I think it's her sister, Harriet Castor, who writes the historical fiction! I had no idea until your comment prompted me to google, but she's written a YA novel about Henry VIII (http://www.hmcastor.com/). It's had good reviews, which is encouraging, and it looks like she's done incredible amounts of research.
Thanks for the biography recs -- I'm finding that I'm increasingly interested in Edward IV, and just what sort of a king he was. Of course people like Warwick would capitalise on the people's grievances for their own gain, but did Edward really rule badly, or were things in such a mess to start with that anyone would have faced rebellions.....? I've seen David Baldwin's book about Richard of York and how he survived the Tower, which is a bit.....weird, but he writes engagingly and I'm sure is much better when not coming up with crazy theories! I might well check out his book on Elizabeth Woodville, because I'm quite interested in what she was really like and what made her so amazing, away from witchcraft etc. *eyeroll*
If you look at what was actually being written at the time, they were obsessed with the Wars of the Roses, but none of the modern fiction reflects that at all.
Oooh, no, there is one: Wolf Hall. It's only a brief mention, but it does talk about the insecurity of Henry's claim to the throne, and the book itself is (naturally) concerned a lot with heritage and lineage. But you're right, you'd think authors would remember that there had been a civil war not that long ago, and that people would worry about something like that happening again. (while The Tudors bothered to include the Poles, it never really made clear who they were!) I think people can often see history as separate blocks of time, rather than interconnected things that happened one after the other.
I agree with you about Moffat doing too many things at once; I really liked how small series 5 felt, compared to how OTT RTD could get, but now there are so many plot developments stuffed in there, and none of them really get the time they deserve! Especially everything with River last season, and how she was Amy's daughter and had grown up with Amy as her best friend and wanted to kill the Doctor and then she fell in love with him and married him and went to prison for him and and and and. Plus his writing of women isn't great; I don't get the feeling he likes them, particularly. (cf. all his comments about how women are needy and just want to get married.)
no subject
Thanks for the biography recs -- I'm finding that I'm increasingly interested in Edward IV, and just what sort of a king he was. Of course people like Warwick would capitalise on the people's grievances for their own gain, but did Edward really rule badly, or were things in such a mess to start with that anyone would have faced rebellions.....? I've seen David Baldwin's book about Richard of York and how he survived the Tower, which is a bit.....weird, but he writes engagingly and I'm sure is much better when not coming up with crazy theories! I might well check out his book on Elizabeth Woodville, because I'm quite interested in what she was really like and what made her so amazing, away from witchcraft etc. *eyeroll*
If you look at what was actually being written at the time, they were obsessed with the Wars of the Roses, but none of the modern fiction reflects that at all.
Oooh, no, there is one: Wolf Hall. It's only a brief mention, but it does talk about the insecurity of Henry's claim to the throne, and the book itself is (naturally) concerned a lot with heritage and lineage. But you're right, you'd think authors would remember that there had been a civil war not that long ago, and that people would worry about something like that happening again. (while The Tudors bothered to include the Poles, it never really made clear who they were!) I think people can often see history as separate blocks of time, rather than interconnected things that happened one after the other.
I agree with you about Moffat doing too many things at once; I really liked how small series 5 felt, compared to how OTT RTD could get, but now there are so many plot developments stuffed in there, and none of them really get the time they deserve! Especially everything with River last season, and how she was Amy's daughter and had grown up with Amy as her best friend and wanted to kill the Doctor and then she fell in love with him and married him and went to prison for him and and and and. Plus his writing of women isn't great; I don't get the feeling he likes them, particularly. (cf. all his comments about how women are needy and just want to get married.)