The Pretender

The Pretender by Jo Harkin, 496 pages

In 1483, young John Collan is living a quiet peasant life in a small home with his father when a wealthy noble shows up and whisks him away, promising a new name along with a life of learning and nobility. Because according to that noble, John is actually Edward, Earl of Warwick, the long-hidden son of the late king, and as the last remaining York, the rightful heir to the throne. As John (or Lambert or Simnel or Edward, depending on who's talking to him when) is transferred from one safe place to another, he learns more about the dangerous uncles and Tudors who want to keep him off the throne. However, John's never really sure if he's actually who they claim he is, and has no idea how to clarify the muddled thoughts in his brain.

Based on an actual little-known figure from the transition period between the York and Tudor eras, this book manages to give readers a realistic and often humorous look at a boy caught in the middle of a dynastic fight, never sure who to believe or ally with (though usually the people interested in keeping him alive is a good bet). Harkin creates a world where the reader is never sure if John/Lambert/Simnel/Edward is actually heir to the throne (even when he's temporarily crowned king), and she does it in excellent fashion. My only gripe with this book is that it doesn't have a historical note at the end, which I would've loved to read. Though given the fact that it's based on a tiny historical note, I guess that makes sense. An excellent book for fans of Hilary Mantel, Allison Epstein, and British monarchy.

The Mirror & the Light

The Mirror & the Light / Hilary Mantel, 757 p.

The third and mercifully final volume of the trilogy which begins with Wolf Hall followed by Bring up the Bodies.  After nearly 2,000 pages of the life of Thomas Cromwell, a commoner who rose to the heights of power during the reign of Henry VIII, I still can't understand why - why he was chosen as the subject for such an extraordinarily ambitious project, and why the books seem to have resonated with so many readers.  It's perfectly true that the writing is excellent and demonstrates a fantastic degree of research.  Cromwell was surrounded by sociopaths and backstabbers.  He was no sociopath, but he was rapacious for power and wealth, and he didn't hesitate to imprison and execute when he felt it beneficial, both to him and to the kingdom.  If he occasionally felt qualms about doing so only makes him more guilty.  Henry could (legitimately, I think) plead insanity; Cromwell has no such excuse.  I suppose he is the new European: capitalist, Calvinist, rational, and very cold. 

Sister Queens

Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana,

Queen of Castile by Julia Fox  480 pp.

This dual biography of two of the daughters of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, Katherine of Aragon and Juana of Castile. Much has been written about Katherine and her marriage to King Henry VIII. Less is written about Juana, wife of Philip of Burgundy and mother of Charles, the Holy Roman Emperor except to call her "Juana the Mad." When they were young their powerful parents arranged politically advantageous marriages for them. Katherine to Arthur of Wales, the heir to the throne of Henry VII, and Juana to Philip of Burgundy. After the death of Arthur, much political wangling, Katherine's marriage to Henry was arranged. Much has been written about how that turned out. Juana became a queen in her own right only to have her power usurped by her father, her husband, and her son. The stories of her madness, including the story that she lived with her husband in his casket, were propagated by her son and his officials as an excuse to keep her sequestered from the people she should have been ruling. (She did keep him in his casket but only because her son would not let her go to Granada to have him buried.) These sisters were strong enough to endure the hardships they encountered but could not overcome the betrayal and mistreatment by the men in their lives.

I listened to the unabridged audiobook version and it is very well done. However, I could have used a scorecard to keep track of all the Henrys, Philips, Charles's, and how they were all related to each other.

Sacrilege

Sacrilege by S.J. Parris  423 pp.

This is the third in a series of books about excommunicated, Italian monk, Giordano Bruno. Bruno is a spy for the court of Queen Elizabeth. It is 1584, and he is reunited with Sophia Underhill, the disgraced daughter of the Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, who he met in Heresy, the first book of the series. Sophia is on the run after being accused of murdering her husband, a magistrate in Canterbury. Bruno goes there in an attempt to clear her name while also acting as a spy for the Queen and the Earl of Walsingham. While there he discovers that there is much evil in the famous cathedral city. Other murders, including those of two children, draw Bruno into a dangerous situation and ultimately being accused of murder himself. There is evil, intrigue, suspicion, and the mystery of what happened to the bones of Thomas Beckett. All combine to make this a page turner.

Bring up the Bodies / Hilary Mantel 410 p.

The sequel to Wolf Hall, and written with equal smoothness.  Both books annoy me and I don't fully understand why.  I suppose it's our main character, Thomas Cromwell himself.  It feels as though we are meant to see him as a higher being than all those around him, but sheesh, he doesn't have a lot of competition.  Yes, he loves his children, dead and living; yes, he doesn't beat his servants, but for this he and Hilary want to give him a medal?  For me he was far too efficient about dispatching Anne and her friends, disgusting though they may have been.  He'll get his comeuppance in part 3, but I doubt it will make me feel any better.