The Queen's Fool: A Novel (Boleyn)
by Philippa Gregory
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Book Reviews of The Queen's Fool: A Novel (Boleyn)
Book Review: Strange & Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
Phillipa Gregory does a wonderful job of recreating a historical period, and I did enjoy her other Tudor work, The Other Boleyn Girl. I expected to enjoy this one as much, but couldn't. I found the indiscriminately sympathetic portrayal of Mary (known to history as Bloody Mary) troubling. The author seemed to think that because Mary was a wronged wife, her excesses were excusable. Even more disturbing, and harder to swallow, is that the main character, Hannah, a secret Jew who lives in fear of being burned as heretic, remains loyal and uncritical of Mary until the end.
Either Hannah is an insensitive hypocrite, indifferent to the suffering of others because of her own safety as a royal favorite, or she is a poorly drawn character. It is hard to believe someone whose own mother was burned at the stake could remain loyal to a woman who sent so many to be burned alive.
Gregory blames Mary's ministers, pretending Mary was largely unaware of what was being done. A ruler with Mary's absolute power "unaware"? That makes her either a disconnected, incompetent ruler (not Gregory's view), or one so weak she was completely dominated by her ministers, which there is no reason to believe.
Gregory did succeed in showing how sad Mary's life was in many ways: Early separation from her mother due to her father's selfish whims, loss of her position, a youth spent in a kind of exile, an unfaithful husband.
However, I also saw her parents' flaws in her: obsessive attachment to a indifferent man, fanaticism and sense of absolute truth which both parents possessed, and worse, a ruthlessness and cruelty in enforcing her will inherited from her father.
"Bloody Mary" traumatized her country and was, ironically, probably one of the reasons England turned staunchly Protestant. If you happened to catch the recent cable movie "Charles II, The Last King" you can see how strongly the hatred/fear of Catholics persisted over a century later.
The other strange thing about "The Queen's Fool" is the unsympathetic portrayal of Elizabeth, the ruler who would prove the most tolerant of religous practices. What is worse is that Gregory's and Hannah's condemnation of Elizabeth is largely based on qualities, actions or feelings that Hannah also exhibits.
For example, Hannah's (and our) first view of Elizabeth is of a 14 year old girl flirting and kissing a married man (Thomas Seymour, a notorious womanizer). Yet, for much of the novel, Hannah is in love with a married man. She even spies on and betrays a trusting mistress (Mary) for love of him. Still, Elizabeth is considered a "whore" by Hannah (a word greatly overused by Gregory, used for any sexually active woman, though there were kinder words in use at the time).
Hannah also condemns Elizabeth for her secret Protestantism, stange considering she herself is a secret Jew. Why does she feel such loyalty to Catholicism anyway? It is the Catholics of Spain who have particularly persecuted her people, and Mary's husband is the Spanish King. English Protestants were benign by contrast.
The historical information about 16th century European Jews was interesting, and the most worthwhile part of "The Queen's Fool." Otherwise, not recommended.
Book Review: Excellent historical fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
I remember being extremely impressed by Ms. Gregory's first novel, Wideacre, a sprawling family saga whose protagonist made Scarlett O'Hara look like a Girl Scout. Although she has been writing historical novels for a few years, this is the first one I have read, and I enjoyed it immensely.
Hannah Green (nee Verde) and her father are secret Jews (at least to the extent that Judaism has been passed down to them) who have fled from Spain after the arrest and burning of Hannah's mother, and Hannah, who has "the Sight," is brought by John Dudley, the Protector of the young Edward VI, to the king's court as a "holy fool" and spy. Dazzled by Dudley's son, Robert (the future favorite of Queen Elizabeth I) and caught up in the intrigues of court life, Hannah lives through the turbulent final months of Edward's reign, the short-lived attempt to place Lady Jane Grey upon the English throne, and the five-year reign of "Bloody Mary." Torn between conflicting loyalties to those she serves and to her family, including her betrothed, later her husband, she moves back and forth between the public and private spheres, giving a unique perspective on both the historical events and on the lives of "the People," as she calls the Jews. She moves from resentment to acceptance and finally to embrace of her responsibilities to both family and faith.
