A rather late review considering I read and finished the book within twenty-four hours of its release. I wish that I could say that was because it was such a compelling read. Unfortunately I just wanted to get it out of the way. The Cousin’s War started as one of the more entertaining series I… Read More The White Princess
I’ve come to the opinion that Tesco have a lot to answer for. Three books for five pounds they said. You’ll need to read something on a five hour train journey they said. Look! We’ve got historical fiction they said. I bought The People’s Queen by Vanora Bennett in the same offer that saw me… Read More Fictionalising Historical Characters: The People’s Queen
The White Queen finishes airing in the UK on Sunday, and so I can resume non Plantagenet blogging, while wondering how on earth they are going to fit so much of the final year of Richard III including the deaths of his son, wife, an alleged affair with his niece and the battle of Bosworth… Read More The History of the White Queen: The Princes in the Tower
If you had told me some months ago that Anne Neville, one of the most unassuming women in history; a woman who, despite being queen, left no hint of a legacy, would become one of the most popular heroines in modern historical fiction, I would have looked at you stupidly and asked, ‘how?’. Now some… Read More The History of The White Queen: Anne Neville
Yesterday, in case you have been living under a rock and managed to miss the worldwide media storm, the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a baby boy, a boy who is now third in line to the throne and will one day, be King of England. After the initial celebratory ‘it’s a boy’ announcements,… Read More Royal Baby Names 1066-1501
Continuing the series on the history of The White Queen, this week is the turn of Margaret Beaufort. The excellent Amanda Hale’s portrayal shows her as utterly dedicated to her son, though it would seem to border on the obsessive, the same of which can be said of her faith and piety. This image of… Read More The History of The White Queen: Margaret Beaufort
I have been quite busy recently, working on my real life job which has kept me away from blogging and such the like. Yet when I checked my emails this morning I found eighteen individual messages asking me to write something on the history around The White Queen. And so…ta dah! This will probably be… Read More The History of the White Queen: Elizabeth Woodville
Quills (2000) is one of the more surprising films I own. It hosts an all star cast featuring Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine and Geoffrey Rush, it did well at the box office and gained mostly positive reviews, yet I have yet to meet anyone who has ever heard of it. The film follows… Read More Quills (2000)
Recently I watched The Last Days of Anne Boleyn, part of the BBC Tudor season. It is a documentary but also a debate between historians and authors of historical fiction, trying to piece together what happened to cause Anne Boleyn’s downfall and the events of her last days. While looking at the hows, whys and… Read More Sidelining Jane Seymour
BBC’s new historical drama,’The White Queen began on Sunday, with an impressive 5.3 million viewers tuning in to watch the whirlwind romance between Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. A great deal of modern historical fiction deals with Henry VIII and his choice of wives, but it is the commoners turned queen that command the most… Read More Accuracy, Authenticity and Accessibility: The White Queen
