Cousins' War (2) - The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
Book two of the Cousins' War: The Red Queen, the story of the one and only My Lady, the King's Mother (In German Der Thron der roten Königin). I read it in English where it contained 464 pages. Originally published 2010.
Margaret Beaufort is not enough. She's a girl. Furthermore, she's not a very fertile girl of twelve, as her husband has to experience. In the Lancaster family, a son has only destiny: The crown. And the young, utterly devoted widow knows that. She guards her one and only son closely, since Henry will be king of England. And she will be My Lady, the King's Mother and it is her who will make the decisions...
Margaret Beaufort is a very interesting, but also very difficult character. She's a religious fanatic, who sees fault in everyone but herself. She thinks she's chosen by God and His favourite, the only one who knows His will – and that her son will have the crown. Additionally, she thinks that nothing is too good for her and everyone else is vain and sinful.
Spoiler:
Even though she did admit her mistake, once. It had nothing to do with something really bad. Like killing two innocents... But let's all pray that her soul will be forgiven for conspiring with a woman so low and a man so vain.
Her son, Henry, is later on the most cruel king of the Cousins' wars, but in this book, he is to be pitied. He grows up with an ice-cold child as a mother, who makes him doubt and than hate his guardians – and than she banns him from his home. He's not allowed back to England, but has to live in France, where he is not even allowed to forget his home. And his mother doesn't even accompany him. The only trusted father he ever had is Jasper Tudor.
I must admit, I really like the latter. He's practical, but also loving. He's one of the few good thing Margaret Beaufort ever received. He cared for her and made her happy – she was stupid to not insist on marriage after her second husband died. She was stupid to let him go.
Margaret was stupid in several other areas as well. Like how she treats her second husband. He's such a good person – kind, loving and keeping her and her son out of trouble. But she only saw that he would not go on a suicide mission and hated him for it. At first, I could understand her resentment – her first husband was an asshole, even though Edmund was Jasper's brother. But her second husband was so kind, he gave her everything she wanted! She could even pray whenever she wanted, which was very important to her. And she never gave him a chance!
But this book is not only about a tragic love story – actually, that love story makes up just... I don't know, put together maybe five pages? - It shows how women were forced into wedlock and how dynastic families were run. Additionally, Margaret's story is crucial to history. She might be a really terrible, cruel and most unnerving person, but she managed to get her son on the throne. She's unscrupulous and one of the best plotters of that time, and she symbolizes the view of the house of Lancaster concerning the Yorks as well as of religious fanatics. And additionally, in this book, the mystery of the princes in the tower is solved – even though this is actually the making of P.G. and not proven. But, as she says herself in her author's note, she's both historian and author: She can not leave blank pages with a mark for “not proven”. This time was not recorded very well – the lives of women were utter mysteries. She had to let her imagination play.
And she does so very well. She takes historical facts as well as the views of different co-historians and uses them to create the picture of a complex (and annoying) character and a cruel, heartless yet intriguing time. It's fascinating and it seems real. And even though Margaret Beaufort is “a woman who [… has] much to complain about” the book is definitely worth reading.
In brief:
All in all, I give stars for content, ideas and style. I am sorry, but I can not bring myself to give stars for characters. They are all very round and wonderfully described, but I hate the protagonist soooo much! She's so bad...
Prequel:
Sequel: