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: One of my favorites
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this book. My favorite Gregory novel is The Other Boleyn Girl, and this comes a close second.
Other reviewers have criticized the author for her portrayals of Mary and Elizabeth in this book, but everyone needs to keep in mind that we are viewing these women through Hannah's eyes, and this is fiction, not a historical textbook.
Hannah is a very likeable character, who struggles throughout the book to come to terms with her gift of sight, her religious faith and her place in the world as a woman.
In this book, as in The Other Boleyn Girl, it's the slow-building, passionate love story that touches me the most. The love story of Hannah and Daniel is very well-written and is my favorite part of the book. It is easy to see what draws them to each other and what keeps them apart. Though the road is bumpy, I was very pleased with the ending.
My only complaint would be that I thought the book ended a few pages too soon. (In fact, I would love to see a sequel about the next chapter in Hannah's life.) After everything Hannah went through to discover what she truly wanted, and after everything she went through to get it, I would have liked to see a more passionate ending and a little more assurance that Hannah's future would be as happy as I wanted it to be.
Book Review: A badly written book filled with contradictions.
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is about a Jewish girl named Hannah Green who flees from Spain in fear of the Spanish Inquisition after witnessing her mother being captured and burned alive at the stakes for being a Jew. She comes to England with her father and lives as a Christian while following the Jewish religion in secrecy. Through a chain of events she becomes a royal fool and a spy - for both Queen Mary and Elizabeth.
Throughout the book Hannah talks about how she misses her mother and can still smell her mother's burning flesh from the stakes and then also professes her love for Queen Mary and what a wonderful woman she is. It is well documented in history as well as this book about Queen Mary's burning of hundreds of non-Catholics at the stakes. A practice that earned her the name - Bloody Mary. The book is very sympathetic towards Queen Mary and portrays her as a virtuous woman who believed that she was burning people for their own sake - "only doing what she believed to be right in her heart".
The fact that Hannah was living her life in fear of being discovered as a Jew and continued to deeply love Queen Mary was extremely unbelievable and ridiculous. I could not help but roll my eyes every time I read how much Hannah loved and admired Queen Mary.
Book Review: My First Gregory read
Summary: 4 Stars
I've always been something of a history buff, and lately I've been on a history kick as far as my reading goes, both fiction and non-fiction.
This novel is about a young girl who has fled to England with her father from Spain, after her mother is burned by the Inquisition as a Jew. They are all members of the underground Jewish community during this time period, people who nominally converted to Christianity while struggling to hold true to their Jewish roots. Hannah, the main character, is doubly cursed (or perhaps blessed) by the Second Sight, and is brought to court by Lord Robert Dudley to serve as a second Fool for King Edward. She stays on with the court through the reign of Queen Mary.
There are a number of stories interwoven in this novel. It is both a coming-of-age tale and a tale of intrigue in the English court. The historical detail is quite good, and accurate as far as I know...a few of the character details of the historical figures are I'm sure fictionalized, as is the main character and her family, although the situation the family is in is realistic enough.
If you enjoy historical fiction, you'll enjoy this book. Gregory's writing style is engaging and smooth, and makes for fairly easy reading, suitable for airplane flights or relaxing before bed.
Book Review: Religous terror
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a big, scrumptious read for lovers of history and for lovers of the work of Philippa Gregory, who is queen of the stories of Tudor times. Hannah Green is a 14 year old Jewish girl who has escaped the fires of the Spanish inquisition with her father, to settle in London. Her mother was burned at the stake as a heretical Marrano, a Jewish convert to Catholicism. Father and daughter live in their place of business, a printing shop, with Hannah permanently dressed as a boy for the sake of safety. When the young King Edward dies, his throne is taken by his elder sister Mary, daughter of Henry V111 and Katherine of Aragon, and who is a fanatically devout Catholic who sets up the burning fields of Smithfield, to torture and burn alive, anyone who is declared to be not totally devoted to the cause of Catholicism. Hannah has the gift of "Sight" and is used by both Queen Mary and her sister, Princess Elizabeth, as a "Holy Fool", to foresee the future, but manages to tread a careful path between both of them. It's a big, informative book with fascinating glimpses into life at Court in treacherous times, as courtiers and citizens alike change their religions and allegiances to suit that of the reigning monarch. It's a wonderful read and one which ended too soon for my liking.Book Review: It was a good idea anyway. , , ,
Summary: 1 Stars
I'll be honest - I'm a "fool" for anything that has the words, Jew, Jewish, 16 century, Tudor, Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I - and the description of this book had it ALL. Yay!; and in addition, I found it for a great price. Saddly, I recieved what I payed for. It seemed like Ms. Gregory could be a good author, but she may be a poor recreator of personality. I didn't like any of the characters in this story - but Mary I, it was nice to see her in a positive way, I guess? I hated her portrail of Queen Elizabeth and I really did not care for the main girl, Hannah, a spanish Converso. She seemed like a real stretch to put into this story - as were most of the siruations in the book. I know this is fiction, but it is HISTORICAL fiction, I expected of realism. Also, I went into this book really hoping to identify with Hannah on some Jewish sort of level at least - bubkus. Oh well, at least Ms. Gregory gave some nice discriptions of things.
Buy this book if you have no idea of who Queen Elizabeth and Mary are. Buy this book if you have no idea of Jewish culture and what a "Converso" was and how they would feel/act. Buy this book if you can find it cheap and want a dull read. What ever you do don't buy this book and expect to take something away with you.