Review: The Queen's Gambit
Posted by Cathie on Saturday, August 24, 2013. Filed under: fiction, historical fiction, published in 2013, review, reviewed in 2013
Queen’s
Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle
Published by: Simon &
Schuster
Our source: ARC courtesy of
the publisher
What it’s about (from Goodreads):
Katherine
Parr, widowed for the second time aged thirty-one, is obliged to return to
court but, suspicious of the ageing king and those who surround him, she does
so with reluctance. Nevertheless, when she finds herself caught up in a
passionate affair with the dashing and seductive Thomas Seymour, she believes
she might finally be able to marry for love. But her presence at court has
attracted the attentions of another…
Captivated by her honesty and intelligence, Henry Tudor has his own plans for Katherine and no one is in the position to refuse a proposal from the king. So with her charismatic lover dispatched to the continent, Katherine must accept the hand of the ailing egotistical monarch and become Henry's sixth wife - and yet she has still not quite given up on love.
Captivated by her honesty and intelligence, Henry Tudor has his own plans for Katherine and no one is in the position to refuse a proposal from the king. So with her charismatic lover dispatched to the continent, Katherine must accept the hand of the ailing egotistical monarch and become Henry's sixth wife - and yet she has still not quite given up on love.
Our thoughts:
Queen's Gambit is a romance novel steeped in history. As a
child, I always envisioned that being the queen meant that you had lots of
power, authority and respect. Queen's
Gambit showed me that that wasn't necessarily the case.
Set in the 1500's, the story is told from the perspective of
Katherine and her servant girl, Dot. King Henry VIII chooses Katherine to be
his sixth wife. Knowing the King's previous wives have been either executed,
had their marriages annulled, or died in childbirth, Katherine is nervous as to
what her fate will be. Complicating matters even more is the fact that
Katherine has fallen in love with Thomas Seymour.
This story was full of romance and politics from this very
historical period in English history. Queen's Gambit is beautifully written and
I very much enjoyed Elizabeth Fremantle's exciting tale.
We would recommend this to:
No Responses to Review: The Queen's Gambit
Leave a Reply