Title: The Red Queen

Author: Philippa Gregory

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Touchstone

Format: Hardback   

Pages: 419

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

The inspiration for the critically acclaimed Starz miniseries The White Queen, #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings to life Margaret Beaufort, heiress to the red rose of Lancaster, who charts her way through treacherous alliances to take control of the English throne.

Margaret Beaufort never surrenders her belief that her Lancaster house is the true ruler of England, and that she has a great destiny before her. Married to a man twice her age, quickly widowed, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph. She sets her heart on putting her son on the throne of England regardless of the cost to herself, to England, and even to the little boy. Disregarding rival heirs and the overwhelming power of the York dynasty, she names him Henry, like the king; sends him into exile; and pledges him in marriage to her enemy Elizabeth of York’s daughter. As the political tides constantly move and shift, Margaret masterminds one of the greatest rebellions of all time—all the while knowing that her son has grown to manhood, recruited an army, and awaits his opportunity to win the greatest prize in all of England.

The Red Queen is a novel of conspiracy, passion, and coldhearted ambition, the story of a proud and determined woman who believes that she alone is destined, by her piety and lineage, to shape the course of history.

Review:

This was another fantastic book by Philippa Gregory. She takes historical figures that you think you know, and she turns them into human being that love, that experience heartache and loss, and who are also ambitious. All of these things describe the protagonist of the story- Margaret Beaufort. She dreams that she is meant for something big and she spends the book trying to figure out the path that God has chosen for her. She wants to become an Abbess, but that is not her fate. She is meant to give birth to the future king of England.

Gregory does an incredible job of taking a complicated historical event such as the War of the Roses and making it make sense to readers. You understand both sides of the civil war, and she makes you understand the motivations of the different characters. Gregory also does a great job of showing how different characters would seem in each other’s eyes. In The White Queen, Elizabeth Woodville saw Margaret Beaufort as a schemer who just wanted her son on the throne. In the Red Queen, Margaret sees Elizabeth as the schemer who bewitched Edward into marrying her. Gregory has set up a fun adventure with these novels and I highly recommend them!

Happy reading!