The King's Curse

Nobody does British royal history like Philippa Gregory, and this final novel of The Cousins' War series does not disappoint. What is unique about this novel is that it is told, not from the perspective of a queen or major player in the action, but from the perspective of a woman who was in many ways a witness to history, although Gregory takes the license of making her much more than that.

Lady Margaret Pole is a member of the Plantagenet family, whom Henry Tudor overthrew to take over the throne of England. Her cousin is Henry's wife, Elizabeth, so Margaret is close to the royal family, and spends a great deal of time with their children. She and her husband have the care of Prince Arthur of Wales, Henry's heir. She is with Arthur when Catherine of Aragon comes to be his bride, and becomes fast friends with the new princess. Then Arthur dies from sickness, and his spoiled younger brother Harry marries his widowed bride and becomes Henry VIII shortly thereafter. With Henry's ascension to the throne, Margaret is restored to her family's titles, lands, and wealth, and becomes an important member of Catherine's household.

This novel covers the period from 1499ish to the 1540's, from Catherine of Aragon through Catherine Howard, all told from Margaret's perspective as a loyal adherent of Catherine's and a staunch supporter of the Roman Catholic church. We see her fortunes, and those of her sons, rise and fall as we see Henry VIII go from a handsome, popular monarch to an insecure, unpredictable, obese despot. Gregory makes Margaret into a player in the political intrigue of the time, and who is to say she was not? If you have any interest in British history, this novel makes for a great read.

The King's Curse

Searching for Grace Kelly

I just loved this first novel by Michael Callahan, set in the famous Barbizon Hotel for Women in NYC in the 1950's. Callahan has really captured a moment in time, and tells an entertaining story about three very different women along the way.

Beautiful Smith College undergrad Laura has come to NYC to do a summer internship with Mademoiselle. When she arrives at the Barbizon she is assigned a room with Dolly, a sunny working-class girl attending secretarial school. Soon they meet Vivian, a gorgeous Brit who loves to break the rules. The three become fast friends, and help each other through the trials of being young women in a city and a society where the rules for proper behavior are being rewritten everyday.

Callahan has a great ear for dialog and seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from Hepburn/Tracy comedies. The characters are smart, literate, and endearing. This is a wonderful and quick read.

Searching for Grace Kelly

Dark Places

I could not put this book down! This is another thriller from Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, and it does not disappoint. It's the story of Libby Day, who survived the massacre of her mother and two older sisters in 1985 in Kinnakee, Kansas, and whose testimony sent her older brother Ben to prison for life as the sole murderer.

It's now 2009 and Libby has lived her life avoiding the "dark places" of that horrible night, existing on charity and the meager revenue of a poorly-received book. But now Libby needs money, so she reluctantly accepts an appearance request from a local "Kill Club," a group that investigates old murders, and who thinks Ben is innocent. Pretty soon Libby is doubting everything she has grown up believing.

Told in turns from present-day Libby's perspective, and from the perspective of Ben and their mother, Patty, on that horrible day in January 1985, we see that not all truths are totally true, and that we believe things are a certain way because we want to believe they're that way. Like in Gone Girl, Flynn plays with our notions of reliable characters and who the reader is supposed to believe, and also with how things look isn't how things actually are.

The movie comes out in August.... with Charlize Theron as grown-up Libby. I'm looking forward to it.

Dark Places