Customer Reviews

The Red Queen: A Novel (The Cousin's War)

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Gregory's tale of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, is fascinating it its treatment of a proud, fanatical mother: From the age of ten, Beaufort believes herself another incarnation of Joan D' Arc, destined to fulfill God's will and see her son on the throne of England. In sharp contrast, Beaufort is bedeviled by the rising fortunes of Elizabeth Woodville, the commoner wife of Edward IV. Woodville's marriage allows her the luxury of what Beaufort so deeply covets. With untiring tenacity, Beaufort spends hours on her knees in chapel, waiting and praying for the knowledge of God's will as politics evolve around her. Not once does she waver, even when God fails to speak, waiting patiently and fervently for her destiny. The ongoing Cousin's War between the houses of York and Lancaster pits family against family, new plots ever in the making. Yet Edward is a beloved king, the people grown tired of the ambitions of the two warring families.

As the years pass, Beaufort endures through three bloodless marriages, the last, to Thomas, Lord Stanley, purely a political union that will ultimately serve in furtherance of Margaret's goals for Henry as king of England. In the last great battle pitting York against Lancastrian, Henry is successful in bringing down the House of York with the death of Richard III, joining the white and the red rose in marriage to Woodville's daughter, Elizabeth. Margaret Beaufort is finally able to claim the title of queen mother. Unlike the worldly and selfish Woodville, Beaufort never ceases to count the faults of others, blinded to her own weaknesses, so confident is she of God's purpose. This sense of mission and determined arrogance make Beaufort, in the end, a most formidable woman.

While as a reader I much prefer the more passionate characters Gregory has written of so brilliantly, she has a perfect sense of the mettle of Margaret Beaufort and the religious fervor that drains her protagonist of compassion or kindness, as fanatical as any religious figure in English history. Margaret endures separation from her son and the lack of a loving union in her singular goal, more frightening in her tenacity and vision than her enemies, and heartless. As cold as stone, Beaufort takes her place in history. Gregory clearly enjoys wearing the skin of this unusual woman, albeit one bereft of warmth or humility. Luan Gaines/2010.

I am a firm supporter of Richard III and I'm not the biggest fan of Philippa Gregory. When I saw that her second novel in The Cousins' War series would be about Henry Tudor's mother, Margaret Beaufort, I was quite anxious and worried about how Ms. Gregory would portray the entire drama and Richard. I can say, thankfully, that I have no complaints with how she showed him in this novel and, overall, it was a decent read (better, in my opinion, than the previous novel 'The White Queen'). Having never read much about Margaret I was fairly interested to read about her early life (as I am well versed with her later years).

Margaret Beaufort was from the line descending from John of Gaunt (Edward III's son) and his mistress Katheryn Swynford (the line was eventually legitimized). She is married at 13 to Edmund Tudor but he is killed soon after, though not before managing to get Margaret pregnant. In the years after the birth of her son, whom she names Henry (high expectations already), she is married two more times, sees the reigning House of York begin to crumble, and works behind the scenes to bring her son to the throne. Everyone knows what happens at the Battle of Bosworth and that is where this novel ends. That is Margaret's history and here Gregory has stuck to known historical fact fairly decently, though I will admit, having never read too much solely on Margaret there are probably some details I would miss. However, there is nothing glaringly obvious that jumps out at me so I can say that the historical accuracy in this novel doesn't bother me like it has in so many of her other novels.

