"The Lady Elizabeth" by Alison Weir was a very good fictionalized account of the life of Queen Elizabeth I from the age of two up until 25, when she becomes Queen. Since I have read so many nonfiction and fiction tales of this story, they all start to blend together and sound alike. I already know the facts of what happens: how she is in the Tower during her sister's reign, how she studied with some of the most brilliant minds of her time, etc. But I like Weir; she has a real gift for storytelling, and both her fiction and nonfiction books are easy to read and entertaining. We disagree on Richard III, but we both feel the same about Elizabeth: quite easily the best monarch England has ever had, and a brilliant woman to boot.
"The Prince of Darkness" by Jean Plaidy was the fourth book in the Plantagenet series. I know, you're thinking, what happened to the third? Turns out my new favorite library doesn't own it :-( Nor does my library, or any others close by. So I read the fourth one, and I'll have to buy the third one online or something. In the meantime, I'll read them out of order. This one takes place after King Richard I has died, and the last of Henry II's sons, John, becomes king. Legend has it that Henry II had a painting made of an eagle with three eaglets tearing away at it while the fourth looks on. He said that painting represented himself and his four sons: the fourth was waiting for the first three to lay him low so he could come along and finish him off, and that's exactly what John did. He was truly the worst of the bunch. He was a horrible king who made many powerful enemies and then wondered why fate always seemed to be against him. Hmm, I don't know--maybe because you're pure evil? He is forced by his barons to sign the Magna Carta, guaranteeing the people of England certain rights. He loses most of William the Conqueror's hard fought lands to the French. He even has to bare himself low to the Pope. No one is sorry when he dies, especially his wife.
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