I read this straight after David Copperfield and although I enjoyed David Copperfield I was concerned that going from one doorstop to another with a notes section amounting to about 50 pages might be too much. As a biography it certainly was the most factual book I had read in a while however where many biographers fail Lovell succeeded in presenting dates and facts without being tedious or dry.
Lovell was clearly on Bess's side showing her as a caring, generous, shrewd business woman and why not? Evidence was presented to back this viewpoint which opposes the perhaps more established portrait of a hard hearted, calculated, money grabbing woman who only married for financial gain.
Even though I consider myself relatively well read on the Tudors I learnt so much both about the era and of Bess herself. I want to see Chatsworth House and Hardwick Hall and I'm not a 'visit old houses owned once upon a time by a now dead person' sort of girl (I'm turning an old person, help!). Did you know she was related to Georgiana Cavendish the Duchess of Devonshire who in turn was the great, great, great, great aunt of Princess Diana? – Keira Knightly/The Duchess for any of you Hollywood fans out there.
I had actually read Philippa Greggory The Other Queen about Queen Mary's imprisonment and didn’t twig that Bess was the same person. The books are completely different, one being more story, the other a bibliography but I liked both the same. After all what is history but one persons interpretation of events, some more embellished than others? Having said that I did find this a refreshing change to my standard historical novels and I enjoyed the central character not being royalty. The royals (and there were a few) were merely side characters, Bess was the star of the show from start to finish.
I do think the book could have been slightly shorter and it did take a while to read but it was really well researched about a topic the author was passionate about that was punctuated with so much more than dates bringing the people and the time vividly to life. Worth a try if you are thinking about reading a bibliography for the first time but be warned it does take a little effort.
Lovell was clearly on Bess's side showing her as a caring, generous, shrewd business woman and why not? Evidence was presented to back this viewpoint which opposes the perhaps more established portrait of a hard hearted, calculated, money grabbing woman who only married for financial gain.
Even though I consider myself relatively well read on the Tudors I learnt so much both about the era and of Bess herself. I want to see Chatsworth House and Hardwick Hall and I'm not a 'visit old houses owned once upon a time by a now dead person' sort of girl (I'm turning an old person, help!). Did you know she was related to Georgiana Cavendish the Duchess of Devonshire who in turn was the great, great, great, great aunt of Princess Diana? – Keira Knightly/The Duchess for any of you Hollywood fans out there.
I had actually read Philippa Greggory The Other Queen about Queen Mary's imprisonment and didn’t twig that Bess was the same person. The books are completely different, one being more story, the other a bibliography but I liked both the same. After all what is history but one persons interpretation of events, some more embellished than others? Having said that I did find this a refreshing change to my standard historical novels and I enjoyed the central character not being royalty. The royals (and there were a few) were merely side characters, Bess was the star of the show from start to finish.
I do think the book could have been slightly shorter and it did take a while to read but it was really well researched about a topic the author was passionate about that was punctuated with so much more than dates bringing the people and the time vividly to life. Worth a try if you are thinking about reading a bibliography for the first time but be warned it does take a little effort.
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