The story is told from Margaret's point of view and I feel that severely limits the story. She (Margaret) is always in England and usually at a manor in the country so not around all the momentous events that occur throughout the time frame of the story. Gregory resorts to conveying important information in letters from Margaret to various people - Henry, Jasper Tudor, etc. - in order to get her readers up to speed on what is happening beyond Margaret's sphere. This really bugged me for the sole reason that someone as intelligent as Margaret would never have committed such treasonous ideas to paper and, to top it off, signed her name to it. I understand Gregory's need to fill the readers in and writing the story from a third person point of view would have solved this problem easily. Towards the end of the novel there are several chapters where she does switch to this POV out of necessity (battlefield scenes) and the story flows much better and is quite well written. Gregory has her take on what happened to the Princes in the Tower and I have no qualms with the way she portrayed the entire episode. What I do have an issue with is Margaret herself. I knew I was most likely not going to like her when, in the first few paragraphs of the novel, she is thrilled to have "saint's knees" at the age of nine and then soon likens herself as England's Joan of Arc. I have no doubt that Margaret Beaufort was a pious woman (it is well recorded actually) but I can not stand being constantly beat over the head with the information. This is an issue I have had with a few of Gregory's books. On almost every page of the novel Margaret is either mentioning how she sees herself as a Joan of Arc, sent from God to "rescue" England or discussing how because she is so pious and godly that her will must be the will of God, that she was sent from God to put Henry on the throne. This got old very, very quickly and mix that in with her arrogance and ambition and I disliked her from beginning to end. There was one moment when I wanted to clap and cheer that she finally got the right idea (when she was wondering if it wasn't all God's will but her own ambitions that she was acting on) but she soon talked herself out of that. I understand that she was an ambitious woman but it really seemed over the top to me. Beyond Margaret's ambitions and scheming to put Henry on the throne, there really is not much else to the story. Because the entire novel is basically from Margaret's point of view we really do not get a look at many of the other people that play such an important part in the story. There are, of course, scenes between Margaret and various people through out, but we really don't get a good look at these characters or what makes them tick. I think my favorite scene in the entire novel was the one between Margaret and Elizabeth of York. I loved the spunk Gregory gives the young princess and her parting comment to Margaret, after she has tried tirelessly to make the princess feel inferior, is priceless:

"Yes, but either way, shamed or not, I shall be Queen of England, and this is the last time you will sit in my presence."

The exception to the point of view limitation would be the final few chapters where Gregory switches to a third person narrative and we see Henry and Jasper Tudor. I thoroughly enjoyed these few chapters (though I always hate the outcome) and I actually liked her portrayal of Henry Tudor. I got the feeling that he was much less impressed with his Lancaster "inheritance" (England's crown) than his mother and wasn't overly worried if he was King or not. It almost seemed like the classic case of "child doing something only because his parents want him to" - almost like Henry was only invading England and fighting Richard because his mother wanted him to be King, not because he really wanted to be or felt he had a right to it. I was prepared to hate Henry as Richard's killer but Gregory wrote him in such a way that I can almost like him. It certainly throws a new light on him.

Overall I can say I enjoyed the novel more than the previous one about Elizabeth Woodville. There were, of course, things that irritated me but it wasn't a bad read. It doesn't bring any new information to the table but what was included was interesting. I think readers who want a little more background on how the Tudors came to power but aren't ready for some of the more detail heavy novels will really enjoy this; it would certainly be a good starting point if you're wanting to learn about the period. Serious Ricardians may not like it as it is told from the view point of the woman who helped take his throne. The story moves at a decent pace and it certainly covers a very dramatic time period in English history. I like the fact that it is about someone who writers usually doesn't spend too much time discussing. Gregory's next novel in the Cousins' War series will be about Jacquetta Woodville, Elizabeth Woodville's mother. She also plans on a novel about Anne and Isabelle Neville (Anne was Richard III's wife).

This is the second book in the series The Cousin's War. One doesn't need to read The White Queen(first in the series) to understand what happens in this novel. This is good, because I'm guessing you can read the third novel in the series without reading the second one, which I strongly suggest.

Margaret Beaufort is obsessed with Joan of Arc and religion. The reader is introduced to this in the first few pages of the novel. And then they are heavily beaten over the head with this information for the next 100 pages and then only moderately beaten over the head with it for the rest of the book.

I got it. Margaret wants to be another Joan of Arc. I also understand that Margaret is on a mission from God to put her son, Henry, on the throne. Her obsession makes her a very unlikable character and the only time I felt sorry for her is when she had to marry her first husband at a very young age.

The story that unfolds is about an uptight Margaret(who became really annoying towards the end) who is constantly praying, scheming and telling everyone she comes across she is on a mission from God. She's chaste, she's dull, and she's mean as a wet hornet.

