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The Queen's Sorrow
Plain and dutiful and a passionate Catholic, Mary Tudor is overjoyed when she becomes Queen of England. After the misery of her childhood, when her father, Henry VIII, rejected her and her mother, Mary feels at last that she is achieving her destiny. And when she marries Philip of Spain, her happiness is complete. But Mary's delight quickly turns sour as she realizes that her husband does not love her—indeed, that he finds her devotion irritating. Desperate for a baby, she begins to believe that God is punishing her. Her people are horrified at the severity of the measures she takes and begin to to turn against their queen, who is lonely, frightened, and desperate for love. Rafael, a member of Philip of Spain's entourage, reluctantly witnesses the tragedy that unfolds as the once-feted queen tightens her cruel hold on the nation. As Rafael becomes closer to Mary, his life—and newfound love—are caught up in the terrible chaos.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
75 people are currently reading
853 people want to read
About the author
Suzannah Dunn
22 books216 followersSuzannah Dunn was born in London, and grew up in the village of Northaw in Hertfordshire (for Tudor ‘fans’: Northaw Manor was the first married home of Bess Hardwick, in the late 1540s). Having lived in Brighton for nineteen years, she now lives in Shropshire. Her novel about Anne Boleyn (The Queen of Subtleties) was followed by The Sixth Wife, on Katherine Parr, and The Queen's Sorrow, set during the reign of Mary Tudor, ‘Bloody Mary’, England’s first ruling queen. Her forthcoming novel – to be published in hardback in May 2010 – is The Confession of Katherine Howard. Prior to writing about the Tudors, she published five contemporary-set novels and two collections of stories. She has enjoyed many years of giving talks and teaching creative writing (from six weeks as ‘writer in residence’ on the Richard and Judy show, to seven years as Programme Director of Manchester University’s MA in Novel Writing).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
May 14, 2009
What a con this book is. The title and the blurb lead you to believe that this book is all about Queen Mary and her marriage to Prince Philip of Spain. I was really looking forward to getting more behind the skin of Bloody Mary and her phantom pregnancy etc but if she appears in more than 10 pages overall I'd be surpirsed. As for Prince Philip - well, I'm still waiting for his entrance.
This story is told through the eyes of Rafael Prado, a Spanish sundial maker who is one of Philip's entourage brought over to England when the Prince and Mary marry. He is made up. The household he lives in is made up. The English woman he falls in love with, and her son, are made up. This whole book is about made up people, with a story that never happened and a few fleeting appearances by Queen Mary that make her look like some pathetic, desperate old woman. Gah!
I gave it 2 stars, because having said all that the story of Rafael and Cecily (his Englsih love) is sweet enough (even if it is made up) but I did find myself speed reading trying to get the actual historical facts (of which there are precious few). I wouldn't bother with this one, especially if you are a real history buff.
This story is told through the eyes of Rafael Prado, a Spanish sundial maker who is one of Philip's entourage brought over to England when the Prince and Mary marry. He is made up. The household he lives in is made up. The English woman he falls in love with, and her son, are made up. This whole book is about made up people, with a story that never happened and a few fleeting appearances by Queen Mary that make her look like some pathetic, desperate old woman. Gah!
I gave it 2 stars, because having said all that the story of Rafael and Cecily (his Englsih love) is sweet enough (even if it is made up) but I did find myself speed reading trying to get the actual historical facts (of which there are precious few). I wouldn't bother with this one, especially if you are a real history buff.
June 2, 2011
I honestly hate throwing in the towel on books. I never used to be able to do it, but I've finally gotten to a point in my life where I realized that trudging through a boring or bad book and hoping it gets better is not worth it. There's so many other books I want to read, it doesn't make sense to waste my time.
(I do always get at least 100-150 pages in before I quit, though.)
This book was just so incredibly disappointing. The title, the cover, the blurb on the back - they all suggest that we are going to hear about Mary Tudor's life. I, for one, could not wait. I've only read a few books from her point of view and am always looking for more.
