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Oct 20, 2008

Kristianne rated it:

Gregory, the reigning Queen of historical fiction, weaves a tale that is as much an insight into the Tudor court as it is into religious history. The protagonist Hannah, is a secret Jew serving a Catholic Queen and befriending a Protestant Princess. What a catalyst for an electrifying plot!

Being that this story is based in history and immersed in fact, there are twists and turns that you will anticipate. However the addition of a completely fictional heroine adds a layer of intrigue More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jan 06, 2009

Selah rated it:

Enjoyed this book tremendously, with the exception of the ending, which felt weak and rushed compared to the rest of the book. Excellent historical fiction. I'm buying all this author's books.

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2008

Azar rated it:

An engaging heroine--if somewhat too contemporary in her attitudes for the 16th Century, IMO--narrates this unusual perspective on Tudor England which I enjoyed very much. Not an instant favorite, but definitely a diverting read that I don't regret spending time on. I'll have to read a few more titles by the author before I can say whether or not she's earned her title as queen of Elizabethan fiction.

One thing I found especially intriguing was her unusually sympathetic portrayal of M More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2011

Orsolya rated it:

Gregory truly captured an "underdog" in her novel depicting Hannah, the Queen's fool in the novel by the same title. Hannah, a Jewish exile is brought to court and although she is a "Fool", she becomes so much more. Strong, intelligent, and ambitious; Gregory shows that even "lesser" court members were at the top of their game.

The novel is very vivid to say the least (do you expect any less from Gregory?) and is an entertaining and easy read. How histor More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Nicole rated it:

Every time I pick up a Gregory novel, I want more. I love her Tudor series so much I went out and bought almost every Tudor book I could find (at Border's going-out-of-business sale). My obsession began when my best friend said, hey, you know that movie The Other Boleyn Girl, I just read the book and I know you are going to think I'm crazy because it's so smutty, but I loved it... you should try it too. Of course, I was hesitant at first, but she's my best friend, if I can't trust her reading More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 08, 2008

Annalisa rated it:

What I did like about this book is that she showed us Queen Mary's court from a Jew hidden in a battle between Catholic and Protestant loyalties where the wrong choice could get you killed. This girl had fear of both sides. It was an interesting choice of voice. What Gregory didn't seem able to give voice to were the fool's wits. And now I see why she never showed us Anne's wit in The Other Boleyn Girl: she herself is void of intelligent humor.

I enjoyed grasping bloody Mary's motives More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2007

Lee rated it:

Our protagonist is a young Jewish girl who escapes the Spanish Inquisition by fleeing to England with her father where they pose as non-Jewish bookmakers. She eventually works her way into favor with Henry VIII's eldest daughter, Queen Mary, because she has flashes of clairvoyance [a "fool" at this point in history is a person kept around by royalty for any kind of amusement - not a moron, as the title might suggest...].

She's also of interest to the future Elizabeth I, and More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 08, 2008

Kim rated it:

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

Emma rated it:

This book was really good, I've read a lot of Tudor fiction over the years but this has to be one of the best books that I have read based in that time period. I think part of that is because it's not telling the story of a main character from that period of history. So whilst you have your king Edward and your queen Mary and princess Elizabeth and lady Jane grey, it's not really about them so much as another character whose life happens to be determined by these people. I ploughed through th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 20, 2008

Meghan rated it:

10/20/08 - After finishing this book, I am excited to read the other books that Philippa Gregory has read. I absolutely loved this book!
10/20/08 - have 30 more pages I just couldn't stay awake to read as it was almost 3am. Philippa Gregory is such a wonderful author and I now totally understand why some of my friends think she is such a great author. This book is a great read and something I recommend to everyone.
10/16/2008 - Started this book yesterday (10/15) and so far absolut More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 19, 2011

Annabelle rated it:

There is a lot to say about this 500 page book. Author of The Other Boleyn Girl, Gregory is an expert on pre Elizabethan England as Henry VIII’s heirs, Edward, Mary and then Elizabeth take the throne from 1548-1548. First off, why does she use the raunch factor. It opens with 14 year old Elizabeth being seduced and liking it by her step dad, Tom Seymour who is later beheaded. There are other moments of desire and girls leaning into hard members, but why? Is history boring. The main conceit More...

