Review ~ The Forgotten Queen by D. L. Bogdan

Published January 29th 2013 by Kensington

The Forgotten Queen

by

D L Bogdan

This fictionalised account of the life of Margaret Tudor starts with the realisation that she is to be used a political pawn to unite the countries of England and Scotland. Dispatched to Scotland as a young teenager, Margaret makes the best of her marriage to King James IV, and despite his infidelities and weak nature, she falls for his inherent charm. When she is widowed after the Battle of Flodden, Margaret must learn how to survive in a man’s world, and even as she seeks to protect her baby son, now James V, there are powerful men who would seek to destroy her. Margaret’s fearsome determination and self-absorption, do not make her very endearing, and I suspect that of all the Tudor siblings, Margaret was perhaps more like her brother, King Henry VIII, whose capricious and volatile nature is well documented. There is no doubt that Margaret was neither very good at marriage or motherhood, and the unpredictability of her troubled life makes for fascinating reading.

Overall, I thought the story was well written, the skill of the author encourages an emotional investment in the characters and even as Margaret comes across as both narcissistic and vainglorious, there is an element of sympathy for a woman who seemed to be strangely out of step with the world around her. The historical feel of the era is well captured, and it was refreshing to read about one of the lesser documented Tudor princesses.

4****

My thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an ecopy of this book to read and review.

Readers in the UK will perhaps know this author under another name - Darcey Bonnette