To me, this book is unusual in that it offers a rare sympathetic and primary view of Queen Mary. Although those that focus on Elizabeth usually do portray Mary with some understanding, she is always subordinate to her younger sister, who outshines her in fiction as she did in life. Hannah's view of Elizabeth, on the other hand, while sometimes admiring, sometimes censorious, is much more objective than her warm regard for Mary. Perhaps it is her status as a Jew, but she seems able to look upon both as living, breathing women rather than as the symbols of religious and political power that they can often be to other characters. Other historical personages also have depth and ambiguity, including Lord Robert, who is ambitious and a practiced seducer but ends up having a real regard and respect for Hannah. I thought she was a little hard on Robert's wife Amy, portraying her as not only virtually illiterate and incurious but also mentally unbalanced.
Hannah and her family, particularly her faithful husband and her scholarly father, also feel like real, vibrant people, although her disapproving in-laws may hew a bit too closely to stereotypes. I would like to have seen more exploration of the motivations and background of Daniel's mother.
I don't know if Ms. Gregory has any real-life connection to Judaism, but the thing that I found most powerful about The Queen's Fool, apart from the scene where Hannah finds herself unable to burn her father's "heretical" books, even to protect herself, is the haunting sadness of a culture that is being lost generation by generation, as her father and mother-in-law struggle to remember the prayers and practices that have been passed down to them, and to pass them on to their children.
Book Review: Entertaining enough, but not the most engaging characters.
Summary: 3 Stars
Hannah Verde and her father fled the Spanish Inquisition after her mother was burned at the stake. They arrive in England in the year 1548 and hide their Jewish faith in Protestant England. Hannah had dressed as a boy to avoid harassment on the flight from Spain and after five years of living in England, she continues to wear boys clothes in order to make assisting her father in his bookshop an easier task. Her father's bookshop brings in many clients, including the royal Robert Dudley. Robert Dudley takes special notice of the thirteen-year-old Hannah because she sees an angel over his shoulder and he believes she has the Sight. He brings Hannah to court as the androgynous Holy Fool to the frail and dying teenage King Edward. Once she has entered royal service, she finally meets Daniel, her betrothed, a student physician chosen by the Jewish matchmaker. The promise of a life with him is something Hannah alternately wants and doesn't want, but it gives her a potential escape from the political upheaval that is to come in the next few years.Upon Edward's death, we witness Queen Mary's struggle to ascend the throne with Hannah as her constant companion. Hannah continues to work for 'Bloody' Queen Mary who changes the country's religion to Catholicism and persecutes several hundred people through torture and burning at the stake. Mary trusts Elizabeth to spy on her Protestant sister Elizabeth and she spends much time with both women. By the end of the book, Queen Mary's reign comes to an end. If the author chose to write a sequel, although the book finishes with Hannah's personal story nicely concluded, there is room for another novel with more of Hannah and her young physician as well as Queen Elizabeth's court.
This novel was decently paced and I was fairly interested in the historical events of the time. But I found that I just didn't care that much what happened to Hannah. Although she is smart and has a life at court, I found that these characteristics were more statements than backed by events of the novel. She is involved in plots and has multiple loyalties, but there is a simplistic innocence to the unfolding of events through her eyes that I found disappointing. There is also a great deal of sympathy for Bloody Queen Mary and the hard life she had lived, her loveless marriage to the Spanish King Phillip, her odd failed pregnancies, her fatal illness and her constant deep depression. Her faith and conviction, which lead to religious persecution were depicted as virtuous qualities. But my biggest dissappointment in the novel was the fact that Hannah has the Sight, but it is so infrequent and useless in the book, that it didn't add to the story.
I thought the Queen's Fool was decent reading, but I didn't really enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I think more of the Sight, a more complex presentation of the politics, more of the charismatic Elizabeth and more of what drives Hannah would have made this a better book.
