SusannaG - Confessions of a Crazy Cat Lady
Just another GR refugee. Other than that, I had a stroke in 2004, and read almost anything I can get my hands on, though I have a particular weakness for history, mystery, and historical fiction.
Currently reading
Elizabeth of York, by Alison Weir
Elizabeth of York is well placed to be important and interesting in English history - first child of Edward IV and Elizabeth "was her mother really a witch?" Wydeville*, elder sister of the Princes in the Tower, niece (and courting partner?) of Richard III, wife of Henry VII, mother of Henry VIII, and the sprig from which all future British rulers would descend. But Weir confronted a problem in writing her biography - there isn't that much surviving evidence about Elizabeth herself, as compared to the men surrounding her.
So this biography is also "And her World," which makes a great deal of sense. (It is the same tactic she took with her biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, for similar reasons.)
Weir recovers some ground from her Princes in the Tower, and covers it slightly differently, but Ricardians will still not like that Richard is clearly the bad guy. (For the record, I am not a Ricardian.) She also addresses the interesting question of - was Richard courting his niece? And before his wife was actually dead? Did Elizabeth write a letter to him egging him on? What's going on with that?
I found the material from before her marriage to Henry Tudor the most interesting part, though I enjoyed all of it.
Recommended to those interested in the Tudors or the Wars of the Roses.
*This spelling, "Wydeville" rather than "Woodville," is the spelling Weir uses consistently in this book.
Thanks to NetGallery for the ARC - much appreciated!
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