Imagine my disappointment when a random fictional character is telling the story instead. We follow his life only, and in the 160 or so pages I read (of a book that is 300 pages, so I did read half of it) he sees Mary once. Their interaction is so brief, it barely warrants a mention. And the 160 pages I read were BORING. I would have thrown in the towel much sooner, but I was babysitting and it was the only book I had on me. It was a real struggle to keep reading.
I decided to read a few other reviews before I called it quits to see if the book ever switches to Mary's point of view. And there I found that not only is it never through her POV, but that Mary doesn't even make many more appearances in this book. The book really does just follow this fictional guy and has nothing to do with Mary's reign and "the love denied for which a country must suffer" as the front cover boasts.
I was so looking forward to getting into Mary's heard and hearing "her" justify her harsh punishments on England when they wouldn't conform to Catholicism. It really irks me that they tricked all these people into picking up a book on Mary Tudor and finding nothing of her. What a waste!
(I do always get at least 100-150 pages in before I quit, though.)
This book was just so incredibly disappointing. The title, the cover, the blurb on the back - they all suggest that we are going to hear about Mary Tudor's life. I, for one, could not wait. I've only read a few books from her point of view and am always looking for more.
Imagine my disappointment when a random fictional character is telling the story instead. We follow his life only, and in the 160 or so pages I read (of a book that is 300 pages, so I did read half of it) he sees Mary once. Their interaction is so brief, it barely warrants a mention. And the 160 pages I read were BORING. I would have thrown in the towel much sooner, but I was babysitting and it was the only book I had on me. It was a real struggle to keep reading.
I decided to read a few other reviews before I called it quits to see if the book ever switches to Mary's point of view. And there I found that not only is it never through her POV, but that Mary doesn't even make many more appearances in this book. The book really does just follow this fictional guy and has nothing to do with Mary's reign and "the love denied for which a country must suffer" as the front cover boasts.
I was so looking forward to getting into Mary's heard and hearing "her" justify her harsh punishments on England when they wouldn't conform to Catholicism. It really irks me that they tricked all these people into picking up a book on Mary Tudor and finding nothing of her. What a waste!
December 2, 2013
I MIGHT have actually liked this book if:
The cover was not of Mary Tudor.
The title was not "The Queen's Sorrow".
The back cover is about Mary Tudor, Henry VIII, Philip of Spain.
I felt betrayed and manipulated.
(Bloody) Mary was mentioned a few times, I was hoping to read about her...
The main character Rafael - meets with her 3 times.
This book, all about Rafael - from Spain coming to England to create a sundial for Queen Mary from her husband Philip of Spain moved slow, but I was ok with getting acquainted with characters, and it would move to court & Mary.
It did not.
The home Rafael stayed in was in London (there were too many Spaniards at Whitehall) - ok... The relationship with Cecily is labored, understandable the language barrier, the fact that most English people were unhappy with the Spanish (and Mary for marrying a Spaniard).
English population did not want to go back to Catholic ways - and when burnings began blamed Mary's Spanish half and the marriage to Prince Philip.
Rafael's life and past relationships with women (none of them did much more than make me sad for this naïve man) unfold - in a back and forth narrative.
When I finally like him no amount of my screaming at this book "NOOOOO! DON'T DO IT RAFAEL!" Made him listen and he does the completely stupid thing that you presume he is going to do.
And he never even realizes what he has done.
No closure!
Not that I wanted the Hollywood ending -"Happily Ever After" but, I was left angry with nothing having been completed - and would not read another book about him if it promised to tell me what had happened after this ended!
I had to bitch at my husband for 20 upon completion!
The cover was not of Mary Tudor.
The title was not "The Queen's Sorrow".
The back cover is about Mary Tudor, Henry VIII, Philip of Spain.
I felt betrayed and manipulated.
(Bloody) Mary was mentioned a few times, I was hoping to read about her...
