Release Date: Jan 29th 2013
From her earliest days, Margaret Tudor knows she will not have the luxury of choosing a husband. As daughter of Henry VII, her duty is to gain alliances for England. Barely out of girlhood, Margaret is married by proxy to James IV and travels to Edinburgh to become Queen of Scotland.
Despite her doubts, Margaret falls under the spell of her adopted home. But she has rivals. While Jamie is an affectionate husband, he is not a faithful one. And providing an heir cannot guarantee Margaret’s safety when Jamie leads an invading army against her own brother, Henry VIII. In the wake of tragic loss she falls prey to the attentions of the ambitious Earl of Angus—a move that brings Scotland to the brink of anarchy. Beset by betrayal, secret alliances, and the vagaries of her own heart, Margaret has one overriding ambition—to preserve the crown of Scotland for her son, no matter what the cost.
Exquisitely detailed and poignant, The Forgotten Queen vividly depicts the life and loves of an extraordinary woman who helped shape the fate of two kingdoms—and in time, became the means of uniting them.
When most think of a Sister to King Henry VIII they think of Mary, who married Charles Brandon. Indeed D.L Bogdan named the book aptly in choosing to call it the Forgotten Queen. Upon the opening of this novel we are thrust right into the world of a Princess who like most is never really going to be able to steer her own destiny. Raised to be a Lady, to have children and be a Wife who will wed who she is told. Ah, but we also learn quickly Margaret Tudor is every inch the Tudor as we know them, fiery, temperamental and stubborn.
I truly enjoyed this walk in the shoes of a Tudor that I did knot know much about.There are many historical facts that D.L Bogdan touches on (I did a little research while reading), and of course with any work of fiction some liberties have been taken. That said what is presenting really is a gripping story of a Woman who is a Queen and desperate to be loved. A woman who makes many wrong steps in her life and yet she truly does seem to mean well when she makes each of them. A woman like any woman who loves her children and fought nearly her whole life for her Son’s throne and for peace between her homeland of birth and the homeland she adopted.
Margaret Tudor is a character or person as you like that caused a lot of conflict within me. At times I adored her and I understood the plights she was in, and the choices she was forced to make. At other times I wanted to grab her and shake her hard because she was being so selfish. It was at those times that I reminded myself, where any royals really unselfish? They were raised to rule, and raised to think of themselves as god’s anointed and the most important person in the land. Prepare yourself for a up and down ride with this book and prepare yourself to be enlightened to some not as strongly sung parts of history and you will enjoy it.
My Gemstone Rating:
