, I've never heard such a great and funny review! Now that you know the real truth about Anne; this is what I have been hoping this is what Gregory would do while reading her “stuff.” Getting to know Anne is why she and Elizabeth are my favorites of all the Tudors and in Tudor history. Thank you, WilesWales

Yes!  Brain cells intact.  That's all we can hope for when people finish reading PG. 

Hi everyone, (first post! woop!) 😀

I have to say that the thing that puzzles me the most about Philippa Gregory is that she claims to be a feminist who loves portraying strong historical women in her novels. Yet, on the subject of Anne Boleyn AND Elizabeth I, she was handed on a golden platter two extremely strong, fascinating, independant women from history who would be absolutely PERFECT feminist role models for her to write about – and yet she chose to slander them both!! (Elizabeth to a slightly lesser degree, but speaking as a big Anne/Elizabeth fan I did not appreciate PG's insinuations that Elizabeth stole some of her most famous quotes ie “This is the lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes” from her sister Mary).

Aside from making me angry, it just plain ol' confuses me – why??? :-S

As regards her writing, I do think that she used to write very gripping and engaging books, even if I disliked her take on the historical characters. However lately I feel her writing has gone downhill somewhat. Not many people seem to agree with me, but I thought “The Other Queen” is particular was dire. I couldn't even finish it. 🙁

Sharon said:

Hi MistressAnne.  Welcome to the ABfiles forum!

I don’t know why PG does what she does.  I have her new non-fiction book, The Cousin’s Wars.”  I couldn’t get past her intro where she gives her explanation of feminism. Closed the book and put it away.  Not that she said anything offensive about it, but her explanation of feminism doesn’t jive with her writings about these historical women.  She insults them.  I don’t know why she does it.

The comment which is attributed to Elizabeth when she was told she was queen, “This is the lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes,” is a quote from the Bible, Psalm 118:23.  So I guess, if Elizabeth stole it from anyone, she stole it from there.

Who is “The Other Queen” in the book. I haven’t heard of this one.

Hi Sharon, thanks for the welcome 🙂

I agree with you that PG's claims of feminism simply don't make sense in light of the way she deals with many strong women in her novels. Even Mary Boleyn, the heroine of The Other Boleyn Girl who PG obviously likes as a character, repeatedly refers to herself as a “wh*re”. In fact PG has a habit of referring to any sexually active woman as a wh*re.

In her book “The Queen's Fool”, she writes that it was Mary I who was going to use that Bible quote (“This is the Lord's doing…”) when she ascended the throne but Elizabeth “steals” from her. She also has Elizabeth “steal” the concept of being a Virgin Queen from Mary – something that simply makes no sense in light of the fact that almost the first thing Mary did upon becoming queen was to find herself a husband and start trying to get pregnant.

“The Other Queen” is about Mary Queen of Scots. An interesting choice of heroine you would think, yet PG somehow managed to make it boring. 🙁 The whole book (as far as I got, which was about two thirds of the way through) is about the time during which Mary was Elizabeth's prisoner, and basically did nothing except sit and brood about how wronged she is and how she is the rightful queen, for page after page after page. Of course as it's a PG book she spends a lot of time admiring her own stunning beauty, as well 😉

I have to agree with Mistress Anne's comments and all the others as well. I started excitedly to read “The Other Boleyn Girl,” but put it down and traded it back in to the used book store as well as all of her other novels up to “The Other Queen.” I have to also agree that Mary Queen of Scots is of great interest and Antonia Fraser's (sp?) book about her is very historically accurate. I like Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth so much that when I first became a member of this site, I took Elizabeth's word's from Psalms 188:23 (and it is repeated by Jesus in the New Testament as an interrogative as well), as my own posted signature. I could identify with Elizabeth, with her mother's eyes and father's hair, her endurance, her intelligence, and the next 44 years. The 44 comes from how one might count it. I count like the centuries, 0-100 C.E. (formerly A.D.) as the first century, but then again, I was a European History major with and emphasis on the Renaissance and Reformation, of which England fit in greatly with Anne Boleyn and even some her reported intellectual interests. Thank you very much! WilesWales P.S. I also think P.G is a joke, and her lying, thoughts of Anne/Elizabeth, etc. are a joke, and reprehensible as far as history is concerned. Publisher's have to make money though. I just wonder how long it will be before P.G. has enough money to just stop writing stupid, outlandish, and trash. That is just my opinion, and I say “opinion for a reason!