The main character Rafael - meets with her 3 times.
This book, all about Rafael - from Spain coming to England to create a sundial for Queen Mary from her husband Philip of Spain moved slow, but I was ok with getting acquainted with characters, and it would move to court & Mary.
It did not.
The home Rafael stayed in was in London (there were too many Spaniards at Whitehall) - ok... The relationship with Cecily is labored, understandable the language barrier, the fact that most English people were unhappy with the Spanish (and Mary for marrying a Spaniard).
English population did not want to go back to Catholic ways - and when burnings began blamed Mary's Spanish half and the marriage to Prince Philip.
Rafael's life and past relationships with women (none of them did much more than make me sad for this naïve man) unfold - in a back and forth narrative.
When I finally like him no amount of my screaming at this book "NOOOOO! DON'T DO IT RAFAEL!" Made him listen and he does the completely stupid thing that you presume he is going to do.
And he never even realizes what he has done.
No closure!
Not that I wanted the Hollywood ending -"Happily Ever After" but, I was left angry with nothing having been completed - and would not read another book about him if it promised to tell me what had happened after this ended!
I had to bitch at my husband for 20 upon completion!
November 2, 2010
Mary I of England, better known as Bloody Mary, has never evoked much sympathy, despite her fractured adolescence and horrible young adulthood, where she first suffered much of the deprivation and pain she later inflicted during her reign.
Nevertheless, her story is a fascinating one, and author Suzannah Dunn captures a fragment of it in her haunting novel, The Queen’s Sorrow. In focusing on the months after Mary's marriage to Philip II and her tragic, illusory pregnancy, Dunn has crafted an introspective account of desire, unrequited longing, and the price we sometimes pay when we believe we know someone else's heart.
Dunn tells her beautifully etched story through the eyes of a Spaniard in Philip II's entourage, Rafael de Prado, who arrives in storm-drenched England bewildered and viewed with suspicion by the English, even as he is charged with the task of building a sundial for the queen. Only, no one really knows how Rafael will be paid or where exactly he is supposed to lodge; in the upheaval caused by the Spanish arrival, there is no room at court, and so Rafael and his apprentice are sent to stay in a London manor, where Rafael - homesick, sensitive, and trapped in a shadowy world between two opposing faiths - meets Cecily, the manor housekeeper, and her young son. A father himself, separated from his beloved boy, Rafael finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Englishwoman.
As their attraction deepens, we learn more about Rafael and Cecily’s secret pasts, even as they find themselves plunged into the tumult and terror of Bloody Mary’s persecution, their fates forever altered by the queen’s sorrow.
Nevertheless, her story is a fascinating one, and author Suzannah Dunn captures a fragment of it in her haunting novel, The Queen’s Sorrow. In focusing on the months after Mary's marriage to Philip II and her tragic, illusory pregnancy, Dunn has crafted an introspective account of desire, unrequited longing, and the price we sometimes pay when we believe we know someone else's heart.
Dunn tells her beautifully etched story through the eyes of a Spaniard in Philip II's entourage, Rafael de Prado, who arrives in storm-drenched England bewildered and viewed with suspicion by the English, even as he is charged with the task of building a sundial for the queen. Only, no one really knows how Rafael will be paid or where exactly he is supposed to lodge; in the upheaval caused by the Spanish arrival, there is no room at court, and so Rafael and his apprentice are sent to stay in a London manor, where Rafael - homesick, sensitive, and trapped in a shadowy world between two opposing faiths - meets Cecily, the manor housekeeper, and her young son. A father himself, separated from his beloved boy, Rafael finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Englishwoman.
As their attraction deepens, we learn more about Rafael and Cecily’s secret pasts, even as they find themselves plunged into the tumult and terror of Bloody Mary’s persecution, their fates forever altered by the queen’s sorrow.
May 15, 2021
There’s such a thing as being criminally stupid, and the protagonist of this book definitely qualifies. The book itself, by contrast, is quite clever.
