- Paperback: 270 pages
- Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company. (1 Jan 1975)
- ISBN-10: 0025485504
- ISBN-13: 978-0025485501
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 13.7 x 3.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,680,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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2 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Powerful sisters
17 Jun 2007
The story of Henry 6th's two sisters, the politics, the conenctions between families,friends and lovers is fascinating. This is well written, not unduly complex to follow. More pictures would have been interestingt but otherwise a good addition to any European history buff's library.
Interesting but tedious reading
4 Mar 2012
Format:Paperback
I am a great fan of the Tudor period and have read extensively about it, including biographies of Henry VIII, his numerous wives and his children. I was looking forward to learning more about Henry VIII's sisters. "The Rose and the Thorn" was in effect an interesting book and I did learn a great deal about Mary and Margaret Tudor. Margaret Tudor's life was as unenviable as it gets, and her choices both political and in her personal life, reminded me of those made by her granddaughter, Mary, Queen of Scots. I should, however, point out that Nancy Lenz Harvey's interpretation of the life of Catherine of Aragon at the court of Henry VII, after her husband Arthur's death, is wholly inaccurate and gives a false impression of comfort, friendship and love. And this begs the question: what else might be inaccurate in the book?
And so, on the one hand, the descriptions of the life and various main events taking place at the time of the story are gorgeously rendered with an abundance of details and new information to me. On the other hand, the book is filled with and build up on a grand scale on the original letters written by the various protagonists of the story. A little would have been interesting, a lot proved to be tedious. Whereas I readily admit that it can be extremely interesting as those letters provide the true sense of what was taking place at any given time or place without embellishments or misinterpretation on the part of the author, it is also tedious beyond words to have to painstakingly decipher the circumlocutory and grammatically challenging language of the time and the meaning of the letters. I found myself skipping whole pages out of sheer boredom.
It believe that Nancy Lenz Harvey decided to save herself a major part of the scholarly work normally associated with writing a biography by inserting those letters into her book and letting her readers deal with them as best they could. I recognize that she herself had to read them all in order to insert them in their proper order into her book. Nor am I a stranger to this type of writing, BUT I did not bargain to have to read hundreds of them. I would have much preferred had they been summarized and inserted into the text of the narrative as is normally done. I doubt a book would be published today in such a format.
Recommended only if you don't mind reading A LOT! of old English prose.
And so, on the one hand, the descriptions of the life and various main events taking place at the time of the story are gorgeously rendered with an abundance of details and new information to me. On the other hand, the book is filled with and build up on a grand scale on the original letters written by the various protagonists of the story. A little would have been interesting, a lot proved to be tedious. Whereas I readily admit that it can be extremely interesting as those letters provide the true sense of what was taking place at any given time or place without embellishments or misinterpretation on the part of the author, it is also tedious beyond words to have to painstakingly decipher the circumlocutory and grammatically challenging language of the time and the meaning of the letters. I found myself skipping whole pages out of sheer boredom.
It believe that Nancy Lenz Harvey decided to save herself a major part of the scholarly work normally associated with writing a biography by inserting those letters into her book and letting her readers deal with them as best they could. I recognize that she herself had to read them all in order to insert them in their proper order into her book. Nor am I a stranger to this type of writing, BUT I did not bargain to have to read hundreds of them. I would have much preferred had they been summarized and inserted into the text of the narrative as is normally done. I doubt a book would be published today in such a format.
Recommended only if you don't mind reading A LOT! of old English prose.
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