Philippa Gregory and a new Non-Fiction Release for 2011

Books that make you go hum is an understatement with this book. What the heck a non-fiction book by Philippa Gregory? This is going to be interesting but it is a long way off until we get the official down low on the new release.

Releasing September 6th 2011

The Women of the Cousins' War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King's Mother

by Philippa Gregory and  Michael Jones

"#1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory and two historians present a must-have non-fiction book for both fans and scholars.

About the Author Philippa Gregory is the author of several New York Times bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, The Queen’s Fool, The Virgin’s Lover, The Constant Princess, The Boleyn Inheritance, The Other Queen, and now The Cousins’ War books which include The White Queen and The Red Queen. She lives in England.

David Baldwin taught history at the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham for many years, and is the author of four books dealing with people and events of the Wars of the Roses.

Michael Jones did his PhD on the Beaufort family, and subsequently taught at the University of South West England, the University of Glasgow and Winchester College. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and now works freelance as a writer and media presenter. He is the author of six books, including The King's Mother, a highly-praised biography of Margaret Beaufort shortlisted for the Whitfield Prize"

Amazon
The Women of the Cousins' War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King's Mother

Mailbox Mondays and The Red Queen Winner

From close friend Brandy for My B-day,

Jean Plaidy The Queen of Diamonds

"The affair of the Diamond Necklace shook the throne of France and, some say, precipitated the French Revolution and so helped to bring Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to the guillotine. But why did these fantastic and ultimately sensational events fail so neatly into place? Why should a prince of the Royal House of France become so credulous and without question play the almost incredible part prepared for him? Why was an ambitious and predatory woman allowed to steal that famous piece of jewelery that represented a fortune? Who were the secret instigators of the plot?

In this novel Jean Plaidy offers one solution to an historical mystery, the motives behind which have long puzzled students and amateur detectives of history".

Hardcover, 256 pages Published December 31st 1995 by Robert Hale Ltd (first published December 31st 1958) ISBN 0709057695 (ISBN13: 9780709057697)

Original title, The Queen of Diamonds, Amazon Paperback

Thank you Brandy for the to die for birthday present when it showed up in the mail I could not help but cry because I love it so much and it just is so special to me.

From Publishers,
The Forever Queen Helen Hollick
"Helen Hollick has it all. She tells a great story" -Bernard Cornwell
Married to a king incompetent both on the throne and in bed, Emma does not love her husband. But she does love England. Even as her husband fails, Emma vows to protect her people-no matter what. For five decades, through love and loss, prosperity and exile, Emma fights for England, becoming the only woman to have been anointed, crowned, and reigning queen to two different kings, the mother of two more, and the great aunt of William the Conqueror.
Praise for Helen Hollick:
"Helen Hollick has a powerful talent for bringing the past vividly to life." -Elizabeth Chadwick
"If only all historical fiction could be this good." -Historical Novels Review
"Hollick juggles a large cast of characters and a blood, tangled plot with great skill." -Publishers Weekly

Finally The Winner of The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory is....

Lisa 

I hope you enjoy the read and congrats! 

For The Love of Philippa Gregory

Question: Why do you love Philippa Gregory?

I love Philippa Gregory for many different reasons. One of the main reasons is that when I first got into historical fiction it was right around when the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” came out in theaters. I happened to pick up a book at my local store that was by Robin Maxwell on Anne Boleyn and after I had finished it in one day I went forward from there. My first author I went for after Robin was Philippa Gregory because she was in leading the front line of the main stream historical fiction. I completed the "The Boleyn Inheritance" first and later went on to read all of her other novels in a fury. I think I had completed all of her novels in less than one month because I enjoyed them all that much. I read all of them before I started my blog and when I really started tracking my favorite authors I had picked up that Gregory was working on a new series. You can only imagine that since I started my blog I have been in high anticipation for the releases of Philippa’s new series The Cousins’ War. I have noticed that because Philippa is many readers first love in HF she is the driving force that has lured many new comers into the historical fiction reading world and that is more than enough reason for me to be grateful that she keeps on writing.