I say “protagonist,” but the term implies centrality to the action—and the man at the center of this story spends all his time in physical or mental inertia, or both at once. Which doesn’t keep the tale from being an absorbing one, even a suspenseful one.
Rafael is the sundial maker to the Spanish king. King Philip has just married Mary Tudor, queen of England, and Rafael is sent in the king’s train to London to craft a sundial as a bride gift. Once he arrives, however, the commission never really materializes and Rafael is left kicking his heels as the weeks he expected to spend in England stretch to months and more. He desperately misses his wife and young son as well as Spain itself, finding England uncongenial and even dangerous. He does manage to develop a friendship of sorts—hampered at first by the lack of a shared language—with a woman who works in the London merchant’s household where he is housed.
At first the reader is content to see sixteenth-century London through a stranger’s eyes, to follow along as Rafael bumbles his way through the bureaucracy that holds him hostage and has brief encounters with the queen, meetings he gets through mostly by remaining silent. The author has a fine way with metaphor that nearly always keeps the writing fresh and the picture of Rafael’s world sharp in my mind. Many passages gave me almost a physical sensation of pleasure; here’s one, describing a scene in which Londoners are celebrating a report (later proven false) of the birth of a prince: “Relief, Rafael realised: that was what it was, that was all it was. But it was everything. It was all they’d wanted, all they’d needed. Happiness was small and sweet, he realised, and each of them was rich today on a pocketful of it.” Every once in a while Dunn tipped into overwriting, but those moments were few and scattered enough not to bother me more than momentarily.
An interesting fact about profoundly stupid people is that they often have little awareness of their own limitations, and since this tale is told from Rafael’s point of view, it takes a while for the reader to arrive at a realization of his shortcomings. Meanwhile, as he waits for something to happen to him, the horrors of the queen’s violent campaign against Protestants draw ever closer to his door. By the end, I could see clearly the disaster in store but felt powerless to avert it, hoping against hope that the author would spare me in the end but knowing that any miraculous rescue would constitute a betrayal of trust.
While the era Dunn writes about is not a favorite time and place for me to visit, I found much to enjoy and even more to respect in this sly novel.
I say “protagonist,” but the term implies centrality to the action—and the man at the center of this story spends all his time in physical or mental inertia, or both at once. Which doesn’t keep the tale from being an absorbing one, even a suspenseful one.
Rafael is the sundial maker to the Spanish king. King Philip has just married Mary Tudor, queen of England, and Rafael is sent in the king’s train to London to craft a sundial as a bride gift. Once he arrives, however, the commission never really materializes and Rafael is left kicking his heels as the weeks he expected to spend in England stretch to months and more. He desperately misses his wife and young son as well as Spain itself, finding England uncongenial and even dangerous. He does manage to develop a friendship of sorts—hampered at first by the lack of a shared language—with a woman who works in the London merchant’s household where he is housed.
At first the reader is content to see sixteenth-century London through a stranger’s eyes, to follow along as Rafael bumbles his way through the bureaucracy that holds him hostage and has brief encounters with the queen, meetings he gets through mostly by remaining silent. The author has a fine way with metaphor that nearly always keeps the writing fresh and the picture of Rafael’s world sharp in my mind. Many passages gave me almost a physical sensation of pleasure; here’s one, describing a scene in which Londoners are celebrating a report (later proven false) of the birth of a prince: “Relief, Rafael realised: that was what it was, that was all it was. But it was everything. It was all they’d wanted, all they’d needed. Happiness was small and sweet, he realised, and each of them was rich today on a pocketful of it.” Every once in a while Dunn tipped into overwriting, but those moments were few and scattered enough not to bother me more than momentarily.
