I am so excited about this new book, The Other Queen. I tell the story of Mary Queen of Scots in a period of her life when most authors have finished their story-telling. I tell her story from the time she arrives in England and becomes the guest-prisoner of the Talbots, the greatest family in northern England. She spent longer living with them than she did in any other place, this is an important period of her life. And her presence in England gave rise to a rebellion against Elizabeth which was a greater threat to the Tudor reign than anything else in Elizabeth’s lifetime. The Northern Rebellion for Mary and the restoration of the Catholic religion was the last great rebellion against Protestantism, the dominance of the South over the North, and the centralised state. It could have gone either way – it is one of the great chances of history and I loved writing it “in the moment” as it could have gone either way. Mary herself is a wonderful character to imagine and create, and she was in the household of George Talbot’s wife, Bess of Hardwick who was herself, a most indomitable powerful and fascinating woman. It is the story of a love triangle: George who married Bess for love, then found himself besotted with this most romantic Queen. But it is the story of a love triangle for England: the virgin Queen and protestantism, against the richness and beauty of the Catholic tragic Mary.
Thank you so much for your time and I am looking forward to the web event!
Discover the full story of King Henry VIII’s forgotten Queens in the New York Times bestselling historical novel The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory. To sign up for Gregory’s live global web event, visit www.PhilippaGregoryLIVE.com.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!