Her Mother's Daughter: A Novel of Queen Mary Tudor

Rushed. That is how I would describe this book. Begins with a modern setting which I found to be off putting right off the bat. I didn’t like the beginning twist, it felt out of place and not really necessary. I am really trying hard not to be harsh on this book because I did enjoy it at times but it was wholly rushed and missed some important events in Mary Tudor’s life. Also some of the dialogue was strange even for Mary was jarring to what we know about her. Book has many errors regarding some of the events that happened, and just grew through out the book. I struggled through the first half of the book hoping the second half would be better but was bitterly disappointed. This isn’t the worst description of Mary Tudor, but I felt like I was “watching” a local tv channel documentary of Mary Tudor that was quickly rushed to be made just so it could get on TV at a certain date. I know that Julianne Lee has other wonderful works out there that I wish to read. I just hope that I have a better experience with those. I apologize for being harsh but this book was not for me.

I had this book on my shelf for several weeks before I finally got time to read it. Once I started it, I cleared my weekend so I wouldn't have to put it down. The book is well written, moves along quickly and allows Mary to explain herself during the various story intervals. One of the things I was most impressed with was Lee's ability to convey the mindset of royalty. Through modern day media, society has learned that members of royalty (Prince Charles, Lady Di etc) must remain stoic and strong no matter what happens in their lives. Mary's ability to carry on as the princess she was born to be when she refuses to appear weak in front of others at all times is an example of Lee's grasp on the realities of Mary's world and society's expectations of Mary throughout her life. Whether it was the death of her mother, her father's betrayal or something else, Mary continued to conduct herself as someone of her station would be expected to do. If you are a fan of Tudor era novels, you will enjoy this book because it presents a wonderful in-depth examination of Mary's life, heart and thoughts. If you are a beginning Tudor reader you will also love it for it's clear and concise explanations of many historic facts. I highly recommend this book!

The seventh grade girls and one younger sister Karen were playing "Bloody Mary" when Queen Mary Tudor arrived to tell the truth to the lone fifth grader who called out to her. She explains the reality behind her notorious legend. Her father King Henry VIII adored her until she turned eleven when he tossed her and her mother Katherine of Aragon aside for Anne Boleyn. She returns to the court as a servant to her half sister Princess Elizabeth. Acrimonious and angry due to her father's rejection and her inability to see her mother, Mary finds some joy eventually in her marriage to Philip of Spain, but that is not enough as he was more away than with her. When she became Queen, she pushed to end the heresy of her father by returning the country to the Catholic Church leading to the deaths of many. This is a terrific "autobiographical" fiction as Mary reminds readers history is written by the surviving victors, which in this case is her half-sister Elizabeth. Readers will enjoy this fine version although using a fifth grader as her listener seems like an unnecessary gimmick even based on the mythos that Bloody Mary kidnaps little children, as the strength of the novel is in Mary's explanations and rationalizations for her actions built predominantly on her deep religious belief that Catholicism was the pure version of Christianity. This is a winning portrait. Harriet Klausner

Julianne Lee attempts to bring to modern day readers the sympathetic view of Mary Tudor, the misunderstood queen of the sixteenth century. Queen Mary did not have an easy life, and the author immediately sets off to show her readers the myriad of different situations that she was placed in due to the fact that she was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Most Tudor era fans know the story of this Mary Tudor, who was otherwise known as Bloody Mary due to her excessive execution of heretics. She was the only surviving issue of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII; at first treated as a princess should be until Henry divorced her mother. Yet, it is her younger half-sister, Elizabeth I, who gets the credit for being a strong female monarch in the sixteenth century. The author shows how Mary may have felt when she was told by her mother that her father was divorcing her, which jeopardized Mary's own status. She was stripped of her princess title, and simply became "Lady Mary." We see how Mary was indeed her mother's daughter, embracing the Catholic religion with zeal, as this was the only constant in her life. The story the author tells focuses on Mary's life and the major events that occurred around her, although we very quickly advance in the author's telling to Henry marrying Anne Boleyn, beheading her and taking Jane Seymour as a wife. Throughout this period we are privy to Mary's personal thoughts as she despises Anne, yet yearns for her place at her father's side. Henry is portrayed as unfeeling and callous towards his daughter Mary, but as doting on Elizabeth when she was a baby. Obviously for the sake of the story itself this works well in the author's favor for attempting to achieve sympathy for Mary. How much of this is factual is for another book. We blink, and Henry is dead and his only sickly son, Edward is on the throne at age 9. I don't even recall the sixth wife being mentioned. With the bulk of the book being told in third person, we are privy to the council meetings and the thoughts that the council members had about Mary, being a Catholic twenty-four year old potential claimant to the throne, never mind the fact that she was a woman. Mary is shown as very insecure, very pious and of ill health. Whenever she was stressed, it put her in a dangerous state of illness. Mary had feared poison from the heretic Protestant factions, and was beginning to lose faith in her own father's loyalty and regard for family ties. She always felt he would never execute her because of the fact that she was his daughter, but Henry was a ruthless man and did not like being refused his requests. This request in question (which spanned the first half of the book) that Henry demanded of her was going against the very grain of Mary's Catholic faith, for Henry wanted Mary to recognize him as having authority over the church and the pope. Mary finally felt that she could no longer trust in her faith to keep her alive. It seems Mary's only friend was her imperial a