Would you dare to defy King Henry VIII? Mary Tudor watches her elder brother become King of England and wonders what the future holds for her. Henry plans to use her marriage to build a powerful alliance against his enemies…. Will she risk his anger by marrying for love? Will Mary’s loyalty to Henry be tested by the ambitious Boleyn family? Based on actual events of courage, passion and adventure in the turbulent and dangerous world of the Tudor court. [Description from Amazon UK]

Brandon Trilogy #1

Thank you to Tony Riches for the chance to read this novel.

This has been on my to-read for quite a while now, so I was thrilled when Tony Riches got in touch and offered me a copy for review. It’s taken me a while to get around to actually writing the review because I’ve been so busy, but finally here it is. To summarise: I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next in the series.

Henry VIII’s sister, Mary, has always fascinated me, as she went from a political marriage to Louis XII of France to a love match with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. It was interesting to see the two marriages explored and contrasted with each other. Riches portrays Mary’s marriage to Louis XII as one of respect and affection, whereas other depictions (notably in TV show, ‘The Tudors’) show Mary’s first marriage as an unhappy one. I like to think that she at least found some affection in her marriage, and I liked Riches portrayal of the marriage as such.

Riches’ style of writing is easy to read, but really seems to get to the heart of the period at the same time. He incorporates sights, sounds and smells with the characters that bring the Tudor court to life. The relationships between the different characters were different to how I had imagined them, but that heightened my enjoyment of the book because it wasn’t what I was expecting but I thoroughly liked a different point of view nevertheless.

Mary’s relationship with Brandon’s children from his earlier marriage I didn’t expect, and I want to know more, so if anyone can recommend a book about Charles Brandon and his children I would love to know about it.

Charles Brandon has also been a source of fascination to me as he seems to be the one constant in Henry VIII’s life, and he managed to survive the reign where so many others didn’t, so I am greatly looking forward to reading the second book in the series – ‘Brandon: Tudor Knight’. I will definitely be giving it a go, and the third in the series, ‘Katherine: Tudor Duchess’, about Brandon’s final wife, Katherine Willoughby. Reviews to follow in due course. This book was an eye-opener on a person who interests me, but I didn’t know all that much about, well worth a read for any Tudorstorians out there.