In reality, however, life for the nobles was very far from being a gift, especially for those who had to live with a childish and volatile king who always got his way.
Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle tells the story of Katherine Parr who, after recently becoming a widow, catches the eye of the notoriously short-tempered and borderline psychotic king, Henry VIII. The entire story is dedicated to Katherine’s day-to-day struggling and scheming to stay afloat and hopefully come out on top in a very turbulent time where traitors were found aplenty and various factions gained power left and right.
If you are a fan of stories revolving around nobles of the 16th century, then this is one book you cannot pass out on. I have to admit that even after having my fill of the early modern period right after the Middle Ages, this novel still managed to hook me into it. Virtually every action and word spoken is part of some kind of scheme or strategy, turning the story into a different kind of war, one we are not used to seeing so much of these days: an intellectual one.
Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle tells the story of Katherine Parr who, after recently becoming a widow, catches the eye of the notoriously short-tempered and borderline psychotic king, Henry VIII. The entire story is dedicated to Katherine’s day-to-day struggling and scheming to stay afloat and hopefully come out on top in a very turbulent time where traitors were found aplenty and various factions gained power left and right.
If you are a fan of stories revolving around nobles of the 16th century, then this is one book you cannot pass out on. I have to admit that even after having my fill of the early modern period right after the Middle Ages, this novel still managed to hook me into it. Virtually every action and word spoken is part of some kind of scheme or strategy, turning the story into a different kind of war, one we are not used to seeing so much of these days: an intellectual one.
Katherine is especially fascinating to follow, for even though all of the odds are against her and point to her demise, she still manages to stay afloat and slowly gets ahead, one move after the next.
As you could have guessed, each character in this story has multiple layers of depth to him or her, being unique, noticeable, and perhaps more importantly, believable. Each character carried a certain weight, a power that even the reader can feel; every single piece in this giant chess match plays its role.
Though I am not exactly sure of how Henry VIII was in real life (I know about as much as the average person), his rendition in this book was very entertaining and managed to make the danger brought on by his volatility quite palpable.
The day-to-day life of the court is shown in all of its glorious details, bringing to light a truth we suspected about nobles for a little while now: every single day was a fight for survival, and one wrong step could send one to the gallows. Also, though it may seem from my descriptions that this is a slow-paced book, it all depends on your definition of the term.
The day-to-day life of the court is shown in all of its glorious details, bringing to light a truth we suspected about nobles for a little while now: every single day was a fight for survival, and one wrong step could send one to the gallows. Also, though it may seem from my descriptions that this is a slow-paced book, it all depends on your definition of the term.
No, there are no gunfights, giant wars or explosions with high body counts. Virtually all of the plot progress is done through dialog, and though physically-speaking not much is happening, the story is always going forward relatively fast.
All in all, I can do nothing but recommend Queen’s Gambit to those interested in Henry VIII and life in the royal court, especially if you are into intellectual novels that urge you to go beyond the surface and do your own thinking.
 | Elizabeth FremantlePersonal site Elizabeth Fremantle is the author of three historical fictions (Queen ‘s Gambit, Sisters of Treason and Stella’s Eyes), with it obviously being her favorite genre to write in. Her historical fictions are romantic as well as political in nature, being rather reminiscent of Jane Austen’s works. |
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