Margaret's husbands were more entertaining than she was. I think my favorite was Lord Stanley, Margaret's last husband. He marries her only for political reasons, agrees never to have sex with her and loves to be on the winning side. He also has a knack for making her angry. For example(and I'm paraphrasing) he mocks her mission from God saying of course God would want her to become wealthy and powerful, not poor and help those who are less fortunate.

The story limps along at an unusually slow pace. The beginning had promise and then we get to the second half of the book which is dull, talks about battles, fighting, and I just don't care. There was nothing to grab my attention in this novel. But I think its the character. I didn't feel anything towards her, except dislike.

In this book Philippa Gregory manages to do what some YA historical fiction authors do, and that is leave out the details of the time period. Nothing puts my knickers in a knot faster than no historical details. There was no explanations of food, clothing..nothing. I hate that.

This is a book to be missed for all of the reasons stated above. If you are a Ms. Gregory fan and need to read the book I would loan it from the library.

"The Red Queen" falls far short of Philippa Gregory's usual. Normally, although historically debatable, her books provide a new interpretation on an old story. A different viewpoint, a way things might have possibly gone - although there is little historical proof, there is often little proof that it DIDN'T go the way she writes it either.

I'm appalled at the lack of time spent on Margaret Beaufort's story. While the idea that Margaret is inspired by the story of Joan of Arc is an interesting idea, this character's incredible stupidity makes entirely implausible for her to run a successful rebellion. She dreams of being Joan... and that's it. Her character shuttles back and forth between hating her family for using her as breeding stock and nagging her husband to fight for her family's rights. She wants to be an abbess... she lusts after her brother-in-law and then later after King Edward. She's enraged that the Lancasters line has been overtaken by the Yorks and that her husband didn't fight for the "true and rightful king", and then twenty pages later is wishing that she could have married Edward the King in order to "end the wars". Her character makes no sense and apparently has no grounding or political acumen. Her husband tries to teach her, but she never listens to a word he says.

I'm on page 212 and I'm so disgusted I'm not sure I'm going to be able to finish the book. Two thirds of it have been spent making her out to be a... well a nothing. She's passive and then suddenly aggressive. She hates her family... she's desperately loyal to her family. She wants to be an abbess... she's happy as a wife. She finally sees the results of battle, compares it to her imagination, realizes that her imagination was wrong... but then still judges her husband to be a coward for not wanting war. She's all about war and fighting for her family... but then suddenly starts wishing that she could marry Edward York and "make peace".

This character does not have the political acumen or intelligence of the real Margaret Beaufort, and I'm starting to think it's not just a travesty of historical-fiction, but also a travesty if this is the way Philippa Gregory's books are going to go from now on.

I usually love Phillipa Gregory, but this time, she missed mark. I found the book uneventful and drawn out. I felt nothing for "the red queen" except distaste. There was no excitement in the book. I felt no sympathy or happiness for the main character. Usually Ms. Gregory keeps me reading and reading, but this time I couldn't wait to be done and move on.

Too many historical novels are like tapestries: detailed, finely wrought and colorful, but essentially static. Things happen to these needlework queens and kings, courtiers and common folk, but they remain lifeless figures. They put me to sleep.

Philippa Gregory's fiction keeps me up. Her books resemble films, as accurate as any documentary but thrillingly intimate and eventful as well. A rich, consistently engrossing narrative voice is her preeminent tool, and in THE RED QUEEN, as in her other bestsellers, I felt that the protagonist was right in the room with me, whispering confidences --- so close that I could see the perspiration on her upper lip, the cross around her neck, the gold embroidery on her gown.

This is Book Two of the series Gregory calls The Cousins' War (the original name for the War of the Roses, which pitted Lancaster against York), and the starring role is played by Lady Margaret Beaufort. A Lancastrian descended from Edward III (and thus in line for the English throne), Margaret soon discovers that her family tree will determine her entire future. This pious and intense child doesn't see why she can't become Joan of Arc, or a nun (preferably an abbess), or at least marry for love. But to be strategically "wedded and bedded" is her lot. As her mother puts it in a chilly premarital advisory, "You are a girl: girls have no choice."

