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As is the case in most things, there are at least two sides to every story. History –especially war – is no different. With The Red Queen, Philippa Gregory gives us the “other side” of the story than that told by Elizabeth Woodville in last year’s The White Queen. The “other side” is that of the House of Lancaster, descended from Edward III’s second eldest son, John of Gaunt (how the descendants of the second son managed to sit on the throne is another story entirely…) and who are in serious danger of dying out. Their hopes rest on the shoulders of one young girl – Margaret Beaufort and the story is told mostly from her point of view.


Overly serious and pious for a twelve year old, Margaret spends a lot of time praying (congratulating herself on her “saint’s knees”, callused from so much time kneeling) and envisioning herself as Joan of Arc and the savior of England. Despite wishing for a future in a religious establishment, Margaret is informed that her duty is to provide an heir for Lancaster and so, at the age of twelve, she is married off to Edmund Tudor. She decides that her way to save England is to provide a son to be its king. When the long awaited heir finally comes, it nearly kills her. She names the baby Henry and soon after, Margaret finds herself a widow.

The majority of the book follows Margaret through two additional marriages (to Henry Stafford and Thomas Stanley) and her constantly changing fortune as the infamous “cousin’s war” (later known as the Wars of the Roses) heats up, drags on and reaches a crises with Richard III on the throne. Through it all, Margaret never loses sight of what she sees as her and her son’s destiny – to be the ruler of England.

Margaret is not very likeable. She is arrogant, self-centered, self-righteous and annoying. She makes much out of her piety and her references to Joan of Arc become repetitive, and although at times it is irritating, it is a consequence of the first person narration and how Margaret perceived herself. There is no doubt that Margaret loves her son and everything she does is for his future. The scenes with her reuniting with a young Henry where he treats her as a virtual stranger about broke my heart and I felt some sympathy for her. It didn’t last long though and we see just how far a mother would be willing to go to give her son what she thinks should be his.

Unfortunately for Margaret, her show is often stolen by two of the men in her life –her second and third husbands. With eyes to their own future, they are each in their own ways shrewd and calculating men. And Gregory gives them some of the best lines of the book. One of my favorites is when Margaret asks Stafford if he sees how her son walks. His reply - “Both feet. One after the other. Miraculous.”.

I didn’t get much of a sense of Henry’s character since for most of the book he is in Wales or Brittany and far away from Margaret. From what little I could pick up, he is a serious young man who doesn’t seem overly excited about the great destiny his mother has mapped out for him. We do get a slight glimpse into what was originally supposed to be the subject of the next book in the series – Princess Elizabeth of York (but will now be Elizabeth Woodville’s mother, Jacquetta). Touched with some of her mother and grandmother’s “abilities”, she is feisty with a mind of her own and she knows how to put her future mother-in-law in her place when faced with the possibilities of the upcoming battle between King Richard and Henry: “Yes, but either way, shamed or not, I shall be Queen of England, and this is the last time you will sit in my presence.” Margaret is speechless! I hope Gregory goes ahead with the book on Elizabeth as I would love to read a book where she is not portrayed as dull and lifeless as a mop, even if she is in love with her uncle.

The use of first person narrative really creates some problems for most of the book since much of the action happens around Margaret and she’s not really involved in it. This results in a lot of long-winded narratives where Margaret tells us what is happening in the country with regards to the struggle between York and Lancaster which doesn’t always make for interesting or exciting reading. And Gregory makes the mistake of having Margaret and Stanley (who are both really too smart for this) resort to writing letters to each other full of their treasonous activities. As in The White Queen, the narrative occasionally shifts to third person, especially when dealing with the battlefield. The result left me wishing that the entire book had been written in third person.

It seems that after The Boleyn Inheritance Gregory’s writing style changed. Despite its faults regarding accuracy, I thought The Other Boleyn Girl was an intriguing and engaging story that I simply did not want to put down. Those qualities are missing from Gregory’s more recent works and to make matters worse, the writing feels like she is ‘dumbing it down” in order to reach a wider audience. I suppose that is her choice, but I think it is rather unfortunate.  It is however always interesting to see the “other side” of a story and since there are few books written about Margaret, I enjoyed the book from that standpoint.

The importance of a son to a woman: “A husband can come and go; he can leave on his own account. He can go to war or get sick or kill himself; but if you make your son your own, your own creation, then you are safe. A boy is your guardian.”
So much for witchcraft:  “She is as fertile as a stable cat…The joke is on her, for they say she married him by enchantment and comes from a long line of women who dabble in magic. Now all she can make are little witches for the burning.” Margaret reflecting on Elizabeth Woodville’s inability to give birth to a prince.

They aren't named the Riverses for nothing:  “She should use her black arts and fly away, or summon the river and swim to safety.” Margaret on Jacquetta Woodville.



In case the FTC asks: The publisher sent me a copy of the book to review.