An interesting fact about profoundly stupid people is that they often have little awareness of their own limitations, and since this tale is told from Rafael’s point of view, it takes a while for the reader to arrive at a realization of his shortcomings. Meanwhile, as he waits for something to happen to him, the horrors of the queen’s violent campaign against Protestants draw ever closer to his door. By the end, I could see clearly the disaster in store but felt powerless to avert it, hoping against hope that the author would spare me in the end but knowing that any miraculous rescue would constitute a betrayal of trust.
While the era Dunn writes about is not a favorite time and place for me to visit, I found much to enjoy and even more to respect in this sly novel.
September 6, 2023
Nothing but a small mention of Queen Mary in this book very deceiving!...waste of my reading time!
December 13, 2008
‘You question faith, and it’s broken, and it lets the darkness in.’
This novel was not what at all what I expected and initially I felt disappointed. However, as I continued reading, I found I was engaged by the lives of the various characters and at times was transported back to the politically and religiously difficult times in which they lived.
This is not really a novel about Mary Tudor (Queen of England 1553-1558). It is a novel about a number of people brought together by circumstance with each impacted in different ways by the accession of Mary to the throne of England, by her marriage to Philip of Spain and by her unwavering commitment to her Catholic faith. The lives, and pasts, of Rafael the sundial-maker and Cecily the housekeeper are the main ingredients of this novel which is set in England during the period when Mary thought herself pregnant. There are a number of tragedies in this novel and the events portrayed are broadly consistent with the times.
It will depend on your view of Mary Tudor whether you are sympathetic to the suffering of Mary the woman or critical of the actions of Mary the Queen. For myself, I had to suspend belief of some aspects of the story and actions taken by characters in order to appreciate the whole.
This novel is a good read provided that you remember it is fiction. Yes, a number of characters are real and some of the actions attributed are entirely plausible. I did not enjoy this novel as much as I did Ms Dunn’s earlier works but I consider this is more related to my ability to envisage the story being told than with Ms Dunn’s abilities as a novelist.
This novel was not what at all what I expected and initially I felt disappointed. However, as I continued reading, I found I was engaged by the lives of the various characters and at times was transported back to the politically and religiously difficult times in which they lived.
This is not really a novel about Mary Tudor (Queen of England 1553-1558). It is a novel about a number of people brought together by circumstance with each impacted in different ways by the accession of Mary to the throne of England, by her marriage to Philip of Spain and by her unwavering commitment to her Catholic faith. The lives, and pasts, of Rafael the sundial-maker and Cecily the housekeeper are the main ingredients of this novel which is set in England during the period when Mary thought herself pregnant. There are a number of tragedies in this novel and the events portrayed are broadly consistent with the times.
It will depend on your view of Mary Tudor whether you are sympathetic to the suffering of Mary the woman or critical of the actions of Mary the Queen. For myself, I had to suspend belief of some aspects of the story and actions taken by characters in order to appreciate the whole.
This novel is a good read provided that you remember it is fiction. Yes, a number of characters are real and some of the actions attributed are entirely plausible. I did not enjoy this novel as much as I did Ms Dunn’s earlier works but I consider this is more related to my ability to envisage the story being told than with Ms Dunn’s abilities as a novelist.
March 19, 2010
The title and back text leads you to believe that the story is about Mary and Philip but all the scenes where Mary is are abou one page totally. The story is told by man who comes with Philip to England.
April 29, 2010
Despite its misleading title and even more misleading back-cover blurb, The Queen’s Sorrow by Suzannah Dunn is really the story of Rafael del Prado, a Spanish sundial-maker who arrives in England just after the marriage of Philip, heir to the Spanish throne, to Mary Tudor, Queen of England, known to history as “Bloody Mary.” Rafael is commissioned by the Prince to build a sundial as a wedding gift to his wife, but instead arrives in the midst of the diplomatic wrangling necessitated by trying to integrate the Prince’s Spanish household and the English one provided for him by the Queen. This means Rafael ends up lodging with an English family, where he becomes fascinated by the housekeeper, Cecily, who has a mysterious past and a young son the same age as Rafael’s dearly-loved child in Spain.
