The King’s Daughter by Sandra Worth
Unless I am mistaken, Elizabeth of York is the only woman in English history ever to have been daughter, sister, niece, wife, and mother to English kings. If there is any woman whose life was dramatic enough to write about, it is probably Elizabeth.
Elizabeth lived near the end of the War of the Roses. Daughter of the Yorkist King Edward the IV, she lived through the reign of her father, the ever so brief reign of her younger brother Edward V (one of the ‘Princes in the Tower‘), that of her uncle Richard III, and was eventually married to the man who defeated and killed Richard III in battle, Lancastrian Henry VII in an attempt to end the War of the Roses and unite the Lancastrian and Yorkist lines. In addition, Elizabeth’s mother, Elizabeth Woodville is one of the most controversial English queens of history and her son, Henry VIII would perhaps become the best known English king – if only for all the wives he went through.
Clearly there is no shortage of drama in Elizabeth’s life. I very much appreciated that, at least so far as I could tell, Worth did not try to infuse the story with any additional drama, as some historical novelists attempt to do. In fact, she paints nearly all of her characters – including Richard and Henry as complex and human, instead of as evil monsters. Elizabeth Woodville and Lady Margaret Beaufort are not looked upon kindly, but even then Worth seems to be painting them as Elizabeth of York might have seen them, instead of as if she herself had an agenda as to what they did or did not do.
Everything in the novel was very believable, if it is not precisely how things happened, it certainly could have been. No wild, untoward leaps seem to have been taken with the history, and everything the characters did seemed internally consistent with how Worth wrote them, including the relationship between Elizabeth and Henry.
I really enjoyed reading “The King’s Daughter.” It is an example of solidly good historical fiction (and Worth wrote a loooong author’s note in the back explaining her research and what may and may not be true. I looove that). I read “The King’s Daughter” in under 48 hours, which means it is the book to successfully pull me completely out of my book funk, which is absolutely fabulous. I will definitely be looking for more of Worth’s work.
“The King’s Daughter” will be released in paperback on December 2nd and is available for preorder.
I’ve got this one for review also. I’m glad I have something fun to look forward to!
Lezlie
Glad to hear you’re out of your book funk!
Sounds like a wonderful book!
Yeah for the end of the reading funk!!! And this is going on MY list for sure.
Great review. This one is on my wish list-I’d love to read it. Glad you enjoyed it.
This has been on my wishlist for a while! I really enjoyed her other book. Thanks for reviewing.
Great review, Jen! Another one for my wish list…
This looks really good. Great review. I love all the links!
Jen, I just put this on my Friday Finds after seeing a preview at J. Kaye’s blog.
Would you say this is more Jean Plaidy than Philippa Gregory?
Thanks for the great review, Jen! This will definitely be on my Christmas wish list. This sounds like the perfect book to add to my Tudor series list.
Shana-
In that Gregory was who I was thinking of when I mentioned historical novelists who elaborate a bit too much, Worth is much more like Plaidy. I really like Plaidy, but I know people find her dry sometimes, I don’t think that same complaint would be made about this book – perhaps because of the first person narration, I’m not positive, but if I remember correctly, Plaidy usually uses 3rd person.
Wow! This sounds like a great story. I’ve never read anything about her before.
I have this one on my TBR shelf, thanks for the great review!
I love long author’s notes too! Nothing bothers me more than a historical novel without any note about what was and wasn’t and possibly where to find more.
Great review! It’s definitely gone on my wishlist!