The Constant Princess by Philippa GregoryMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Constant Princess tells the story of Katherine of Aragon, who was married to Prince Arthur of England and subsequently to his brother, Prince Henry (later King Henry VIII), when her marriage to Arthur was annulled after his death.
The story answers the controversy over whether her marriage to Arthur was consummated definitively from a narrative standpoint, but the book itself is not as satisfying a read as The Boleyn Inheritance for a number of reasons.
Gregory portrays Katherine's strong will and relentless ambition as much a result of a death bed promise she made to Arthur as it is a part of her own personality. Her insistence that Katherine was brought up to be a strong confident Queen of a foreign land is almost negated by her reliance on the death bed promise Katherine clings to above all else.
She skips years in the narrative that could have been filled out to make the story more personalized and suspenseful, a lesson she apparently learned by the time she wrote The Boleyn Inheritance which is a much longer book. I admit, too, that what she does write extensively about, Katherine's interest in war, is not something that held my attention.
Her portrayal of the Muslim influence on Spanish culture is intriguing and leaves me wanting more. She brings tantalizing pieces of eastern beauty into her story, sharply contrasted with the comparative barbarism of England of the day and makes us long, with Katherine, for home.
I wonder if I read this book (highly unlikely) if I would have a similar review, since I don't know the background as well as you. Still though, since this author went on to write other books with more detail, it sounds like it could have been done better. Your review is written beautifully.
ReplyDeleteWell, the author actually says something like, "Six years later..."
ReplyDeleteMy reaction was something like, "Oh, come on! You can do better than that! And the part she does narrate in detail is the war. Just didn't do it for me.
She really did improve in the subsequent book.