The Red Queen

From English Monarchs

From About.com

Philippa Gregory's newest book The Red Queen is definitely worth checking out. It is a rare autobiographical account of Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII. The book deals with Margaret's childhood, how she lacked warmth and attention as a child along with her fierce devotion to God and her only son Henry. Although at times Margaret is a difficult heroine in that she comes out as high and mighty as well as allowing her jealousy to get the best of her you have to respect her as a mother. She is willing to do anything for her son, no matter what the cost is to herself. Margaret Beaufort can be petty, but she is extremely driven and doesn't know the meaning of the word defeat. She is a very powerful and Philippa Gregory does an excellent job getting that point across as well as how Margaret's experiences help shape who she is. The thing that made this novel resonate with me is that Gregory is able to show through Margaret's point of view, why she did everything that she did, good or bad.  This novel also showed how humans are able to justify almost everything they do as being for a good cause. It's definitely worth reading if only to be able to get a not often told story of a woman whose actions had an impact on the history of an important country.