Controversy seems to follow PG like a little looming black cloud on the horizon. It is like you know it is coming but there is nothing you can do about it but wait for it to roll in. It seems to me that Gregory has a knack for striking up this controversy for one reason and that reason is that sometimes she takes writing liberties to the extreme. Some view it as bad liberties that go way beyond the realistic means of actual historical events. I however do not and will not ever see it this way. As many of you might have already picked up on, I am not one that has to have absolute historical accuracy but I do drawn the line at some things. I feel that if you as a reader need to have complete historical accuracy then you should be reading biographies and non-fiction not historical fiction. One of my favorite aspects of historical fiction in general is that it is fiction and yes writers do take liberties but that makes it even more fun to find out what the actual history was after I finish a novel.

It has been argued that “The White Queen” for example was said to be “fluffy” and historically inaccurate at points but I once again would have to disagree. I enjoyed the fact that Elizabeth Woodville was “nice” in the read. I figured that was probably more how her own family saw her because you have to admit that there was something that was alluring enough about her to attract a king and keep everyone else around her on high alert after Edward was gone. Elizabeth Woodville as a witch with magical powers, some think that is too far but if you think about it logically then it just might make sense. What we modern day thinkers think of as a witch is not what was considered a witch back in the 15th century. Maybe it just might be possible that she was what we would call today a psychic or a mystic. I see it as anything is possible and bravo for Gregory for adding a new spin on Elizabeth because I did read it and I did enjoy it. Is there anything that we as readers could ask for in a good book, action, scandals, love, war, and family feuds at its best.

“The Red Queen” I waited so patiently for because really I have not found another fiction book that is completely based on Margaret Beaufort. I was not disappointed with the historical accuracies on this one but I do have to bring to light that Margaret herself is not a very like-able person. I called her the all time “Tudor Villain” in my review because I can not see her as anything else but evil. I can only imagine how hard it is to write about a person that is so unlikeable and my hat goes off to Gregory for bringing villainous Margaret to life for me. I enjoy reading about the War of the Roses because it was such a traumatic time in England. But I do have to point out that there are so many different points of view on this war of who said what, who did what and there was so much done it is hard to sift through the history of it all. For me it boils down to this you are either sympathetic to Richard or not, did he or did he not have something to do with Elizabeth Woodville’s lost princes, I am not sure we will ever completely know the truth. It is one of histories greatest cold cases which you can read more about here,  As for me I am kind of in a limbo I feel I can not pick a side until I have more knowledge on the era, and let me tell you there is so much to know. I am not sure I will ever be able to come to a conclusion on it which is why I stand by the sidelines and see what others think on it. I think it is just is pointless to argue over a read that is fiction because it is fiction and if you do not like it do not read it. Gregory continues to draw in new historical fiction readers and brings mainstream ideas to a almost hidden world. I say it is hidden because in truth I had no idea this online world of HF book lovers existed until I stumbled upon it by mistake and if Gregory gives to new readers what she gave to me then I am a firm supporter of her and her novels.

The Red Queen Blog Tour: Guest Post: History and Fiction By Philippa Gregory

Hello and happy Monday to everyone. As many of you know I am participating in "The Red Queen" blog tour this year. "The Red Queen" hit  US bookstores August 3rd and will hit UK bookstores on August 19th I am proud to announce that Philippa Gregory has decided to pay a visit with a wonderful guest post. With out further delay please welcome Philippa Gregory to Historically Obsessed.

History and Fiction 

By 

Philippa Gregory

Which historical women do you most admire and why?

I admire women in history who have been women of independence and have tried to live their lives according to their own standards and beliefs. In some societies this is terribly difficult – such as medieval England where women had no legal rights at all but belonged to their fathers, and on marriage, to their husbands. But even in these oppressive societies we see women educating themselves, like Margaret Beaufort of The Red Queen, setting their own standards and making a difference like the extraordinary Anne Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl, or acting skilfully and politically like Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen. I find these examples – though so far from our own lives today – very inspiring in terms of what it is to be a woman without power and yet to make a space for yourself in the world.

Why write fiction and not history?