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Feb 08, 2009

Toni rated it:

The story is told from Hannah Green's perspective, a young Jewish girl who flees Spain with her father to escape persecution and lands in England. Hannah is a seer and has visions, a sought after talent during the troubled times for the Tudor court, she first serves King Edward, then his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, as a holy fool. She is also a vassal to Robert Dudley who she adores. This is a very dangerous time where every action is under scrutiny and many lives are in peril due to laws again More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 04, 2008

Antof9 rated it:

Written in my hotel room after reading this too late: I should be asleep, but I couldn't put this book down. I stayed up way too late in my hotel room, reading, and now I must go to bed! But I have to say that I loved this book -- definitely more than any of her others that I've read so far, and was totally engrossed. I loved the story, I loved things like the Verde/Green name, I loved Hannah's choices to be honorable, I loved Mary, Daniel, etc., etc.

I know nothing of the Jews du More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Jessica rated it:

The Queen's Fool was stupid. Historically inaccurate and completely out of touch with the tone of the era. Some books - Michael Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White comes to mind, or Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell - can walk and talk like historical fiction, and still prove irresistably interesting to contemporary audiences. (Postmodernist historical fiction?) This one, however, fails miserably. I thought I was going to like it. I really, really didn't.
More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Jill rated it:

I am not new to Gregory's writing or her use of outside characters to help enhance the telling of mostly historical facts. I enjoyed Mary Boleyn's telling of her sister's rise and fall in the life of Henry VIII in The Other Boleyn Girl. So to read about Hannah who is betrothed at a very young age to a older boy who is becoming a doctor and is rather unwilling, was intriguing. As was the fact that Hannah has the Sight and that she is begged for a fool to King Edward (Henry VIII's son and heir) on More...

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Sep 11, 2011

Kendra rated it:

Gregory has become one of my favorite authors and I look forward to finding her other books. The Queen’s Fool is set in the mid-1500’s and spans the reign of a young king and eventually an older queen. The narrator of the story is a young girl, Hannah, who has spent her life running to protect herself. She is a Jew living in a non-tolerant world, surrounded by death and destruction. But, in the middle of it all, she manages to find love and a few friends, namely Queen Mary, Lord Robert Dudle More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Immen added it

Ms. Gregory has been pumping out a book a year for the last decade. I may be going through all of them.

This was the immediate sequel to 'The Other Boleyn Girl', and where that book painted Anne Boleyn as a wicked schemestress, this one just all out viciously defames her daughter Elizabeth. It's a great premise, one I really enjoyed watching play out in the book after this, so more about that later. This book has a very fun supernatural angle. The narrator is a Jewish girl who prophesi More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Melisa added it

As always, Philippa Gregory did a wonderful job of transporting me back to 16th century England. She always makes you feel like you are close friends with the characters and in turn, you feel like you are part of the story.

This time around, the author introduces us to Hannah Verde, aka Hannah Green, a Jewish girl that is running from the Spanish Inquisition along with her father. Her mother was burned at the stake for being a heretic and so Hannah and her father pretend to follow Catholicism More...

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Mar 17, 2011

Briansmom rated it:

Wow! Phillipa Gregory does it again. This time, a fictitious person is the main character; a girl from Spain who has the gift of "sight" is given in service to the King's household. She is a "Holy Fool," an entertainer but one who has visions believed to be from God (I would think that this would be a rather precarious if not dangerous situation to be in in the superstitious Middle Ages, but this particular point is never addressed.) Hannah, the girl's name, has a secret: More...

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Feb 24, 2011

Susan rated it:

I rarely give a book a full 5 stars, but this one truly deserves the highest rating possible. I've never read a piece of historical fiction that brings the characters to life as much as this novel does. I love to learn new things, and this book prompted me to read more about that period in European history.

