The Other Queen review by MSnoe
The Other Queen
by Philippa Gregory
Age Range - 12 and up
Genre - Historical Fiction

LitPick Review

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Age at time of review - 13
Reviewer's Location - Dorr, MI, United States
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During Elizabethan England, Queen's Elizabeth's cousin 
Mary Queen of Scots has been forced to flee her country 
from rebels and seek refuge in England. Mary, while being 
the Queen of Scotland, is also heir to the English throne, 
and some believe that she is the true monarch while 
Elizabeth is merely an imposter. Fearing assassination and 
a royal overthrow, Elizabeth imprisons Mary against her 
will as a "guest" of the Earl of Shrewsbury, George 
Talbot, and his wife Bess. George and Bess, at a great 
expense to them, are forced to host Queen Mary and her 
entire court. As they sink deeper and deeper into debt, 
their residence becomes a center of intrigue and rebellion 
against Elizabeth. But as George begins falling for Mary 
and Elizabeth and her steward, William Cecil, become mroe 
and more paranoid, will George and Bess be able to escape 
with their fortune intact, and hopefully their lives?

Opinion: 

I love books about Tudor England and think that Philippa 
Gregory is a fantastic writer, so I knew I would enjoy The 
Other Queen. The one problem I had with this book, that I 
didn't have with others written by Gregory, is that it was 
really hard to get into. In the beginning, there wasn't a 
lot of dialogue or movement in the plot, just a lot of 
narration, made worse by the fact that The Other Queen is 
written in first person. It wasn't until the 200 page mark 
that the book picked up and I actually started to enjoy 
it. I didn't know that much about Mary, Queen of Scots, so 
it was neat to read and learn about her. The characters, 
especially George and Bess, had a lot of depth, and it was 
interesting to get into their minds and see their thoughts 
and feelings. I would recommend The Other Queen to any 
fans of historical fiction.
Rating:
4
Content Rating:

Content rating - mature content
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