amato’s performance in this second book in The Cousins War series is regal and riveting. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine –This text refers to the hardcover edition. From Booklist Having fictionalized Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen (2009), royal chronicler Gregory now turns to Henry VIII’s other indomitable grandmother. The opposite of her alluring Yorkist rival, plain Lancastrian heiress Margaret Beaufort grows up knowing women are useful only for bearing sons, but divine visions grant her an unwavering conviction about her future greatness. At age 12, she weds Lancastrian warrior Edmund Tudor and pours her ambition into his posthumous son, Henry. Constantly separated from her beloved child after her second marriage to a pacifist knight, her frustrations are palpably felt; she later brokers her own union with a crafty turncoat who may be the key to her hopes. While England seethes with discord during the turbulent Wars of the Roses, Margaret’s transformation from powerless innocent to political mastermind progresses believably as rival heirs to England’s throne are killed in battle, executed, or deliberately eliminated. With constant pronouncements about Margaret’s God-given destiny, the approach isn’t exactly subtle, but Gregory’s vivid, confident storytelling makes this devout and ruthlessly determined woman a worthy heroine for her time. –Sarah Johnson –This text refers to the hardcover edition. Review “Gregory delivers another vivid and satisfying novel of court intrigue, revenge, and superstition. Gregory’s many fans as well as readers who enjoy lush, evocative writing, vividly drawn characters, and fascinating history told from a woman’s point of view will love her latest work.””Gregory is one of historical fiction’s superstars, and “The Kingmaker’s Daughter” shows why . . . providing intelligent escape, a trip through time to a dangerous past.””Gregory returns with another sister act. The result: her best novel in years.””Wielding magic again in her latest War of the Roses novel … Gregory demonstrates the passion and skill that has made her the queen of English historical fiction….Gregory portrays spirited women at odds with powerful men, endowing distant historical events with drama, and figures long dead or invented with real-life flaws and grand emotions. She makes history … come alive for readers.” –This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From the Artist Philippa Gregory –This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From the Author Philippa Gregory is the author of several bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognized authority on women’s history. She studied history at the University of Sussex and received a Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh. She welcomes visitors to her website, PhilippaGregory.com. –This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Read more

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:

⭐ Gregory writes very well, and I enjoyed most aspects of her treatment of Margaret Beaufort. Still, the one overarching theme throughout the book is Margaret’s overweening ambition coupled to her complete lack of self-awareness. If only we hadn’t known this about her from the first pages, it would have kept me more engaged. Instead, there is never any doubt that Margaret sees herself as a perfect candidate for, if not sainthood, then for every honor that one human being can receive. She constantly wonders why others, so much less deserving than herself, keep receiving the things which she sees hers. Why are these things rightfully hers? Why, because she is God’s most devout and devoted servant. Ergo, she alone deserves riches, respect and to be honored by others. All of her introspection, if such it can be called, is directed towards asking god to redress her endless grievances. This gets tiresome, hitting us as it does from the very first page. We get it, Margaret feels entitled.Still, her endless and mostly fruitless plots and schemes make an entertaining read, especially within the context of The White Queen, which should definitely be read before this volume. Her last two marriages are also well-explored by the author, and her feelings towards and interactions with first the cautious but honorable Henry Stafford and cautious but scheming Thomas Stanley were enough to keep me reading. Ultimately, and despite the protagonist’s lack of introspection, I found it an enjoyable read.

