My Enemy the Queen

This is, by far, one of the best books, if not the best, I have ever, ever read. Victoria Holt really did her research on this book, and it is a pleasure to read both from the fiction-lover's viewpoint, and from the biographers. Be forewarned, however, that if you are not already in love with Robert Dudley and Elizabeth I, you will be no later than halfway through the book.

I loved this book. It was absorbing ( I couldn't put it down) and I felt that it was a pretty acurate depiction of the Virgin Queen's life. What better way to learn history than by reading a highly entertaining novel?

This is a captivating novel that follows the life of Elizabeth I from her innocent girlhood to her eventual death as a never-married queen. The story is solidly based on actual events and people, from the book's narrator, Lettice, to the Queen's suitors, Robert Dudley and Robert Devereaux. The story is told from the point of view of Lettice, a cousin of the Queen's on the Boleyn side who is a rival for Robert Dudley's (Earl of Leicester) affections and who eventually becomes his wife. Lettice's son from her first marriage, Robert Devereaux (Earl of Essex), grows up to become himself a favorite of the Queen's, a situation not without complications. With some poetic license, the engaging stories of these characters/historial figures are set against the compelling backdrop of Elizabethean England; a wonderful read.

This book is so good that it should be made into a movie. Lettice Knollys seems like a real person, and I loved seeing Tudor England (and Queen Elizabeth) from a different point of view.