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A review by celiapowell
The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
2.0
I think Philippa Gregory may be running out of chunks of English history to write about. For this novel, she centres the plot on Mary, Queen of Scots, who is exiled from Scotland by rebels, and imprisoned by Elizabeth in England (due to her threat to Elizabeth's reign as the next heir to the throne.) Mary spends the majority of her time in luxurious house arrest with the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife Bess, and the narrative switches between these three. Mary is plotting to regain her throne, the Earl is slowly falling in love with the fascinating Queen, and his wife is worried about their rising debt as they support the Queen's household.
Unfortunately, an entire book of this gets rather dull. You wouldn't think so, after all - there's an entire rebellion in the middle, our characters flee from rebel forces, and the political scene is filled with intrigue - and yet, my main impression from the story is that of claustriphobia, stuck in the house with Mary, stuck doing embroidery with Bess and fretting about money, and the Earl being dopey and William, thinking passionate pages of internal dialogue about vivid, French-educated (which Gregory seems to equate with gorgeous, enticing temptress) monarch. Not the thrilling trashy historical fic I expect from Gregory, really.
Unfortunately, an entire book of this gets rather dull. You wouldn't think so, after all - there's an entire rebellion in the middle, our characters flee from rebel forces, and the political scene is filled with intrigue - and yet, my main impression from the story is that of claustriphobia, stuck in the house with Mary, stuck doing embroidery with Bess and fretting about money, and the Earl being dopey and William, thinking passionate pages of internal dialogue about vivid, French-educated (which Gregory seems to equate with gorgeous, enticing temptress) monarch. Not the thrilling trashy historical fic I expect from Gregory, really.