Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.. and thankfully I've only received two in the box, but they are to review. I have piles of books in boxes and no idea where anything is. We shall be seeing these two around the blogosphere for awhile yet with Q&A's and reviews, and that will occur right here also! Stay tuned for giveaways of these:
His Last Letter: Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester (2010) A novel by Jeane Westin
One of the greatest loves of all time-between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley-comes to life in this vivid novel.
They were playmates as children, impetuous lovers as adults-and for thirty years were the center of each others' lives. Astute to the dangers of choosing any one man, the Virgin Queen could never give her "Sweet Robin" what he wanted most-marriage- yet she insisted he stay close by her side. Possessive and jealous, their love survived quarrels, his two disastrous marriages to other women, her constant flirtations, and political machinations with foreign princes.
His Last Letter tells the story of this great love... and especially of the last three years Elizabeth and Dudley spent together, the most dangerous of her rule, when their passion was tempered by a bittersweet recognition of all that they shared-and all that would remain unfulfilled.
THE SECRET ELEANOR by Cecelia Holland (August 3rd 2010)
Eleanor of Aquitaine seized hold of life in the 12th century in a way any modern woman would envy!
1151: As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor grew up knowing what it was to be regarded for herself and not for her husband's title. Now, as wife to Louis VII and Queen of France, she has found herself unsatisfied with reflected glory-and feeling constantly under threat, even though she outranks every woman in Paris.
Then, standing beside her much older husband in the course of a court ceremony, Eleanor locks eyes with a man-hardly more than a boy, really- across the throne room, and knows that her world has changed irrevocably...
He is Henry D'Anjou, eldest son of the Duke of Anjou, and he is in line, somewhat tenuously, for the British throne. She meets him in secret. She has a gift for secrecy, for she is watched like a prisoner by spies even among her own women. She is determined that Louis must set her free. Employing deception and disguise, seduction and manipulation, Eleanor is determined to find her way to power-and make her mark on history.
I can't forget to say that my dear husband bought these for my birthday, even though they didn't come in the mail:
In exquisite condition a 1898 book called When Knighthood Was in Flower by Edwin Caskoden:
It is the reign of England's Henry VIII. He is still married to his first of six wives, Catherine of Aragon . Yet, he has a problem with a certain young woman - his 16-year-old sister, Mary Tudor - whom he is determined to marry off. The lucky suitor (and the one who has the most to offer Henry) is the aging and feeble King Louis XII of France.
Beautiful, but temperamental, and definitely a woman who knows her own mind, the petulant teenager wishes to marry another, a common captain of the guard, Charles Brandon. While Henry and Mary may be brother and sister, he is still her King first and foremost! A battle of wills ensues in the House of Tudor, fueled by the Duke of Buckingham's jealousy of Brandon. Henry finally puts his regal foot down and issues this command to her: "You will marry France and I will give you a wedding present - Charles Brandon's head!" Not exactly the kind of wedding gift she had in mind. Desperate, but helpless to directly save Brandon's head from the block, the King's Jester vows to intervene somehow and stall the inevitable. Time is running out and Brandon's neck lies exposed to the ax of the executioner...
And also an old edition of:
I Am Mary Tudor by Hilda Lewis
A first-person narrative novel about Henry VIII's daughter, first in a trilogy.
One of the greatest loves of all time-between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley-comes to life in this vivid novel.
They were playmates as children, impetuous lovers as adults-and for thirty years were the center of each others' lives. Astute to the dangers of choosing any one man, the Virgin Queen could never give her "Sweet Robin" what he wanted most-marriage- yet she insisted he stay close by her side. Possessive and jealous, their love survived quarrels, his two disastrous marriages to other women, her constant flirtations, and political machinations with foreign princes.
His Last Letter tells the story of this great love... and especially of the last three years Elizabeth and Dudley spent together, the most dangerous of her rule, when their passion was tempered by a bittersweet recognition of all that they shared-and all that would remain unfulfilled.
Eleanor of Aquitaine seized hold of life in the 12th century in a way any modern woman would envy!
1151: As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor grew up knowing what it was to be regarded for herself and not for her husband's title. Now, as wife to Louis VII and Queen of France, she has found herself unsatisfied with reflected glory-and feeling constantly under threat, even though she outranks every woman in Paris.
Then, standing beside her much older husband in the course of a court ceremony, Eleanor locks eyes with a man-hardly more than a boy, really- across the throne room, and knows that her world has changed irrevocably...
He is Henry D'Anjou, eldest son of the Duke of Anjou, and he is in line, somewhat tenuously, for the British throne. She meets him in secret. She has a gift for secrecy, for she is watched like a prisoner by spies even among her own women. She is determined that Louis must set her free. Employing deception and disguise, seduction and manipulation, Eleanor is determined to find her way to power-and make her mark on history.
I can't forget to say that my dear husband bought these for my birthday, even though they didn't come in the mail:
In exquisite condition a 1898 book called When Knighthood Was in Flower by Edwin Caskoden:
It is the reign of England's Henry VIII. He is still married to his first of six wives, Catherine of Aragon . Yet, he has a problem with a certain young woman - his 16-year-old sister, Mary Tudor - whom he is determined to marry off. The lucky suitor (and the one who has the most to offer Henry) is the aging and feeble King Louis XII of France.
Beautiful, but temperamental, and definitely a woman who knows her own mind, the petulant teenager wishes to marry another, a common captain of the guard, Charles Brandon. While Henry and Mary may be brother and sister, he is still her King first and foremost! A battle of wills ensues in the House of Tudor, fueled by the Duke of Buckingham's jealousy of Brandon. Henry finally puts his regal foot down and issues this command to her: "You will marry France and I will give you a wedding present - Charles Brandon's head!" Not exactly the kind of wedding gift she had in mind. Desperate, but helpless to directly save Brandon's head from the block, the King's Jester vows to intervene somehow and stall the inevitable. Time is running out and Brandon's neck lies exposed to the ax of the executioner...
And also an old edition of:
I Am Mary Tudor by Hilda Lewis
A first-person narrative novel about Henry VIII's daughter, first in a trilogy.
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