For the novelist, it can be much the same process. In the absence of any biography on a new character (Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford) I am writing the biography as straight history and then writing the fiction which turns out to be a re-imagined version of the facts. They will be published alongside each other so the research work for this novel will be exactly the same as writing a biography. Certainly fiction is not "easier". What I find, when I move from the one form to another, is that the fiction is the inner life, dialogue, things we don't know but can only suspect, things that history is not much interested in like detail, things that history does not want to know much about as we now "know" is erroneous, but at the time was taken seriously like magic and alchemy. History is not much interested in ventures which fail or are scientific cul de sacs, but these are of great interest to the novelist. Of course the novel also needs a quite different structure to a history: the arc of the story, the satisfaction of the narrative selection, and a parallel life of symbolism in metaphor and language.

What's also striking is that in recent years - perhaps since the explosion of interest in the biography in the early 80s, is that the techniques of writing history have become more and more like those of a novel, so that someone like Starkey actually describes his process as like writing a novel. Historians are allowing themselves to speculate and to imagine more, and their writing is becoming more and more like fiction.

Why read fiction and not history?

Sometimes it is an answer as simple as that a good historical novel is going to be easier and more enjoyable to read than a history for most people. The author has pinpointed the interesting events and characters and linked them together into a narrative. You don't need to know all the details of armor and weaponry to understand and enjoy a rip-roaring description of a battle. You don't need the topography of the landscape just a sense of how it feels. Many people don't like and don't want to read non-fiction; but they might like the sense that what they are reading is somehow "real". For them a good historical novel gives them the sense of being somewhere else entirely and yet also a sense of relevance.

Part 2 of this exclusive blog entry by Philippa Gregory will be published on the 26th August. 

Thank you Philippa for sharing such a wonderful piece with us,  I enjoyed it very much. One of the big reasons I love historical fiction is that it is not a bio and should never be one. I love it that most HF novels start with a bio of a person that really did grace this green earth.  It makes it very interesting that after finishing a novel I can go and look them up on the internet and compare what I read with reality. I can say some of my favorite leading ladies have shocked me into the realization that history is filled with so many scandals that really did take place that we could not even dream this stuff up.

Philippa's Website
War of the Roses Books

Amazon Books

Mailbox Monday, August Hot New Releases

Score of the year so far. Three of them came on the same day and when the first one showed up I did a happy dance and tore it open. I could not believe my eyes when "His Last Letter" showed up the following day. In case you are wondering I am now about half way done with "The Red Queen" and I could not help myself in reading the first 20 pages of His Last Letter. I love Robert Dudley and have been waiting for it for a long time. Thank goodness I got my hands on a copy thanks to Passages of the Past.


From Publishers

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory UK ARC
Available 8.3.2010 

"Heiress to the red rose of Lancaster, Margaret Beaufort never surrenders her belief that her house is the true ruler of England and that she has a great destiny before her. Her ambitions are disappointed when her sainted cousin Henry VI fails to recognize her as a kindred spirit, and she is even more dismayed when he sinks into madness. Her mother mocks her plans, revealing that Margaret will always be burdened with the reputation of her father, one of the most famously incompetent English commanders in France. But worst of all for Margaret is when she discovers that her mother is sending her to a loveless marriage in remote Wales.
Married to a man twice her age, quickly widowed, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph. She sets her heart on putting her son on the throne of England regardless of the cost to herself, to England, and even to the little boy. Disregarding rival heirs and the overwhelming power of the York dynasty, she names him Henry, like the king; sends him into exile; and pledges him in marriage to her enemy Elizabeth of York’s daughter. As the political tides constantly move and shift, Margaret charts her own way through another loveless marriage, treacherous alliances, and secret plots. She feigns loyalty to the usurper Richard III and even carries his wife’s train at her coronation.
Widowed a second time, Margaret marries the ruthless, deceitful Thomas, Lord Stanley, and her fate stands on the knife edge of his will. Gambling her life that he will support her, she then masterminds one of the greatest rebellions of the time—all the while knowing that her son has grown to manhood, recruited an army, and now waits for his opportunity to win the greatest prize.
In a novel of conspiracy, passion, and cold hearted ambition, number one bestselling author Philippa Gregory has brought to life the story of a proud and determined woman who believes that she alone is destined, by her piety and lineage, to shape the course of history".