Book Review: Good read, distracting grammar
Summary: 4 Stars
Except for the prologue, the novel is written in the first person, from Hannah Green's point of view. Hannah and her father are living in England, having fled there after Hannah's mother was burned during the Spanish Inquisition. Hannah helps her father in his bookshop and is betrothed to Daniel, another Jew, whose family helped her and her father get to and settle in England. Hannah has the Sight - she can sometimes see the future. Robert Dudley finds out and gives Hannah and her father little choice about Hannah moving to Kind Edward's court to be the King's holy fool.
The novel follows Hannah as she spies for Robert Dudley and eventually Queen Mary. She becomes a close friend and confidant to Queen Mary, but she is also very drawn to Princess Elizabeth. We also observe how Hannah handles being in love with Dudley while betrothed to Daniel and how she deals with the fear of her faith being discovered after Queen Mary begins burning heretics.
I really enjoyed this book. Hannah has flaws, as any well-written character should, and she does and says some unlikeable and sometimes arrogant things. Overall, though, she is a sympathetic, likeable character, and she clearly grows from a young, somewhat arrogant teenager into a more mature woman. She is a very caring woman, who prefers to befriend Mary and Elizabeth, rather than spy on them. I would have liked for the Sight to have been a bigger part of the book. Although the topic is often brought up, in actuality Hannah has relatively few visions of the future.
I know little of the relationship between King Philip and Princess Elizabeth, so I can't speak to Philippa Gregory's portrayal of that aspect of the book. However, the rest of the history and the major players in the Tudor court described in the book are portrayed accurately. Some people may find Hannah too sympathetic to Queen Mary, given Mary's decreed burning of over 300 non-Catholics, but it's also clear that Hannah disapproves of this, and we are given reasons for her to be sympathetic to Mary. Personally, I found the portrayal of Elizabeth too harsh. Although Hannah is very drawn to Elizabeth's charisma, the future Queen generally comes across as considerably unlikeable.
My main problem with the book is that the author constantly used comma splices. This could be the author's style, or it may be more acceptable in British writing, but I found it very irritating. Fortunately, the story is otherwise well-written enough that I was often distracted from the improper (at least in the U.S.) grammar.
Book Review: A little slow, but a solid story...
Summary: 3 Stars
Long story, cut short.....Hannah Verde, Spanish, Jewish, settles in England with her father after their flight from the Spanish Inquisition, given over to the Royal court of young King Edward as his Holy Fool, on his death she transfers to Queen Mary as her fool and here the story begins.....
This is my third Philippa Gregory and as expected it is a solid story, but not on the same par as her Bolyen books. I felt as though I learned quite a lot about Queen Mary, who as the book progressed seemed to get more and more unhinged, and it's no surprise she earned the name 'Bloody Mary'. Elizabeth was portrayed as thouroughly unlikeable and self serving and I don't doubt that she was all that and more and even the main players at court were just as I imagined them to be; fickle, scheming, underhand, greedy and manipulative, but it was the main character who really spoiled things for me. No matter what situation was unfolding, Hannah was always right there in the thick of things and after a while she really started to grate on me.
She didn't have a bad word to say about anybody, regardless of how horribly they treated her, and she kept going back for more of the same. I realise she wouldn't have had a lot of say in matters regarding how she was put to use by her employers but one minute she's litterally wetting herself as she's about to be tortured as a heritic because Mary has a bee in her bonnet (to put it mildly) about non Catholics, even though she considers Hannah her trusted friend....then the next minute Hannah is all doe eyed at Mary's feet and defending her against any critics....it just doesn't make sense. She has the means to escape and put it all behind her, but she does everything in her power to stay.
She can't seem to make up her mind about where her loyalties lie for most of the book and dithers from one plot master to the next, depending on what's afoot at any given time. Mary, Elizabeth, Lord Robert Dudley, her betrothed, John Dee...and, and, and. I just couldn't relate to her because she just didn't seem to have the wit to remove herself from danger when the opportunity arose. The exit was right there for her, and she chose not to take it.
Having said that, the story itself was interesting and enjoyable, if a little slow. The pace wasn't as fast as in her other books but overall the story was a good one.
I haven't been put off and I still plan to work my way through her other books, but if this is your first try of Philippa Gregory, this isn't her best.