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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Young Bess by Margaret Irwin, February 21, 2010
This review is from: Young Bess: The Girl Who Would Be Queen (Elizabeth I Trilogy) (Paperback)
Young Bess is the story of Elizabeth Tudor,the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. After the King had Anne executed,he declared Elizabeth illegitimate,thus losing her place in line to the throne, and removed her from his presence, to Hatfield House. After King Henry dies his last wife Catherine Parr has Elizabeth live with her and her new husband Tom Seymour. Thomas Seymour (known as Lord High Admiral) has an older brother Edward, who becomes The Lord Protector.
So begins the story of court intrique and royal whims that Elizabeth finds herself in. The Seymours gained power when their sister, Jane married King Henry VIII and produced a son and heir, Edward who is Elizabeths brother. Tom Seymour was jealous of his brothers power and pursues a relationship with Elizabeth, sometimes very intimate, with their bedroom antics. Tom would go into "the Lady Elizabeth's chamber before she was ready, and sometimes before she did rise; and if she were up he would bid her good morrow and ask how she did, and strike her upon the back or on the buttocks familiarly...." Kat Ashley, Elizabeths governess and friend tries to tell Elizabeth that these antics need to stop and after awhile Catherine Parr realizes that she needs to get Elizabeth away from Tom so to try to save Elizabeth's reputation she sends her away to the house of Anthony Denny in Hertfordshire. However, when Catherine dies in childbirth in August 1548, Thomas renewed his attentions to the Princess.
In his determination for power Thomas then devises a plan to kidnap the King. He breaks into the Kings apartments at Hampton Court, but was subsequently caught and arrested for treason in his plot to seize the throne from her half-brother, Edward VI. The Privy Council charged him with thirty-three counts of treason, one of which was,that they believed he had had a sexual relationship with Elizabeth and that she was with child, which we know now was not true.
I really enjoyed reading this book about Elizabeth and to learn a little more about her years under the age of 20. Ms. Irwin's writing was pleasurable and easy to understand. If I didn't know that this book had been previously published in 1944, I would feel like it was recently written. Thouroughly researched and beautifully told, Young Bess is a novel that anyone interested in the Tudor court after King Henry VIII, the early years of Elizabeth and even about King Edward VI,would enjoy. I highly recommend this book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Young Bess, March 11, 2010
This review is from: Young Bess: The Girl Who Would Be Queen (Elizabeth I Trilogy) (Paperback)
This is a reprint; the book was originally written in 1944. Elizabeth I is one of my favorite historical figures and I have done quite a bit of reading about her - but most of it is from the time after she ascended to the throne. It was very interesting to read a book that takes you back to the time when she was still a child. Before she became the political genius and great Queen of England.
The book was easy to read and is very detailed as to its period and time. My only issue is that at time it seems that the book switches tone from historical novel to history book in trying to put forth the necessary information to move the story forward. This was, of course, a very challenging time in England's history and there was much intrigue going on as Henry VIII faded away. After his death the short reign of Edward was fraught with strife due to his guardians. Elizabeth's position was precarious and she had many lessons to learn.
Yet it is often forgotten that she was still very young.
The book is an excellent starting point for someone wanting to learn about Elizabeth and this period in history. It is part of a trilogy and the other books are also due to be reprinted. I will eagerly await their publication. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Young Bess.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Queen in Training, March 10, 2010
This review is from: Young Bess: The Girl Who Would Be Queen (Elizabeth I Trilogy) (Paperback)
Margaret Irwin's Young Bess introduces us to an Elizabeth rarely written about. Opening when she is twelve years old, readers meet an intelligent, strong-willed child who has been reunited with her father through the auspices of his Queen, Catherine Parr. Loving and admiring her father, Bess, like any other child has been hurt by his refusal to see her for several years, and is mistrustful of his words and actions. The constancy of her governess, Mrs. Ashley is all she has had until this marriage of her father and Catherine Parr, his sixth wife. Twice a widow, Catherine has no children of her own and the care of Bess and Edward, as well as making Mary an important member of court, brings her delight. On the death of the King, Bess is pleased to be placed in the dowager Queen's household under the guardianship of Sir Thomas Seymour, whom the Queen had married less than six months after Henry's death. Seymour uses Elizabeth's youth and proximity to play and flirt to the point that Bess must leave the household to protect her reputation. Angry and also despondent, Bess is even more upset about the news of Catherine's death in childbirth a few months later. Catherine's death leaves Seymour even more time to pursue the young princess and intrigue against his brother, Edward, Lord Protector of young King Edward. Seymour's plots are soon discovered and his treason in plotting against the king causes him to lose his head.
Through all of these plots, rumors, deaths, and marriages, Young Bess keeps her own counsel. Mrs. Ashley and Catherine Parr taught her well to hold her opinions and stay out of plotting. Although she fully intends to become Queen one day, the teenage Elizabeth is smart enough to know that it will not come about through plotting against her younger brother or older sister Mary. The book ends with the pitiable death of little King Edward and the machinations of John Dudley, current Lord Protector attempting to put his own son on the thrown instead of Mary or Elizabeth.
I greatly enjoyed the strong, wily and intelligent young princess presented to us by Mrs. Irwin. I think Elizabeth would have to have been that way from a very young age to have ruled so well as an adult. It also shows positive aspects of both her parents' personas in her own, without her father's rages and her mother's lack of understanding consequences. King Edward, of whom very little is known, is portrayed as pious and cold, a boy who doesn't mind being sickly and having to stay indoors as he loves to read and study theology. Her sister Mary is portrayed as mercurial, as is often the case, and definitely never actually happy, contentment being the closest she comes to happiness. Young Bess gives a great perspective on an often ignored time in the life of Queen Elizabeth I, and I eagerly await the October publication of Elizabeth: Captive Princess.
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