Philippa Gregory. Trashy or not?

[MaryMotherOfCheeses]

?

not. she's a good writer & does a lot of research.

HTH

But such crap pictures on the front? :shallow:

"Glamorous and sexy" as quotes from the DM.

I feel I should hide my copy

is it one of the historical queen books? or something else?

Yeah, just got The White Queen. Will do the series if I like it.

Read most of the Tudor ones too, which I thought were fantastic.

But the covers do put me off and make me wonder!

I'd say good trash.

I have stuck with the ones based on some kind of truth (some kind should be in quotes?)

Don't fancy the straightforward fiction.

Or should I?

Maybe I could wrap them in brown paper

I hated the one I read - it was disturbed and disturbing! YUK YUK YUK!

Which one?

read Other Bolyn Girl and enjoyed immensely. Couldnt take to the others though.

2 good books if you are interested in old queens (ahem)

\link{http://www.amazon.co.uk/Katherine-Anya-Seton/dp/0340839880/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305583112&sr=1-1\Katherine by Anya Seton}
\link{http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daughter-Time-Josephine-Tey/dp/009953682X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305583209&sr=1-1\Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey}

DoT is actually about Richard III (& the little Princes) but Elizabeth Woodward features in it; Katherine Swynford was the ancestor of Margaret Beaufort who was Henry Tudor's mother (or wife - I get confused!)

Both really well-written & well-researched books, although Katherine has to be quite well-embroidered due to the lack of documentary evidence from that far back.

I read the first page of one of them (Other Boleyn Girl iirc) and it read like one of my gran's Silhouette Historical Romances.

Not for me.

eek, do I mean Woodward? Elizabeth of York anyway who married Richard III's older brother, was mother of the Princes, & ended up letting her daughter marry Henry VII.

I think

I have read the White Queen, but a while ago - some of it is a bit silly but I seem to recall enjoying the rest of it.

Ponders Elizabeth Woodville

Not trashy. Very good.

English teacher here admitting to having had a Philippa Gregory phase not long ago. I loved the stories, especially the Katherine of Aragon one, but had to give up on her because the relentless comma-splicing was making my red pen hand twitch.

I know, I am an awful punctuation snob. But how does a book get to be published without someone at some point pointing out that the author isn't using commas correctly?

Don't send me to Pedant's Corner - I'll be good now!

thank you, shmoz

(I didn't think it sounded right...)

I really liked the Constant princess, the other Boleyn Girl and the one that came after it about Anne of Cleaves and Katharine Howard. I thought the Queens Fool was drivel and I wasn't too bothered about the White Queen but it hasn't stopped me reading the Red Queen. The covers are really off putting.

Ponders, have you read Sharon Penman's The Sunne in Splendor? It's also about Richard III, and features Elizabeth Woodville and the princes. It's told from Richard's POV.

If you like historical fiction, Sharon Penman is excellent.

no I haven't, ZQ, but funnily enough I just noticed it was cited in one of the (critical) reviews on amazon of Daughter of Time. I will give it a go

Ooh, I am reading Here Be Dragons, Penman's King John one, right now and enjoying it.

Think I read a Philippa Gregory one - did she do the one about Henry VIII's last wife? (Can never remember which Katherine that was.) If she did I quite liked that too.

I'm a poor student of history though - gave it up at 14. I keep meaning to get my Antonia Fraser out to see how much of the King John stuff is true, or at least documented.

oh, sorry, not one of the critical ones (that cited a book about the Princes in the Tower) but anyway, I thought I'd have a look at it!

My mum is a huge fan of Richard III (weirdo!) and loved The Daughter of Time. I think Sunne in Splendour might be on her shelves somewhere too.

Tell me more about Sharon Penman. Which would you suggest?