The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

Determined to see her son Henry on the throne of England, pious Margaret Beaufort arranges politically advantageous marriages, sends her son out of the country for his safety, and lays secret plans for a battle between the houses of York and Lancaster.

It was so strange, listening to this book and knowing that this woman's actions were not far removed from me. For, you see, Margaret Beaufort is my 10 x great grandmother.

Geez. I read this book out of order and was pretty confused at the start. It stood on its own okay and was a rather gripping account of the mother of Henry Tudor. She is appallingly unlikable, which I really enjoyed. Seriously, someone should have told this pious shrew that pride is a sin. More's the better when Thomas, Lord Stanley comes into the picture as her incredibly traitorous husband. Good stuff.

I read this book right after the first book in the series “The White Queen”. I really struggled to read this book because it was actually an almost rehashing of the first book, but from a different persons perspective. I found it too boring and repetitive. I finally finished it and will not pick it up again.

Like all her other books, I devoured it! Margaret Beaufort is a very disagreeable woman, but I respected her drive. She went through hell and came out alive. Sure, some of the writing was repetitive. That did get annoying. The story overlaps what happens in “The White Queen”. I wished that I had a copy so I could go back and read what Elizabeth Woodville was doing! More of the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. Some of that was confusing...who did what and were they really dead? I'm sure more of that will be touched on in the third book. All in all, awesome read and I recommend to anyone who enjoys Tudor fiction and Philippa Gregory's novels!