Holy fast endings, Batman. Want to read the rest of series. Ms Gregory is a great historical fiction writer of strong women.
It's not that I didn't like the book as the historical content was very good however the book felt like a repeat of the first 3 books in the series and it didn't feel like I learnt anything new like many complaints alongside the maybe's the probably's were annoying and you wanted strong historica...
Once again with Philippa Gregory's historical fiction I found I had to take this with a grain of salt. If I stop and separate out historical truth I can enjoy her writing much more. I look at it as solely a work of fiction as how she would have liked events to have happened and I find that I ca...
This book is not as well written or edited as Gregory's other novels. It was also rather boring.One issue was that the main character seemed to keep changing. Several times it seemed that she became someone else: vulnerable female to conniving and genius political tactician to witch. It just d...
Fascinating, gripping, sexual, sensuous, grim, incestuous, a little mysterious, horrifying, unrelenting despair (and by comparison, I think Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbeyvilles got off light)—if these adjectives don't discourage you away from this love-it-or-hate-it book, you're in for a real...
Review revisited - Originally reviewed and posted at Romance Junkies on Feb 1, 2006.To say I was excited when I received VIRGIN EARTH to review is an understatement, so my expectations were extremely high. American history and American horticultural history are my hot buttons, especially during ...
I was ill-prepared for this book. I mean, I had just finished the Tudors series Gregory wrote (which was fabulous, by the way) and I wanted to read something less dependant on other books before I started the next series I have (the "Wideacre" triology). Reading the back of the novel persuaded me...
I hate to say this, but I thought the final chapter of the Wideacre trilogy was going to be much better than that. By all means, share your opposing viewpoints, but I honestly thought that it was somewhat of a letdown. About two chapters of the story take place at Wideacre. I found myself miss...
I will also do a video review here at my channel: http://www.youtube.com/magicofbooks"The Little House" by Philippa Gregory tells the story of two very different women. There's Ruth, a young, career-driven woman, new to motherhood. Then there's Elizabeth, Ruth's mother-in-law, who is the epitome ...
I'm a reader who holds grudges. Disappoint me, and it's likely that an author will get cleaned off my shelves and dumped in the donation bin because if I try to read another title by them, the bad experience keeps lingering and trashes the current read. But Philippa Gregory has been the exception...
One of Philippa Gregory's early books and one that doesn't fail to deliver. The book is set in 18th century Bristol, based on the slave trade. Knowing Bristol quite well and understanding it's darker history, this book helped my knowledge of the slave trade develop further. In part it is a harrow...
First published in 1958 and set in the early 17th century, this bestselling novel—and follow-up to Katherine—follows Elizabeth Winthrop, a courageous Puritan woman who finds herself at odds with her heritage and surroundings. A real historical figure, Elizabeth married into the family of Governor...
I persisted with this book for as long as I did because it is so overwhelming rated highly and described as a “classic” of historical fiction. But I’m very much afraid I have to pull a DNF on this one. I just can’t stand to read any more of this novel. I’ll try and explain the good and the bad be...
Although I normally read books quite quickly, I stretched out my reading of this one over a few days. The vividly portrayed Renaissance England setting, the complex, familiar characters, and the interesting, steady flow of the plot line made me want to stay in this story longer than I usually do ...
This was a Jekyll & Hyde reading experience -- the first half was excellent, but the second half dragged. -spoiler warning-Half #1 centers around Merewyn & Rumon's time at the royal court of Edgar & his son Edward (roughly 970-80 AD). The secret of Merewyn's non-royal birth is a deathbed vow th...
I have a love-hate relationship with this book. On the one hand, I found the story (meaning the plot and characters) fascinating, and moreso because it is based on real people and real events. I found myself looking multiple things up on Wikipedia during each sitting. And yet... it was an INCR...
A wickedly witty tale of modern manners, happily suggesting that PC is not the only way to be. Dr Louise Case has the right career, the right country cottage and a commitment-free relationship with a fellow academic. According to contemporary codes, it's all very correct — except that Louise begi...