As Margaret matures, she doesn't lose her fanatical faith, but she transfers it from aspirations to a life of prayer to the more worldly vision of her son as king. Since Margaret's first husband, Edmund Tudor, is also of royal lineage, their offspring could conceivably rule the land as Henry VII...were it not for the many other aristocratic heads that would have to roll before his was crowned.

That doesn't deter Margaret. In the next couple of decades, she lies, cheats and conspires her way through two more loveless (and childless) marriages, pretending loyalty to the reigning Yorkist monarchs while fomenting rebellion --- first against Edward IV and his wife, the beautiful commoner Elizabeth Woodville (the protagonist of Gregory's THE WHITE QUEEN and Margaret's greatest adversary), and then against his successor, Richard III.

Gregory sets up Elizabeth and Margaret like queens in a chess game, and their stratagems couldn't be more fascinatingly intricate if they'd been invented out of whole cloth rather than based on the historical record. Elizabeth is blond, ravishing, rather greedy, and reputed to be a witch (in THE WHITE QUEEN she conjures male heirs and convenient storms). Margaret is dark, comely enough but no beauty, disciplined and passionately Catholic. Raging against her rival, Margaret calls Elizabeth's pride, vanity and ambition "sinful," while her own desires are "godly" and "righteous" (self-deceptive much?). She clings to her self-image as a latter-day Joan, a Machiavelli masquerading as Mother Teresa.

Any reader familiar with Henry VIII knows that Margaret Beaufort went on to forge one of England's more enduring royal dynasties --- although Henry VII, admittedly, isn't as famous as his much-married son. Yet THE RED QUEEN still manages to be suspenseful because it hews so closely to Margaret's point of view (to her, the outcome is in doubt until the very last page). There is a wicked pleasure in tracking her treasonous schemes while her son waits in safe exile on the continent. She even marries for his sake, taking for her third husband the most opportunistic of men: Thomas, Lord Stanley. He agrees to her offer of marriage as if it were a business proposition, which indeed it is.

And a smart one, since the two-faced Lord Stanley turns out to be the key to the novel's denouement, when Margaret's son faces Richard III on Bosworth Field. Gregory writes of the battle so grippingly that it unfolds like an action movie, cruel and exciting. It ends, the victor emerges, and I'm left hungry for a sequel. (Actually, the next book will be more of a prequel: It is about Elizabeth Woodville's Circe-like mother, Jacquetta.)

Elizabeth, Margaret, Jacquetta --- strong women, all. No surprise there, since Gregory's agenda is clearly to rescue her gender from historical oblivion. As she said in a recent interview, the feminine side of life largely went unreported by the male historians of the time. Those few women who do emerge in contemporary documents are often ridiculed and condemned for their uppity attempts to wield power, even indirectly.

Margaret herself is a victim of the standard chauvinism of the 1400s. Although she's not a sympathetic personality --- Freud would have had a field day with this obsessive, repressed woman --- the way she was raised would make anyone hard. Virtually raped by her husband at 12, a mother at 13 ("I have to say I am much less impressed by crucifixion now that I am in childbirth. It is really not possible that anything could hurt more than this") and separated from her baby a year later so she can marry again, Margaret is, she muses, "a parcel --- taken from one place to another, handed from one owner to another, unwrapped and bundled up at will. ..."

THE RED QUEEN and THE WHITE QUEEN cover roughly the same period from different perspectives, and any Gregory enthusiast will want to immerse herself in both. Yet Margaret and Elizabeth, while appearing at first to be opposites, are actually more alike than different: intelligent, resourceful, manipulative, driven. In an age that treated women as a combination of servant and broodmare, they refused to be dismissed or defeated. In the modern world, they might have commanded corporations or countries. But I wouldn't want to meet either one of them in a dark alley.

This is the story of Margaret Beaufort (Also known as Margaret Stanley in history), the mother of Henry VII. Essentially, it is the story of her determination to win the crown for the Lancaster line. Of course, going in we know that she does so, but this novel presents an interesting, highly readable portrait of this woman and her family.

First, everyone notes how religious she was. I don't know -- it seemed to me that her religiosity was based on being noticed for piety. It is true that she prayed all night at times, but I get the feeling that there is little Christian charity at work there. This is a truly mean spirited, inflexible woman.

