Loved the book but was confused by the muddle of the recording.

The book was extremely enjoyable. I saw Elizabeth in a completely new light; Gloriana was shown in a human light, a strong but vindictive woman struggling to hold onto power and so resorting to petty jealousy and consequently subjecting people to unjust and illegal treatment. I now question whether it was her strength or that of her advisors which enabled her to hold on to her throne.
However there was clearly a poor editing of the recording as part way through a long way still to go before the end the final several chapters were read out which as well as spoiling the ending threw myself into some confusion.
Other than that I would certainly say this is a highly enjoyable book and introduced me to a previously unexplored side of Elizabeth's court.

40 people found this helpful

Very typical Philippa Gregory, as in very average

This is very much in the same vein as Philippa Gregory's books, of which I have read a good few. I admire her for trying to give the forgotten women of history a voice; it's just unfortunate that she has to give them all the same voice.

The main characters of this book, all of whom have a narrative, sound exactly the same in the way that they speak and think. Lady Jane Grey is probably a bit more interesting than the other two (her sisters), but, well, we all know how long she lasted!

It's unfortunate that, as in a lot of Gregory's books, the women come across as so petty and constantly critical of each other. I can't help feeling that these noblewomen must have recognised how difficult and dangerous life was for each other and would not have despised each other so much for no good reason. In this book, the Grey sisters actually have an excellent reason to despise Queen Elizabeth by the END of the book, but really no reason to do so at the beginning. But Gregory portrays them as hating her for being self-involved and insecure from the very beginning of the book, meaning that neither they nor she have any character development at all.

The lack of character development is one of the most obvious failings of the book. The characters are always so frustrating sure of everything - they're sure that news will come, they're sure that they could never be beheaded - meaning that when the thing does happen, they come across as unbelievably naive and a bit stupid. And yet they sill don't learn from their experiences, but carry on in the same attitudes.

Furthermore, Gregory seems to be a bit obsessed with portraying Queen Elizabeth badly in her books. I would have thought a woman who is so interested in giving a realistic voice to women of history, rather than trying to see them only through the eyes of history (which is inescapably male) would find this queen interesting and inspiring. But Elizabeth gets no credit for any of her political victories, for being strong enough to resist being pressured into marriage, or even for the mere fact of her survival in such a difficult time, and is consistently merely portrayed as a petty, hateful woman. So keen is Gregory to show that Elizabeth is worthless that she portrays one of the Grey sisters as being privately supportive of Mary, Queen of Scots, which I'm sure would never have been the case for anyone from such a staunchly protestant family.

My final gripe is the writing style, which is monotonous and even soporific at times. Gregory can't ever use a pronoun to refer to anybody (it's always 'she, the queen, my cousin Queen Elizabeth' and never just 'she'), as well as other annoying rhetorical devices, such as always saying, 'I feel that it is cold' or 'I think that it is cold' rather than just 'it is cold. This means that her sentences pretty much all sound the same as each other, which is very boring.

In terms of the narration, I must say that Bianca Amato has improved on her reading of previous Philippa Gregory books. A lot of her annoying quirks of speech have disappeared and she pronounces place names correctly now. She still pronounces some words a little oddly, but overall I was quite impressed.

46 people found this helpful

Quite Boring

The story in this book is probably the most uninteresting of the Phillipa Gregory novels. Lady Jane Grey's portion was probably the highlight but her sisters are not interesting at all and any insights they could have given to Elizabeth's court are pretty quickly squandered since they spend most of their parts imprisoned away from court and only hearing things second hand. Also the way the author treats Elizabeth smacks a great deal of misogyny and also of demonization because nothing she ever does is seen in a positive light EVER. She's always a slut or a tyrant and there is no inbetween.

TL:DR: Skip this one.

7 people found this helpful

Very enjoyable and easy to listen to

I am generally very interested in the tudors so perhaps I was predisposed to like this book. When I decided to listen to it I had been looking for a book with a thought provoking story, without being too much of a challenge and it far exceeded this brief. It made my daily commute so much more enjoyable and at the same time, I learnt about a significant family in history who have been all but hidden and realised a different side to queen Elizabeth. I am sad it is over!

2 people found this helpful

loved this book . love the history and facts.

it was a great listen
v intriguing and kept me entertained all the way through. as well as gave me an understanding of living in this strange period in time

2 people found this helpful

Familiar story

Enjoyable enough without being outstanding. We all know the outcomes, I was hoping for more information

1 person found this helpful

The unknown Tudor stories is tragic and spellbinding

This book has been wonderful for me , an avid Tudor reader . This unknown tutor story was difficult to hear at times as it's so hard to think of these women going through such torment with no support from the law of the day .
But what a story the author has created for us , out the pain comes love and life and courage .
The reader bianca is fantastic and brings these incredible ladies to life .
Zena x

6 people found this helpful

marvelous as always.

if you are a fan of the author then you will not be disappointed. The narrator is perfect, I've heard Philippa reading in person and the narrator is as close as you can get to the real person.

The last Tudor

Didn’t enjoy this as much as some others I’ve read by Philippa but it filled in a few hours.

Lady Jane Gray seemed to be another pawn in the Tudor game.

Awful reader...again!

Please use English readers for English voices. Bianca Amato’s grasp of the language as spoken by native English women is poor and very distracting.