Three Novels selected and condensed by Reader's Digest. This volume includes The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah, and Safe Harbour by Janice Graham.
A collection of short stories from one of our most popular novelists - the perfect gift. A rich and wonderful selection of short stories. A TV chef who specialises in outrageous cakes tempts a monk who bakes bread for his brothers; a surprise visitor invites mayhem into the perfect minimalist fla...
Dragonwyck is a gothic romance in the vein of Jane Eyre, albeit set in America just before the Civil War. Nicholas Van Ryn is this novel's Rochester. A patroon in the dying days of feudal society, he clings to the trappings of fiefdom even when it becomes increasingly obvious that it is all going...
Two women competing for a man's heart. Two queens fighting to the death for dominance. The untold story of Mary, Queen of Scots. This dazzling novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory presents a new and unique view of one of history's most intriguing, romantic, and ma...
These days, the queen goes into her bedroom straight after dinner; she will not miss me from the nervous huddle of those of us who are left in her depleted rooms. Katherine Howard is missing from court, gone back to her grandmother’s house at Lambeth. Lady Lisle is under house arrest for her husb...
When the chair brought me back to Gay Street, our own travelling coach was outside with the boot opened, and Mama’s trunks were being carried out. Inside the house, on the hall table, was Uncle John’s Malacca cane and grey round hat, and in Mama’s bedroom, sitting on her bed, was Uncle John himse...
Poorhouse brat she might be, Warminster whore she might be, but I did not think she would exceed my sister in the art of dirty fighting. But when I climbed slowly up the stairs to the loft-bedroom they were sitting side by side brushing each other’s hair and giggling together. ‘He put his hand do...
Half the court don’t even know that the wedding has taken place, left behind at Westminster, out of touch with everything that is happening here. This is the king’s private circle, his new wife, her family, and only his most trusted friends and advisors; I am among them. Once again I have proved ...
The circumstances made it easy for me to lie. But first I waited, waited a month in the old Bordeaux hotel until I heard from Harry in England. I smiled when I opened the letter because it was as I had expected. Our loving mama had her boy home again and she was not going to let him go. Harry — i...
I expect Jasper will find me much changed, and I know that I am changed. I am less haunted than the girl who swore she did not want to marry anyone; I am far happier than the girl who railed against her mother for saying there was no future for her but wedding and bedding. In the past eighteen mo...
‘He spoke of my father, of his kidnap by the Ottoman slavers. Nobody knows about that but the people I have told: Freize and yourself, but no one else. Freize spoke of it once to Brother Peter, but no-one in this village knows anything about us but that we are travelling together on a pilgrimage,...
I can’t help but think of Prince Edward, waiting for me there, not knowing that our alliance would take him to his death, that we would be wedded and bedded for only twenty weeks before he had to ride out to defend his claim to the throne, and that he would never ride back again. &nbs...
‘If he is against the Duke of Somerset, he is against me,’ she says. ‘I have no better or more trustworthy friend. And this Richard of York wants him tried for treason! I know who the traitor is! But he shows his hand at last and confesses that he is against the king.’‘He asks only for the great ...
The defences were newly rebuilt; the city had just been occupied by its conquerors the Venetians, who were spreading their unique form of government – a republic – through all the neighbouring cities, fuelled by gold, driven by trade. Slowly the little sally-port door opened and a guard in the br...
He was accompanied by his servant Freize, a broad-shouldered, square-faced youth, just out of his teens, who had plucked up his courage when Luca left their monastery, and volunteered to work for the young man, and follow him wherever the quest might take him. The abbot had been doubtful, but Fre...
It was built on the river near Weybridge to be a honeymoon palace for Anne of Cleves, so Nan cannot truly claim that it is not haunted. Anne of Cleves’ sorrow and disappointment are in every courtyard. Her maid-in-waiting Katherine Howard was triumphantly married to the king, here in the chapel; ...