"The White Queen by Philippa Gregory UK paperback"

THE COUSINS' WAR
Book One

Philippa Gregory, "the queen of royal fiction,"*
presents the first of a new series set amid the
deadly feuds of England known as the
Wars of the Roses.

"Brother turns on brother to win the ultimate prize, the throne of England, in this dazzling account of the wars of the Plantagenets. They are the claimants and kings who ruled England before the Tudors, and now Philippa Gregory brings them to life through the dramatic and intimate stories of the secret players: the indomitable women, starting with Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen.
The White Queen tells the story of a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition who, catching the eye of the newly crowned boy king, marries him in secret and ascends to royalty. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the missing princes in the Tower of London whose fate is still unknown. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores this most famous unsolved mystery of English history, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills".

His Last Letter by Jeane Westin 

Available 8.3.2010 

"One of the greatest loves of all time-between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley-comes to life in this vivid novel.

They were playmates as children, impetuous lovers as adults-and for thirty years were the center of each others' lives. Astute to the dangers of choosing any one man, the Virgin Queen could never give her "Sweet Robin" what he wanted most-marriage- yet she insisted he stay close by her side. Possessive and jealous, their love survived quarrels, his two disastrous marriages to other women, her constant flirtations, and political machinations with foreign princes.

His Last Letter tells the story of this great love... and especially of the last three years Elizabeth and Dudley spent together, the most dangerous of her rule, when their passion was tempered by a bittersweet recognition of all that they shared-and all that would remain unfulfilled". 

The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall
Available 8.3.2010

"Russia, 1910. Valentina Ivanova is the darling of St. Petersburg's elite aristocracy-until her romance with a Danish engineer creates a terrible scandal and her parents push her into a loveless engagement with a Russian count.

Meanwhile, Russia itself is bound for rebellion. With the Tsar and the Duma at each other's throats, and the Bolsheviks drawing their battle lines, the elegance and opulence of Tsarist rule are in their last days. And Valentina will be forced to make a choice that will change not only her own life, but the lives of those around her forever..."

New Release For August, THE RED QUEEN by Philippa Gregory

Finallly finally, a status report on the the seccond novel in new series by Philippa Gregory called The Cousin's War. I am still patiently awaiting the release of "The Red Queen". At least now I have a tasty tid bit to hold me over for the time being. I also have to mention that I did get my hands on a bit of info in regards to what will be the third book. If I remember correctly it took so long to get the red queen going because Gregory decided that she needed to make another book just on Elizabeth Woodville's mother. If I am not mistaken that will be the next book.  

THE RED QUEEN – Philippa Gregory – Published August 19^th in hardback

'Saints' knees, Praise God, I have saints' knees.  I am not yet ten years old, but I have saints' knees...  Pray God I can meet their challenge and have a saint's end too'

"Daughter of one of the most famously incompetent English commanders in France, heiress to the red rose of Lancaster, Margaret Beaufort never surrenders her belief that her House is the true ruler of England and that she has a great destiny before her.   Her ambitions are disappointed when her sainted cousin Henry VI of England fails to recognize her as a kindred spirit, and even more when he sinks into madness; but worst of all for Margaret is when she discovers that her mother is sending her to a loveless marriage in remote Wales.

Married to a man twice her age, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph. She sets her heart on putting her son on the throne of England regardless of the cost to herself, to England, and even to the little boy himself.   Disregarding rival heirs and the overwhelming power of the York dynasty she names him Henry, like the King, sends him into exile, and pledges him in marriage to her enemy Elizabeth Woodville's daughter. She feigns loyalty to the usurper King Richard III, marries one of his faithful supporters and then masterminds one of the greatest rebellions of the time- all the while knowing that her son is growing to manhood, coached by his uncle, Jasper Tudor, recruiting his army, his eyes on the greatest prize,

In a novel of conspiracy, passion and cold-hearted ambition, Number 1 bestselling author Philippa Gregory has brought to life the story of a proud and determined woman who believes that she alone is destined, by her piety and lineage, to shape the course of history".