⭐ I adore Phillipa Gregory. She is one of my favorite authors. That said, when I started this book, I couldn’t help but think: Is this serious…or ludicrous? It is definitely the former.This is the story of Lady Margaret Beaufort, the Red Queen. She was brutal, cruel, and treacherous—and someone who changed history. Her story is not one filled with warm fuzzies. Her story is a coldhearted and bloody battle for the throne of England. But because of the brilliant way in which Phillipa Gregory has written this book, you will root for her all the way!Written in the first person, the book begins when Lady Margaret is nine years old. She is quite taken with herself—something that never changes—and is convinced she is a saint like Joan of Arc. As much as Margaret desires a life as a nun, she is summarily married off at 13 to Edmund Tudor, a brute of a man twice her age. Why the hurry? Margaret is a descendant of England’s King Edward III, so if she has a son, that boy has a claim to the throne. By the time she is 14, she is the mother of Henry and a widow. Although her baby boy doesn’t cause the brutal and bloody 30-year War of the Roses between the white rose Yorks and the red rose Lancasters, he definitely becomes a key player as one of the rival heirs. But the influence that a mere woman, who eventually marries twice more, has on this conflict and on securing the crown for her son’s head is extraordinary. Without Margaret’s single-minded ambition and her absolute sense that this was her God-given destiny, none of it would have happened. The red rose Lancasters eventually triumph, and Margaret is then the mother of King Henry VII, the grandmother of King Henry VIII, and the great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth I.Margaret Beaufort was truly a woman on a quest, and while she thought of herself as saintly and devoted to prayer, she was also manipulative, mean, and ruthless. Author Phillipa Gregory is brilliant in the way she essentially inhabits the character. Margaret may be unlikeable, but since the book is written so confidently from her point of view, the reader is swept up in her life and mission—vindictive and vile as it is.This is a sweeping historical novel that is written with intelligence and candor, and if you’re a fan of British history, it offers a unique perspective into the personalities of the War of the Roses.

⭐ The Red Queen is the a biography of a bad guy, and it’s AWESOME!!Margaret Beaufort is this notorious/ infamous brutal & cold hearted women of English History, but how does someone get that way? Philippa Gregory lays down the foundation of how this woman came to be in this book, and who also becomes a prominent figure in multiple books after.As an influential figure in The Cousins War, she’s never been one of my favorites; but I love this book for leveling me with who Margaret Beaufort is as a person and showing me why she is who she is. Philippa Gregory told the story of Margaret Beaufort in a way that evoked some emotions in me- she made me laugh, she made sad, she made me think, she humbled me, and she frustrated the heck out of me…and I loved every second!

⭐ I am reading all of the books in timeline order, not written order. So naturally I read this book after The White Queen.I have to say that after reading The Red Queen, I dislike Margaret Beaufort even more than I thought.I never warmed up to her character in this book because I feel like she was arrogant and full of self importance. I felt like it was hard to relate with the character and I ended up just despising her completely.I understand the concept of the book was to write a different perspective of the same time frame. But because of this I may skip The Kingmaker’s Daughter all together since I don’t feel like Anne Neville had enough of a presence to constitute another book in the same timeframe.The Red Queen is well written as are all of Gregory’s stories, but I really didn’t enjoy this book like I did the others.

⭐ I am 3/4 thru this book and I don’t care how religious history says Margaret Beaufort was. I’m sick and tired of every other sentence has her praying or on her knees or in church. The point was made early on in the book and it’s completely unnecessary to keep repeating it over and over. I’ve read many of her books and generally enjoyed them but this one is terrible. The only other one she wrote that I didn’t like was The Virgin’s Liver but this may be worse. I will finish it but I may rethink that if Margaret compares herself to Joan of Arc one more time. Margaret, for all her praying, is not a true christian. She is a fanatic who has convinced herself God exists only for her! She is an unlikeable,cold, heartless and arrogant know-it-all.

⭐ This was a very interesting read. Lady Margaret is not a sympathetic character in my mind. It is true that women in this time period were ​little more than chattel, but she doesn’t seem to know it. She doesn’t appreciate her second husband, the only one who cares for her. When her third husband calls her out for her ambission, she is shocked. Her faith is not in God, but in her own greed and jealousy of the Yorks. It was fascinating to see how far she would go to put herself in a position of royalty. I didn’t like her character, but I enjoyed filling in the history, even if it was fictional.

