Philippa Gregory

[Tcrawford90]

I have been enjoying Philippa Gregory's for years and she never disappoints. I actually just got The Red Queen and The White Queen for Christmas and was also wondering which one I should read first. This will help a lot, thanks!

[serenity01]

I don't think it matters which you read first, though I think the White Queen was written first.

[MarathonCF]

For my book group I have just read "Earthly Joys" by Philippa Gregory. This is the first book by this author I have read.

I absolutely loved this book. I love all of hers but I really liked the way this one was from the POV of one of the ordinary people rather than the King. I thought it was a really sad portrayal of the way people of that time believed royalty could do no wrong because they were ordained by God.
If you liked that you should read the sequel - Virgin Earth. It's just as good and takes place in the colonies.

[MarathonCF]

Because I was so totally on the White Queen's side, I found the Red Queen really hard to read as I just could not see things from her POV, I was still too involved with the first book.

[MandiKenendy]

Has anyone read the Wideacre series? I absolutely loved them! Meridon my fav - cried and cried all the way through it.

[rebecca-52]

Philippa Gregory is a hit and miss author when it comes to my own tastes. My two favourites and I think her best works are 'The Other Boleyn Girl' and 'The Boleyn Inheritance.' The books that I really hated were 'Wideacre'(hence I didn't read the follow ups) and 'The Wise Woman' which were IMO very OTT.

I have read her works on the Cousins War in sequence but I hated Lady of the Rivers.....

One of the things that I don't understand about Philippa's writing is that she seems to choose the most uninteresting times in her protaganists life; a case in point is 'The Other Queen.' Why choose to write about such an interesting individual when she is imprisoned by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I ? All Mary could do was wander about and whine. Whereas her life as Queen in Scotland is gripping!

But I know Philippa gets a bad press because of her historical inaccuracies....But I read her books because she has a gripping writing style and to be entertained and swept along on her different characters.

Someone else asked what other author writes during this particular Era....I have enjoyed D.L Bogdan and have recently bought the new book 'The Forgotten Queen.'

But anyway thats my long two cents worth lol.

Becca

[Maud Fitch]

.....But I know Philippa gets a bad press because of her historical inaccuracies....But I read her books because she has a gripping writing style and to be entertained and swept along on her different characters.....

Well said!

[rebecca-52]

.....But I know Philippa gets a bad press because of her historical inaccuracies....But I read her books because she has a gripping writing style and to be entertained and swept along on her different characters.....

Well said!

Thank you Maud. Another book I really enjoyed was 'The Little House.' It is a contemporary novel about a possesive mother in law and emotionally fragile daughter in law. It has also been made into a movie...It truly is a gripping read.

So Maud what is your favourite Philippa book?

Becca

[becstar24]

I too have been reading Philippa Gregory's books over the years and still have my favourite as ''The Other Boleyn Girl' amongst the other Tudor Court novels. She has a wonderful ability to create characters you feel like you know so well and are inside their heads and her art of describing scenery of the time transports you as a reader to that era.

I enjoyed 'The Lady of the Rivers'' although found the constant change of rule with King Henry VI's mysterious sleep a little confusing at times. However it did end rather more neatly.

I am intrigued to read the other novels in 'The Cousins War series' or War of the Roses even though somehow I've managed to read from the middle first! Oh well it doesn't seem to matter too much with Philippa's books as she often crosses over time periods anyway. From what I've read on the other posts 'The Red Queen' and 'The White Queen' follow the same time period just with different perpectives. Am very much looking forward to transporting myself into their worlds...

[Yamunaji]

You've not confused anything. They're both similar stories that are told from different people's outlook. I read The White Queen first and then The Red Queen. I also read Lady of the Rivers (that tells the tale from The White Queen's mother's perspective). I wouldn't agree that you anyone should feel cheated as The Red and Queen and The White Queen tell the same story - they're from different viewpoints (which actually makes reading both books more interesting) and have a bit more information on different events in each book.

A word of caution with Philippa Gregory, though: although she's one of my favourite authors for her writing style, her books are certainly not what you'd call historically accurate!

[Maud Fitch]

.....A word of caution with Philippa Gregory, though: although she's one of my favourite authors for her writing style, her books are certainly not what you'd call historically accurate!

In the long run, who cares? If a reader wanted an historically accurate book, they'd read a non-fiction history book.

My favourite is "The Other Boleyn Girl" and who's to say it did or didn't happen. It's always intriguing to imagine what may have happened behind the scenes while 'documented events' were being playing out on centre stage.

[alparean]

I really enjoy all her books but agree with others about the accuracy, in the White queen Chapter spring 1472 it mentions them staying at Nonsuch Palace, I thought this was built by Henry 8th. Odd that it is mentioned a 100 years before its completion. I wonder why? Perhaps I am missing the point.

[Devozna]

'The Constant Princess' is one of my favorite books by Gregory. It takes a highly debated aspect of history and spins its own version, as does 'The Other Boleyn Girl'. The Boleyn novel actually led me to read 'The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII' by Retha Warnicke, which sheds some light on Gregory's stance concerning actual lives of the Boleyn sisters.

[michelleNYclassics]

Did anyone see the Starz mini series that was done on Phillippa Gregory's Red Queen/White Queen books? So engaging.

There's just something enticing about historical fiction -- especially when it's thoroughly researched and then well-written, like we see with Phillippa Gregory's tales. It's like witnessing dirty, little secrets of grander-than-life souls who have long since left the earth but whose legacies are too alluring to die. As much as the world has evolved since such medieval days, the love of a good piece of gossip and the damage that such can do is ever-present in many social structures.

I truly enjoy being able to follow the trials and tribulations of legendary personalities that I can then research online for portraits, geneology and the like. It is so thrilling to know these characters actually lived and breathed upon this world. I particularly enjoy the fickle atmosphere of Tudor-era England. The snatching of the crown by Henry VII to end the War of the Roses, the great tyrant who lobbed the heads off his wives, the attempted theft of the throne by the ill-fated nine-days Queen lady Jane Grey, the bloody reign of the Catholic Queen Mary and then the golden years of the grand Monarch Elizabeth I.

It makes a reader wonder just what cunning and control it would've taken to survive in the viper's nest that was a Tudor court. I thank writers like Phillipa Gregory, Karen Harper and Allison Weir for bringing back to life the long-gone days of these turbulent royals.

[Tabbycat42]

Philippa Gregory is one of my all time favorite authors. Some people found her Wideacre series a bit too dark to enjoy, but I absolutely loved it.