Most of the novel is actually about how Rafael is desperately homesick and hates England but loves Cecily. He has a couple of encounters with Queen Mary – the final one ending quite disastrously – and many memories of Spain and because he’s cautious and also sick a lot, not that much happens in the novel. I was deeply distracted by the very modern-sounding dialogue that coupled oddly with the descriptive passages! Moreover, Rafael is almost ludicrously naïve, considering that he’s supposedly the descendant of conversos in Spain, and I find his final actions unforgiveable. As for Cecily and Nicholas, they are the other main characters, and they’re not very well-sketched out.
I did like the very lovely descriptions of Rafael’s love for his toddler son, which is why I enjoyed the novel; they were much more concrete and believable than his various encounters with women, including Mary Tudor.
Most of the novel is actually about how Rafael is desperately homesick and hates England but loves Cecily. He has a couple of encounters with Queen Mary – the final one ending quite disastrously – and many memories of Spain and because he’s cautious and also sick a lot, not that much happens in the novel. I was deeply distracted by the very modern-sounding dialogue that coupled oddly with the descriptive passages! Moreover, Rafael is almost ludicrously naïve, considering that he’s supposedly the descendant of conversos in Spain, and I find his final actions unforgiveable. As for Cecily and Nicholas, they are the other main characters, and they’re not very well-sketched out.
I did like the very lovely descriptions of Rafael’s love for his toddler son, which is why I enjoyed the novel; they were much more concrete and believable than his various encounters with women, including Mary Tudor.
May 1, 2013
Yet another deceiving title from Dunn as The Queen’s Sorrow and cover illustration as well as the synopsis on the back cover elude to this being the story of Mary Tudor, on her ascension to the throne. The story is told through the eyes of a Spanish sundial maker, Rafael, and actually is his story. Though Queen Mary is a central figure that the reader encounters briefly throughout the novel it is not her sorrow that we encounter but really that of Rafael. Perhaps the novel would be redeemed if Rafael wasn’t a pathetic, naïve man who has known great pain, but in turn, and perhaps because of it, causes great pain to many others.
I, like many other reviewers, waited for the story to turn to Mary and it never did which was so disappointing. I had hoped for some insight into Mary, a women I long to understand, but Dunn fell far short of exploring the Queen’s sorrow.
Ultimately I must say that after my last encounter with Dunn’s work in The Sixth Wife, and my research on Dunn herself who claims not to be a writer of historical fiction, I have concluded that she merely uses a historical setting in which to construct her novels of pure fiction and would go so far as to say that the misleading titles and allusions to historical figures are merely a ruse to grab readers of historical fiction for her own gain. Therefore, I cannot imagine reading anything by Suzannah Dunn again and would recommend that anyone who enjoys true historical fiction not waste his or her time either.
I, like many other reviewers, waited for the story to turn to Mary and it never did which was so disappointing. I had hoped for some insight into Mary, a women I long to understand, but Dunn fell far short of exploring the Queen’s sorrow.
Ultimately I must say that after my last encounter with Dunn’s work in The Sixth Wife, and my research on Dunn herself who claims not to be a writer of historical fiction, I have concluded that she merely uses a historical setting in which to construct her novels of pure fiction and would go so far as to say that the misleading titles and allusions to historical figures are merely a ruse to grab readers of historical fiction for her own gain. Therefore, I cannot imagine reading anything by Suzannah Dunn again and would recommend that anyone who enjoys true historical fiction not waste his or her time either.
July 13, 2011
The book was a disappointment in that the blurb does not live up to the expectations it creates. However, this is overlooked as the characters are easy to identify with and follow.
The book really gives an insight into how the people of England lived under rule: with the eventual burnings and the amount of Spanish emmigrating into their country.
