History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

Bloody Mary Author: Carolly Erickson Genre: History, Nonfiction, Biography  Publisher: St. Martin’s Press-3PL Publication Date: 2024 Pages: 828 Source: Personal Collection  Synopsis: Here is the tragic, stormy life of Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Her story is a chronicle of courage and faith, betrayal and treachery—all set amidst the splendor, pageantry, squalor, and intrigue of sixteenth-century Europe.        The history of Mary Tudor is an improbable blend of triumph, humiliation, heartbreak, and devotion. In Bloody Mary , historian Carolly Erickson recounts it all against the turbulent background of European politics, war, and religious strife of the mid-1500s. The result is a rare portrait of the times and of a woman elevated to unprecedented power in a world ruled and defined by men.        My Review: Mary Tudor is known as the first reigning queen of England. However, she left be...

Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power Author: Leah Redmond Chang Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: Farrar, Strays, and Giroux Release Date: 2023 Pages: 490 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The boldly original, dramatic intertwined story of Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots—three queens exercising power in a world dominated by men.        Orphaned from infancy, Catherine de’ Medici endured a tumultuous childhood. Married to the French king, she was widowed by forty, only to become the power behind the French throne during a period of intense civil strife. In 1546, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Elisabeth de Valois, who would become Queen of Spain. Two years later, Catherine welcomed to her nursery the beguiling young Mary Queen of Scots, who would later become her daughter-in-law.       Together, Cather...

Return to Avalon Author: Jennifer Roberson (Editor) Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Anthology Publisher: DAW Publication Date: 1996 Pages: 400 Source: Personal collection  Synopsis: Retellings of several Arthurian tales follow such plots as Merlin's defeat of Vortigern and Guinevere's sacrifice to a grail-seeking knight, and include the works of such writers as Melanie Rawn, Judith Tarr, and Katherine Kerr.         My Review: Marion Zimmer Bradley is renowned for her classic novel, The Mists of Avalon . Return to Avalon is an anthology that pays homage to Marion Zimmer Bradley by having twenty original tales. Most of these tales are told from a female perspective set in medieval time periods. Some of the tales are retellings of famous Arthurian legends. Some of the authors include Diana L. Paxson, Kate Elliot, Katherine Kerr, Laura Resnick, Jennifer Roberson, and many more.      I was intrigued by this anthology becau...

Anne Boleyn, An Illustrated Life of Henry VIII’s Queen  Author: Roland Hui Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: Pen & Sword History  Release Date: 2023 Pages: 212 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: If you remember my love in your prayers as strongly as I adore you, I shall hardly be forgotten, for I am yours,' - Henry Rex, forever Written by King Henry VIII to his sweetheart, the seductive and vivacious Anne Boleyn, his passion for her would be so great that Henry would make Anne his queen, and change the course of English history. But the woman whom Henry had promised to love for all time would go from palace to prison, charged with heinous crimes. Her life ended on a bloody scaffold in the Tower of London. Explore the incredible story of Anne Boleyn, the most famous and controversial of Henry VIII's six wives, in this exciting new account of her life told in words and pictures.      My Review: An...

Katherine Howard: A Tudor Conspiracy Author: Joanna Denny Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Pitakus Books Release Date: 2005 Pages: 304 Source: Personal Collection  Synopsis: A riveting new biography of a much neglected Queen - the doomed child-bride of Henry VIII Joanna Denny, author of Anne Boleyn , reveals another sensational episode in Tudor history - illuminating the true character of Katherine Howard, the young girl caught up in a maelstrom of ambition and conspiracy which led to her execution for high treason while still only seventeen years old. Who was Katherine, the beautiful young aristocrat who became a bait to catch a king? Was she simply naive and innocent, a victim of her grasping family's scheming? Or was she brazen and abandoned, recklessly indulging in dissolute games with lovers in contempt of her royal position? Joanna Denny's enthralling new book once again plunges the reader into the heart of the ruthless intrigues of the Tudor court - and g...

Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England’s Tragic Queen Author: Joanna Denny Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: De Capo Press Release Date: 2006 Pages: 374 Source: My State Public Library Synopsis: No English queen has enjoyed such notoriety as Anne Boleyn, and none has been so persistently vilified. Even after her execution in May 1536, on trumped-up charges of adultery, her reputation has been pursued beyond the grave, subjected to all manner of accusation. The unsavory account of her life that has come down through history is one shaped by her enemies. Joanna Denny's powerful new biography presents a radically different picture of Anne-a woman who was highly literate, accomplished, and a devout defender of her Protestant faith. Her tragedy was that her looks and vivacious charm attracted the notice of a violent and paranoid king and trapped her in the vicious politics of the Tudor court, where a deadly game was being played between the old nobility and the new, between t...

Mistress Anne Author: Carolly Erickson Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin Release Date: 1998 Pages: 304 Source: My personal collection Synopsis: As Maureen Quilligan wrote in the New York Times Book Review of The First Elizabeth , Anne Boleyn "was a real victim of the sexual scandals her brilliant daughter escaped, and a subject Ms. Erickson's sensitivity to sexual and political nuance should well serve." Indeed, Carolly Erickson could have chosen no more fascinating and appropriate a subject. Alluring and profoundly enigmatic, Anne Boleyn has eluded the grasp of historians for centuries.      Through her extraordinarily vivid re-creation of this most tragic chapter in all Tudor History, Carrolly Erickson gives us unprecedented insight into the singuarlity of Anne Boleyn's life, the dark and overwhelming forces that shaped her errant destiny, and the rare, tumultuous times in which she lived.       My R...

The Spanish Queen: A Novel of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon Author: Carolly Erickson Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Release Date: 2013 Pages: 288 Source: Personal Collection  Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Wife of Henry VIII comes a powerful and moving novel about Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife and mother of Mary I.      When young Catherine of Aragon, proud daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, is sent to England to marry the weak Prince Arthur, she is unprepared for all that awaits her: early widowhood, the challenge of warfare with the invading Scots, and the ultimately futile attempt to provide the realm with a prince to secure the succession. She marries Arthur's energetic, athletic brother Henry, only to encounter fresh obstacles, chief among them Henry's infatuation with the alluring but wayward Anne Boleyn.      In The Spanish Queen , b...

The Unfaithful Queen: A Novel of Henry VIII's Fifth Wife Author: Carolly Erickson Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Release Date: 2012 Pages: 302 Source: My State Public Library  Synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author of The Last Wife of Henry VIII , a novel about Catherine Howard, wife of Henry's later years.      Amid the turbulent, faction-ridden late reign of the fearsome Henry, eager high-spirited Catherine Howard caught the king's eye—but not before she had been the sensual plaything of at least three other men. Ignorant of her past, seeing only her youthful exuberance and believing that she could make him happy, he married her—only to discover, too late, that her heart belonged to his gentleman usher Tom Culpeper.       As the net of court intrigue tightens around her, and with the Tudor succession yet again in peril because of Prince Edward's severe illness, Queen Catherine struggles to...