The Kingsmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory #inbetweeny

I thought this was going to be the first inbetweeny of 2018 however The Kingmaker's Daughter was one of those books where you find yourself 'just reading one more chapter' and before you know it another hour has gone by.

I don’t know why this book had hung round on my bookshelf for so long as I had really enjoyed the previous books in the Cousins' War series (The Lady of the Rivers, The White Queen and The Red Queen).

I didn’t suffer for the break in reading though and can easily recommend it as a standalone to anyone who hasn’t read the other books previously (do read The White Queen though it is rather good).

I remember really disliking the Nevilles in the previous books yet I easily found myself liking Anne the central character this time round. Similarly Gregory never dipped beneath the surface of Elizabeth's icy exterior in this book (as Anne never really got to know her) whereas in The White Queen Elizabeth was central and her inner turmoil was clear to all. I thought it very clever of Gregory to cover the same period from differing perspectives without the reader ever feeling like they are reading the same book. You knew the ending but Gregory still drew tension which takes skill.

The women in Gregory's books are so often nieve when it comes to men's meddling yet Gregory kept intentions well hidden or capable of being explained both ways in this book which was all the more better for it (George's duplicity, did he want power or just rid of Elizabeth? Why did Richard really marry Anne?).

I know the speech is made up (how can we ever know if Anne asked Richard about the Pope's dispensation in their wedding bed?) but the genre is fiction not fact and Gregory is a historian so only a harsh critique could take issue with this. The reference by Anne to Isabel as 'Iz' did annoy me though. Gregory of course knows more about this than I do but the nickname just seemed too contemporary. It's my only criticism however and the next novel in the series, The White Princess is on my hit list to read. I also randomly already have the last in the series The Kings Curse ready and waiting!

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Lock down book club - books from a different country

So we continued with the Zoom version of book club this month and it was lovely to see so many of us tackle it. The theme was books set in a different country (if you can't travel, let a book take you). I read The Accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet, a detective story with an element of tricksy fiction set in France. I really enjoyed it and you can read my full review here. We travelled to America a couple of times most interestingly to see whether Hilary Clinton (or Bill for that fact) would have made President if they had not got married. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld is out in hardback now. Norway was a popular spot - Norwegian Nights by Derek B Miller about a retired american marine who moves to Norway and intervenes to save a young boys life sounded interesting. So much so that at least one member of the group has gone on to buy the first in the series, American By Day. We even made it as far as Japan and Botswana (and discovered a Scottish connection for Alexander McCa

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Mount by Jilly Cooper #inbetweeny

I'll start this blog with a warning, this post does contain spoilers. So if you haven't read the book then please don't read this blog, yet. Of course you should read this post just wait a little while until you've read the latest installment of Rupert Campbell Black (RCB). Warnings out of the way I'll begin. I was massively looking forward to reading this book having hugely enjoyed the previous ones. RCB is my (not so) secret trashy pleasure and has been for many years. This book had all the ingredients of a classic, pages of wonderfully named characters, a few tortured souls and of course RCB with all his horses, dogs and now grandchildren. The book got off to a good start full of characters from old but also plenty of new ones to mix it up a bit. The horse's really played a starring role in this book but I also really loved Gav and at first Gala. Yep only at first as she went strongly down hill and I bet you can guess why. RCB. Here is where I fell o

Cramlington Book Club

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