This was the best historical fiction novel I have ever read. Whenever I pick up a book of any genre of fiction, I'm always hoping that I will find a character (or characters) who w More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2010

Aaron rated it:

Gregory continues her Tudor family sage with this addition to the series. It is presented with a unique twist. Rather than using one of the family members as a narrator telling the story, readers are introduced to Hannah Green. Hannah is a 14-year-old Jewish girl who had come to England with her father years previous in order to escape from the Spanish Inquisition. Her mother was not so lucky.

Upon arriving, the Greens settled down and opened a book store and publishing house. Hannah and her More...

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Dec 05, 2010

Sabine rated it:

I was unable to finish this book for quite a few reasons. It began quite okay and I was able to suspend my disbelief of the seer/prophetess aspects and her consistent, unusual favour at court, but I had to give up less than halfway through the book. Gregory is good at constructing a semi-believable world of the Tudor court, yet her writing cannot make up for the discrepancies between the world and her characters. I often found myself rolling my eyes at the endless scenes between Hannah and her f More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2010

Faith rated it:

From the back:></b

"It is winter, 1553. Pursued by the Inquisition, Hannah Green, a fourteen-year-old Jewish girl, is forced to flee Spain with her father. But Hannah is no ordinary refugee. Her gift of "Sight," the ability to foresee the future, is priceless in the troubled times of the Tudor court. Hannah is adopted by the glamorous Robert Dudley, the charismatic son of King Edward's protector, who brings her to court as a "holy fool" for Queen Mary an More...

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Aug 27, 2010

Jenny rated it:

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Aug 10, 2010

Angela rated it:

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Jul 25, 2010

Sophia rated it:

SO I see some other reviews of this are whining that it is not historically accurate, and all I can say is so what? it is a piece of fiction, although it may be historically based at points, seriously if you want a real history book go read a text book!!! I think this was great book, the story about Hannah Green being claimed as a fool by the court is engaging, at times very troubling and at times very touching. Based upon the reign of Bloody Mary we get to explore several what ifs-- what if one More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 12, 2010

Chantel rated it:

SKIP THE FIRST CHAPTER! I bought this while waiting in the airport for my flight. I randomly opened the book and started reading and found myself interested. But after I had paid for it and started reading on the plane, I actually tore out the first two pages because I was mortified! There are some references to the situation that occurs in the first chapter later in the book, but you need not have read it to get the gist.

Fortunately, the rest of the book stays fairly clean. This More...

1 comment like

Mar 07, 2010

Lois rated it:

This book was very slow to get into. I picked it up before Christmas, and I just finished it today (almost three months later!). When I picked it up, I expected to just read it until I got new books for Christmas, but I found myself compelled to finish it. Although it was a slow read, Philippa Gregory writes such deep, complicated characters, that it kept drawing me back.

This novel follows the character of Hannah the Fool, who gets brought to the court of sickly King Edward, Hen More...

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Nov 25, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

As you’d expect of a novel by Philippa Gregory, the Queen’s Tale is a historical tale. It follows the fortunes of Hannah Green, a Jewish girl who has fled the Inquisition from Spain to London. However, it appears it’s no safer here, as she is discovered to have the gift of prophecy, forced into becoming a holy fool at court and trapped in the intrigue that takes place.

I wasn’t much enamored with the book. My biggest problem was with the characters. I felt there was very little depth to More...

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Nov 13, 2009

Tania rated it:

This is the story of England in the 1500’s – more specifically the story of the Queens of England and their courts. The tale is told from the perspective of a young girl Hannah Green (14 at the start) who becomes the Holy Fool of the Tudors (first King Edward, then Queen Mary). She has the gift of Sight and the Royal Family sees an advantage to such a gift on their throne. Yet the politics of England were particularly dangerous at that time and Hannah has much to hide. She is a converted Jew More...

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