Second, she was vain and proud of her lineage. But I think that was probably usual for her time and place.

Third, she is presented as being capable of doing a truly heinous crime to ensure that her son wins the crown. It is speculation, but it is truly awful.

But still.... I cringed at the birth of her child; I marvel that any woman survived those methods! And I cannot imagine living in such a labyrinth of intrigue and turncoating! Good grief!

Anyone who has enjoyed Philippa Gregory's other books will surely enjoy this one, too. I look forward to the next one!

I am a Philippa Gregory fan but this book was a sad disappointment, a large portion of the book rehashed her last book The White Queen. I do realise that some history must be repeated, but to the extent she did, was a waste of time.

"The Red Queen" is the second in Philippa Gregory's "The Cousins' War" series, following the Plantagenet line as she previously did so successfully with the Tudors.

As in most of her other books, she focuses on the journey of one woman through the courtly intrigues of England's royal fortunes and royal families. For me, she has yet to outshine her own successes, "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "The Boleyn Inheritance." I did like this volume more than its companion, "The White Queen.

The narrator of the "The Red Queen" is Margaret Beaufort. We begin with her as a child, a child soon to be wed for political gain. The chapters of Margaret's transition from child to wife to mother are conflicted, watching a little girl forced into her marriage bed with a man she barely knows and then enduring a very difficult pregnancy. Her role as brood mare is clear. Early in the book, Margaret's faith, her saints' knees, her fascination with Joan of Arc, add up to an emotional story. She is still half a child, dreaming that her son, a Tudor, will become the King and that she will sign her name, Margaret R, Margaret Regina, the King's Mother. that she loses this husband early is a seeming blessing to Margaret.

Gregory writes well of Margaret's fierce love and ambition for this child and the growing influence of her brother-in-law, Jasper Tudor. Eventually, the plague takes her husband, and Margaret remarries to Sir Henry Stafford, she is astounded to be treated well, to have a man who is gentle with her and thinking of her comfort. If only she could take him to heart in the same way. . .

Gregory knows the voice when she writes of envy, jealousy, and selfishness. As Margaret's machinations grow, she endangers her husband, her son, and herself. She is dedicated only to the Tudor line, the idea of becoming the Tudor King's Mother. She cannot abstain from her own desires, involving herself in rebellion and revolt to no good avail and to the detriment of thousands of men at war.

She remarries after losing Henry to a battle wound. This part of the book is also well-written, with Margaret's pride and selfishness overwhelming and trivializing Henry's condition. Even as he lies dying, she is plotting. (History is history; this should not be seen as a spoiler, I hope)

Her next marriage takes her son closer to the throne; the little Princes, Prince Edward of Wales, and Richard III the heartbeats between "her boy" and the throne. How much can she do with her fellow conspirators to destroy what remains between her and her dream?

The battle scenes are well choreographed. The simple beauties of the English countryside contrast with the excesses of human contrived fashion and beauty at court and disgusting gore in mud and blood on the battlefield.

Gregory puts us into the shoes of a flawed protagonist and untangles the web of York vs. Tudor history.

I found a few odd comparisons (Thomas Gray's line, written in 1742 "a flower that wastes its sweetness in the desert air" and "what's done is done" from Shakespeare's "Macbeth,") and the repetition of the word "turncoat" was driving me a little crazy in the latter third of the book, but still, I admit it. I love the ease of reading history I already know through the voices Gregory creates.

I was so looking forward to this book, as I have always enjoyed Ms. Gregory's books. I reserved it from my local library months ago and read it in a little over a day, which is normal for me, but I was slogging through this one instead of flying through the pages in anticipation. I just did not care for the subject of the book, Margaret Beaufort. Many times I wanted to reach into the book and slap the crap out of her or throw the book in frustration because of the fact she was such a bey-och. If I had to describe Margaret Beaufort in one word it would be sanctimonious. In fact, her picture should be in the dictionary as the personification of the word.

That said, I am looking forward to the next book in the series and hope that it will be better than the Red Queen and even the White Queen, which I was not that thrilled with either. Ms. Gregory's other books (the Other Boleyn Girl, etc.) having to do with Tudor England were much better, in my humble opinion.