Being from the point of view of a Spanish man you see it all from a fresh perspectaive. With the few glimpses of the queen in this book she at last receives some sympathy as we understand how desparate she is for the love of her husband. Yet we also understand her downfall when Rafael, the main character, explains the horrors of the burnings and tries to come to terms that the queen is ignorant if what is happening in her name. Yet in the last few pages we learn that she wasnt ignorant and so fully understand how she became a loathed queen that made many detest catholicasm and foreigners, especially the Spanish.
Overall, it is a compelling novel from a different perspective that is worth reading yet I feel other novels have made a greater impact on me.
The book really gives an insight into how the people of England lived under rule: with the eventual burnings and the amount of Spanish emmigrating into their country.
Being from the point of view of a Spanish man you see it all from a fresh perspectaive. With the few glimpses of the queen in this book she at last receives some sympathy as we understand how desparate she is for the love of her husband. Yet we also understand her downfall when Rafael, the main character, explains the horrors of the burnings and tries to come to terms that the queen is ignorant if what is happening in her name. Yet in the last few pages we learn that she wasnt ignorant and so fully understand how she became a loathed queen that made many detest catholicasm and foreigners, especially the Spanish.
Overall, it is a compelling novel from a different perspective that is worth reading yet I feel other novels have made a greater impact on me.
Read
April 9, 2012England post Henry VIII continued to be fraught with intrigue, back stabbing and a political system lending to a court of fear.
When Mary Tudor, Henry's first daughter, and child of Katharine of Aragon took the throne, the fires of Mary's hell raged throughout as indiscriminate burnings were a daily occurrence.
Married to a much despised Spanish King, Mary's heart was broken as it became obvious Philip loathed his bride and his primary goal was the throne. Philip brought his household to England were these members became as hated as Philip.
The story is told from the perspective of Rafael, a member of Philip's entourage.
This is a very disappointing book. The title is misleading. Infact, Mary is a mere back drop to Rafael's ramblings.
Mary and "The Queen's Sorrow" are mentioned but the title does not follow the story line.
NOT recommended
The only good thing I can say is that this is one more book read from my shelf. While I usually retain my books regarding England, this one is not a keeper in any way.
NO STARS FOR THIS ONE!
When Mary Tudor, Henry's first daughter, and child of Katharine of Aragon took the throne, the fires of Mary's hell raged throughout as indiscriminate burnings were a daily occurrence.
Married to a much despised Spanish King, Mary's heart was broken as it became obvious Philip loathed his bride and his primary goal was the throne. Philip brought his household to England were these members became as hated as Philip.
The story is told from the perspective of Rafael, a member of Philip's entourage.
This is a very disappointing book. The title is misleading. Infact, Mary is a mere back drop to Rafael's ramblings.
Mary and "The Queen's Sorrow" are mentioned but the title does not follow the story line.
NOT recommended
The only good thing I can say is that this is one more book read from my shelf. While I usually retain my books regarding England, this one is not a keeper in any way.
NO STARS FOR THIS ONE!
November 18, 2009
If you're expecting a book about Bloody Queen Mary told from her viewpoint, you'll be disappointed. If, however, you're open to gaining insight into the ordinary person's experience during her rule, you'll find this book fascinating. Told from a man's perspective (and that in itself was refreshing to me) and who is one of the disliked Spanish foreigners "invading" England during the Queen's marriage, it's filled with nice historical observations, lovely language, and a surprising sweet love story. I'd rate this one 3 1/2 stars if I could, purely because of the ending; it was way too abrupt and felt disjointed from the rest of the story. I also felt that the result of the main character's naive visit to the Queen was not properly acknowledged or experienced by him. It could have been (should have been!) heartbreaking, and instead was only a little confusing.
January 2, 2010
A book which pictures life in London during the reign of Queen Mary. Maybe the title is misleading, as the story focuses on the actions of a Spaniard visiting London to build a sundial for the Queen. The depictions of the Londoners' mistrust of the Spanish, the squalor, the weather,and the household in which he is lodged are excellent. (Though I doubt whether anyone would go picking blackberries in October, a time when they have become tasteless and watery.) The mayhem brought about by ever-changing religious dictats and the resulting tradegies are also well portrayed.
