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| Headline 9 May 2024 Tudor Rose #3 My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book and to Random Things Tours for the invitation to the blog tour |
Adored only child of Henry VIII and his Queen, Katherine of Aragon, Princess Mary is raised in the golden splendour of her father’s court. But the King wants a son and heir.
With her parents’ marriage, and England, in crisis, Mary’s perfect world begins to fall apart. Exiled from the court and her beloved mother, she seeks solace in her faith, praying for her father to bring her home. But when the King does promise to restore her to favour, his love comes with a condition.
The choice Mary faces will haunt her for years to come – in her allegiances, her marriage and her own fight for the crown. Can she become the queen she was born to be?
MARY I. HER STORY.
Alison Weir’s new Tudor novel is the tale, full of drama and tragedy, of how a princess with such promise, loved by all who knew her, became the infamous Bloody Mary.
📖 My Review..
Mary Mary, quite contrary is a nursery rhyme we have grown up with and which is supposed to be about the ill-fated Mary Tudor who brought such deadly religious strife to her country. Mary wasn't always contrary being the much cherished daughter of Katherine of Aragon and even though her father Henry VIII was desperate for a male heir, Mary was very much fêted as a young child and treated as the princess she undoubtedly was. So, what went wrong for Mary?
Mary's teenage years spent as an outcast from her father's court, her frosty relationship with Anne Boleyn, who she deemed unfit to take Katherine of Aragon's place as Queen of England, is recounted in much detail and with a sympathetic eye towards Mary's thwarted dreams and ambitions. Her disappointment and frustration during her brother's Edward's reign is especially poignant as she was forbidden to hear the Catholic Mass which brought her much sorrow.
There is no doubt that Mary I: Queen of Sorrows is a beautifully written and intricately researched historical novel which portrays a much softer Mary and not the despotic Queen who was determined to rid the country of protestant heretics although this covered in the later chapters of the novel. This is very much about a woman, who was often lonely and misunderstood, who was driven by destiny and passion, and who was determined to bring England back to Catholicism and even though this route would see much unrest Mary's religious belief was always her guiding light.
All credit to the author for shining a much needed spotlight on Mary Tudor in a story which brings the intricacies of the Tudor court to life in glorious detail.
About the Author
Alison Weir is a bestselling historical novelist of Tudor fiction, and the leading female historian in the United Kingdom. She has published more than thirty books, including many leading works of non-fiction, and has sold over three million copies worldwide.
Her novels include the Tudor Rose trilogy, which spans three generations of history’s most iconic family - the Tudors, and the highly acclaimed Six Tudor Queens series about the wives of Henry VIII, all of which were Sunday Times bestsellers.
Alison is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an honorary life patron of Historic Royal Palaces.
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