![]() ![]() I think this is a must-read for Tudor fans. Plaidy did an excellent job of introducing Isabella to readers. The apples didn't fall far from the tree on this family. She must have treated Mary the same way she was treated for Mary to have become what she was. Reading this account, although fictional, of her youth, it's easy to see how she became the religious zealot who refused the divorce from Henry VIII and kept the title of queen until she died. She is a singly-minded young lady with a penchant for constant prayer. Nothing will stand in her way of this marriage. Isabella grows up to be a sullen, pious princess obsessed with her betrothal to Ferdinand, prince of Aragon. She is a religious fanatic prone to fits of nervous hysteria. This first book begins when she is four years old and her father, King John, dies, leaving her and her brother, Alphonso, to be brought up isolated with their mother, the mad Queen Isabella. Jean Plaidy wrote a trio of books about her from childhood onward. ![]() After having read Weir's stunning fictionalization of Katherine of Aragon, I thought I'd step farther back in time and read about her mother, Isabella of Castile. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |