I'm not sure the others get any better! :D But (if you can bring yourself to read it) I'd be interested to know what you think of The Kingmaker's Daughter, since you've studied Anne Neville.
If you ever write a novel about the Wars of the Roses, I would definitely read it. :) That's an excellent point about witchcraft and Elizabeth -- having her use magic to achieve her ends takes away from her intelligence, charm etc. (especially when it doesn't seem to have been thought through - why can she make Richard sick but not Edward better?) I think this is actually Philippa Gregory's biggest flaw; she does domestic stuff really well, but she can't do political context. And the strong women she wants to write about would have been (in a subtle way) political operators. (not just pawns, Philippa!) The White Queen gives you a good sense of Elizabeth as wife and mother, but not as a queen, or as anything else.
The agenda thing is the problem I have with non-fiction about the Wars of the Roses -- I'd love to have a clear summary of what happened when, so I can sort what we do know from dramatic license, and yet all the books on Amazon have average ratings and comments saying "stop demonising the Woodvilles!" or "Richard never did any of this!" *headdesk* I have She-Wolves by Helen Castor, which looks like it explains Margaret of Anjou's life thoughtfully and sympathetically, and Fatal Colours (which covers the run-up to Towton) looks pretty good too. (especially as most fiction covers the period between Towton and Bosworth, and so I don't know much about the beginnings of it all.) But I'd really like something which covers the entire thing and which doesn't have a blatant pro- or anti-Richard agenda.
So where do you stand on Richard? :D I'm a bit of a Ricardian, but not to crazy levels.
Oooh, I am fond of the turn of the century -- the 20s are a bit too brittle and sharp-edged for me to really love it, but the aesthetic always draws me back in. And anything which fleshes out Cecily beyond 'terrifying' is definitely good with me -- I'll have to check it out. :D I do watch Doctor Who, but the weird thing is, while I like Eleven so much better than Ten, I found RTD's Who so much more involving than Moffat's. Btw, I really enjoyed Kynges Games; despite all the mess his History of Richard III seems to have caused, I rather like Thomas More. :D And it had George Cavendish!
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If you ever write a novel about the Wars of the Roses, I would definitely read it. :) That's an excellent point about witchcraft and Elizabeth -- having her use magic to achieve her ends takes away from her intelligence, charm etc. (especially when it doesn't seem to have been thought through - why can she make Richard sick but not Edward better?) I think this is actually Philippa Gregory's biggest flaw; she does domestic stuff really well, but she can't do political context. And the strong women she wants to write about would have been (in a subtle way) political operators. (not just pawns, Philippa!) The White Queen gives you a good sense of Elizabeth as wife and mother, but not as a queen, or as anything else.
The agenda thing is the problem I have with non-fiction about the Wars of the Roses -- I'd love to have a clear summary of what happened when, so I can sort what we do know from dramatic license, and yet all the books on Amazon have average ratings and comments saying "stop demonising the Woodvilles!" or "Richard never did any of this!" *headdesk* I have She-Wolves by Helen Castor, which looks like it explains Margaret of Anjou's life thoughtfully and sympathetically, and Fatal Colours (which covers the run-up to Towton) looks pretty good too. (especially as most fiction covers the period between Towton and Bosworth, and so I don't know much about the beginnings of it all.) But I'd really like something which covers the entire thing and which doesn't have a blatant pro- or anti-Richard agenda.
So where do you stand on Richard? :D I'm a bit of a Ricardian, but not to crazy levels.
Oooh, I am fond of the turn of the century -- the 20s are a bit too brittle and sharp-edged for me to really love it, but the aesthetic always draws me back in. And anything which fleshes out Cecily beyond 'terrifying' is definitely good with me -- I'll have to check it out. :D I do watch Doctor Who, but the weird thing is, while I like Eleven so much better than Ten, I found RTD's Who so much more involving than Moffat's. Btw, I really enjoyed Kynges Games; despite all the mess his History of Richard III seems to have caused, I rather like Thomas More. :D And it had George Cavendish!