Book #33 - "The Queen's Fool" by Philippa Gregory (2/10)
In February I read " The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory and loved it so much it became my first 10 out of 10 book of the year; so it was with great anticipation that I picked up this book.
What can I say? It was such a huge disappointment!
Taking the storyline first of all - I just found it so far-fetched. The story is set between the Summer of 1548 and the Winter of 1558 as the struggle for the throne is wrestled between Catholic Mary and Protestant Elizabeth following the death of their half-brother, Edward. The premise is that Hannah Verde (aka Hannah Green), a Jewish girl and a recent exile from the Spanish Inquisition, becomes employed as the Queen's Fool due to her "gift" to be able to see snatches of the future. Through a twisting, turning tale she ends up becoming chief confidante of both Princess Mary and Princess Elizabeth as the fight for the crown ensues.
This alone made it pretty unbelievable, as I cannot believe that in a court of 600 people or more, an unknown, Jewish, Spanish girl would curry so much favour with the Princesses.
The story itself twists and turns through so many changes, that it is also difficult to keep track of what is going on and why it's going on. In short, it's an overly-complicated, unrealistic storyline.
Then we come to the factual inaccuracies which is the main reason for giving the book such a low score. Gregory is writing historical fiction, so it would be expected that the research she has done would ensure the book is in keeping with the time it is set. Unfortunately there were many errors, of which two jumped out so vividly, it really spoiled my reading.
First of all Gregory writes that the Princess Elizabeth, dressed head-to-toe in white was like a "virginal bride". This is entirely out of keeping with the time, especially as white was not associated as a bridal colour until the marriage of Queen Victoria - almost 300 years later.
Secondly, there is another throw-away comment when Hannah has gone to live with her husband and his family, when her new mother-in-law teaches her to peel potatoes with very little waste. Potatoes didn't even reach Spain until 1570 and it took another 30 years for the vegetable to reach the rest of Europe (where even then it wasn't revered as a food source until almost 200 years later).
Such glaring historical innacuracies really spoiled this book for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Tudor history this year, with visits to Hampton Court Palace and Leeds Castle, and reading previous books on the subject. But this book is certainly not one to be added to the collection.
Due to the glaring errors in the text, I give this book 2 out of 10.
What can I say? It was such a huge disappointment!
Taking the storyline first of all - I just found it so far-fetched. The story is set between the Summer of 1548 and the Winter of 1558 as the struggle for the throne is wrestled between Catholic Mary and Protestant Elizabeth following the death of their half-brother, Edward. The premise is that Hannah Verde (aka Hannah Green), a Jewish girl and a recent exile from the Spanish Inquisition, becomes employed as the Queen's Fool due to her "gift" to be able to see snatches of the future. Through a twisting, turning tale she ends up becoming chief confidante of both Princess Mary and Princess Elizabeth as the fight for the crown ensues.
This alone made it pretty unbelievable, as I cannot believe that in a court of 600 people or more, an unknown, Jewish, Spanish girl would curry so much favour with the Princesses.
The story itself twists and turns through so many changes, that it is also difficult to keep track of what is going on and why it's going on. In short, it's an overly-complicated, unrealistic storyline.
Then we come to the factual inaccuracies which is the main reason for giving the book such a low score. Gregory is writing historical fiction, so it would be expected that the research she has done would ensure the book is in keeping with the time it is set. Unfortunately there were many errors, of which two jumped out so vividly, it really spoiled my reading.
First of all Gregory writes that the Princess Elizabeth, dressed head-to-toe in white was like a "virginal bride". This is entirely out of keeping with the time, especially as white was not associated as a bridal colour until the marriage of Queen Victoria - almost 300 years later.
Secondly, there is another throw-away comment when Hannah has gone to live with her husband and his family, when her new mother-in-law teaches her to peel potatoes with very little waste. Potatoes didn't even reach Spain until 1570 and it took another 30 years for the vegetable to reach the rest of Europe (where even then it wasn't revered as a food source until almost 200 years later).
Such glaring historical innacuracies really spoiled this book for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Tudor history this year, with visits to Hampton Court Palace and Leeds Castle, and reading previous books on the subject. But this book is certainly not one to be added to the collection.
Due to the glaring errors in the text, I give this book 2 out of 10.