Written by Tasya
“Press a little harder with the pen, Mary. Your letters are all faint,” is the first sentence of Lucy Worsley’s intriguing new YA novel, Lady Mary, which follows the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
The England Tudor period has long been the center of attention in history, especially during the Henry VIII reign. You may remember him for having six wives in hopes to produce a male heir, along with how he formed the Church of England. Ironically, in the end, the throne only passed shortly to his son before passing to his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. In fact, Elizabeth I led England to what is widely known as the golden age or Elizabethan era. Because of this, Queen Mary is often forgotten by history and dubbed “Bloody Mary” due to persecuting many in an attempt to reverse the reformation. Henry VIII and Elizabeth also persecuted many, yet neither of them received the same garish title…
Now enough with the history lessons! The forgotten Queen Mary is why I was so excited to read this book to get a glimpse at her albeit fictional life. I am always curious on how she reacted to her mother’s downfall, the following throng of mothers, and relationship with her father. Even though this book is fictional, it did offer a glimpse within these area.
If you are expecting court intrigue in this book, you will not find it. This book tells the story of Mary’s childhood over the course of her teenage years, meaning she only spent a short time at the court before being exiled by her father. I don’t usually enjoy reading from children’s perspective, but I really enjoyed Mary’s perspective. She was her father’s daughter, but at the same time, Henry always came across as though he had no child. Her mother, Catherine of Aragon, both shielded her and loved her at the same time as Catherine played a dangerous game at the court.
After their separation, Mary was immediately sent away and we could see how much she had to mature and adapt in such a short time; from being a princess, heir presumptive to the throne, she became a prisoner and lady-in-waiting. She learned how to play at court, while maintaining her childhood naivety, as seen through her several missteps throughout the book. But the point is, she learned from her mistakes and showed immense growth by the end of the book.
At the same time, the focus on the character and the chosen time period provided little room for interesting storylines to unfold. Since Mary was in exile, all the intrigue and scheming happened at court with Mary merely a pawn in battle for the Queen’s seat and the war between religions. As the title suggests, this book focuses on her time as Lady Mary and stops after Jane Seymour’s death, which means we never seen her wield her power and position to eventually get that Queen title. There are some historical characters that play an important part in the effort to restore Mary, but they only appear occasionally and other than that, not much happens except for waiting and thinking for Mary.
I truly enjoyed how this book paints a picture of monarchy status and alliance at that time. Catherine and Henry’s divorce was a messy affair due the fact that Catherine is a princess of Spain in her own right, sister of the ruler at that time. Henry’s decision to marry Anne Boleyn, who grew up in France, made the alliance between France and England seem stronger, but at the same time weakened England alliance with Spain and Rome. Not to mention the long time animosity between Spain and France. Add that Catherine’s nephew was the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire at that time, it seemed the battle lines were drawn between the supporters of Henry and Catherine. If only we could have seen more of Catherine’s scheming somehow.
While I love the focus on characters and inner turmoil of Mary was enjoyable, I had hoped to see more intrigue and scheming, as well as some court richness being shown. The lack of storyline caused this book to be pretty unmemorable to me, as the pages and story blurred together in forming Mary’s waiting day in exile.
However, I still recommend this if you are interested in the Tudor’s era, want to learn more about the era, or just plain curious about the life of Queen Mary!
Have you read Lady Mary? Tell us in the comments below!
By turns thrilling, dramatic and touching, this is the story of Henry the Eighth and Catherine of Aragon’s divorce as you’ve never heard it before – from the eyes of their daughter, Princess Mary.
More than anything Mary just wants her family to stay together; for her mother and her father – and for her – to all be in the same place at once. But when her father announces that his marriage to her mother was void and by turns that Mary doesn’t really count as his child, she realises things will never be as she hoped.
Things only get worse when her father marries again. Separated from her mother and forced to work as a servant for her new sister, Mary must dig deep to find the strength to stand up against those who wish to bring her down. Despite what anyone says, she will always be a princess. She has the blood of a princess and she is ready to fight for what is rightfully hers.
This title was provided for an honest review by Bloomsbury Children’s Books.
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