⭐ A bit easier for me to read than the first, The White Queen. The plot wasn’t as filled with conflict. And thank goodness for that! I had to put the first down to take a bit of a breather but this one I flew through!I was on the fence about this Queen, however. At first I was thinking I would like her more than Queen Elizabeth but as the story moved forward I became more confused with her motivation. Well, not her motivation, because that was always to put her son on the throne. But to the God aspect of her motivation. I feel like later on she was blaming everyone except herself for all the horrors in the world and she really should have been looking in the mirror instead of casting stones. She believed so fervently that God was backing her and her family that she would literally do anything that made that so!Even with that though, I really enjoyed how this one ended. There were questions that I had about the ending of the first and this one filled those in. There are still questions of course but I feel as if the next book in line, which is about The White Queen’s mother, does not sound as interesting to me as The White Princess which is #5 in this series! I just can’t wait that long!!

⭐ The following sentences are direct quotes of title character Margaret Beaufort’s thoughts about her rival, Queen Elizabeth Woodville: “At last I recognize that the sin of ambition and greed darkened our enterprise [retaking the throne of England], our plans were overshadowed by a sinful woman’s desire for revenge . . a woman who thought herself the mother of a king, who could not be satisfied to be an ordinary woman. . a woman who would be queen and who would overturn the peace of the country for her own selfish desire.” There you have it! The perfect description of Margaret herself and the entire thrust of this biographical novel of an exceedingly ambitious queen wannabe. Gregory doubtless intended the irony here: Margaret is guilty of the exact “sins” she attributes to her enemy. Nonetheless, Margaret herself never sees the irony and lacks any semblance of self-awareness which could make her otherwise loathesome character more palatable to the reader. As it is, Lady Beaufort’s inflexible, unforgiving, self-righteous hauteur makes her overall detestable. The problem with such an unflattering (albeit doubtless accurate) portrait of the main character, is that the reader does not want her to achieve her ambitions for herself and her son. That being the case, their final triumph gives little satisfaction.I have read other works, including straight biography, of this most sanctimonious king’s mother, so I knew what I was in for. Not much to like about Lady Beaufort. Gregory does a good job producing a likely portrait of her protagonist, but an entire book devoted to someone so totally hateful does not result in good entertainment. Finally, and most disappointing, here is yet another published work loaded with faulty English grammar. I had not noticed this in previous Gregory novels, but the jumble of misused pronouns here became exasperating after awhile – – especially since the protagonist herself was so unpleasant. Not much to recommend here.

⭐ It’s a rare story that gets told in the first person when that person is unlikeable and completely lacking in self-awareness. Lady Margaret sees herself in the mold of Joan of Arc, while we see her as unpleasant, wildly ambitious (for her son) and constantly scheming. That could make for an interesting contrast if the dichotomy between thought and action was slowly unveiled, but we’re looking down our noses at Lady M in the first few pages after she announces she has “saints’ knees”.We learn little of her son, who is offstage for almost the entire book. Consequently when he does become king (I’m not giving anything away — it’s history!) there’s no sense of joy or triumph. It’s just another machination in a book that’s full of em.So why four stars? Gregory writes extremely well. Two of Margaret’s three husbands are fairly interesting. The endless plotting has its fascinations. And you get a good sense of what life was like for aspirants to the throne in the England of Richard III.

⭐ THE RED QUEEN tells the story of Margaret Beaufort, heiress to the red rose of Lancaster, a mother at fourteen, and a woman determined that her son will reign as King of England. Margaret is a patient manipulator, working behind the scenes. In the end she masterminds one of the great rebellions of her time. Author Philippa Gregory is a master at conveying character. She takes the events of history, stirs it with her magic wand, and brings it to life with flesh and blood human beings who grab us with their wants and needs and actions. We see into their hearts and minds. We see their struggles, the twists and turns that surprise them and us, as the suspense carries us forward.

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