The parts which didn't work well for me were his meetings with the queen herself.
In general though I felt it was a story well told and very readable.
The parts which didn't work well for me were his meetings with the queen herself.
In general though I felt it was a story well told and very readable.
September 20, 2011
This novel seemed less about Mary Tudor and more about Rafael Prado, a fictional sundial-maker to the King of Spain. Normally when authors create a fictional persona and place them in the thick of events, there's a careful balance between fact and fiction. That doesn't happen here. I picked up this novel because I've always been fascinated by Mary Tudor, her tragic life and how her behaviour shaped that of her half-sister Elizabeth. I've even had a soft spot for her, considering how badly she was abused by her father Henry VIII. After I finished, I had less an idea of who Mary was, what she thought or her life as queen. I knew far more than I wanted about Rafael, his wife and his son. This was a definite let-down.
April 4, 2010
Excellent, not what I thought but quite good.
Queen 'Bloody' Mary appears in the book several times, but is not the narrator. The narrator is a Spanish (of Jewish decent) sundial builder who is brought to England with Mary's new Spanish consort and his court. The palace is full and Rafael is placed with a private English family for the duration of his stay.
Rafael is an excellent narrator of this story as he likes and approves of Queen Mary, but is very familiar with Spanish Inquisition and watches in horror as innocents are murdered and burned in the name of faith.
Queen 'Bloody' Mary appears in the book several times, but is not the narrator. The narrator is a Spanish (of Jewish decent) sundial builder who is brought to England with Mary's new Spanish consort and his court. The palace is full and Rafael is placed with a private English family for the duration of his stay.
Rafael is an excellent narrator of this story as he likes and approves of Queen Mary, but is very familiar with Spanish Inquisition and watches in horror as innocents are murdered and burned in the name of faith.
October 13, 2012
Felt completely let down by this book. The book is described as being about to Queen Mary. Much of the book is the thoughts and ramblings of a obscure spanish man. It was very difficult to keep reading this as it became very boring, only involving the Queen very minutely. I hate books that promise one thing and deliver another. Unfortunately that was not even a good alternative to what was promise in the book description.
August 25, 2010
This book was not what I expected and I was disappointed by it. I expected a historical fiction about Mary Tudor, as the title and blurb suggested, but instead it was all about a fictional Spanish character. And the ending was rubbish! It hasn't put me off reading any more of Suzannah Dunn's books, but I'll be more wary in the future - I enjoy Philippa Gregory's Tudor books a lot more.
July 7, 2013
This is NOT a novel about Mary, despite the title, description, and cover. It is about a character who lives during her reign, and she has very little to do with it. The few appearances she made in the novel felt contrived. The protagonist was uninteresting. I wondered why I was reading about his meals and his troublesome tooth so many times in a novel supposedly about Mary.
October 7, 2014
forced myself to finish this book. hoped it would improve but it never did. main character was self absorbed and whining through the whole book.
June 3, 2024
I'm always interested in books from this time period. I enjoyed the scenes with Mary I. The rest of the book was filler. Hero has to be one of the stupidest make characters ever. Too much extraneous plot points - do we really need to know about all of his previous sexual encounters? Don't waste your time on this one.
September 13, 2010
This book is set in the time of Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Shunted aside when her father abandoned her mother for Anne Boleyn, she succeeded to the throne upon the death of her half-brother Edward VI. There was rejoicing upon her accession to the throne but her reign was a terrible time and she is best remembered as “Bloody Mary”. She attempted to return England to Roman Catholicism and over 300 “heretics” were burned at the stake. Although the title of the book leads one to expect a story focused on the Queen, the main character is Rafael, a member of the Spanish entourage of Philip of Spain. In her late thirties, the spinster Mary married her nephew Philip in the hopes of producing an heir to the throne and bringing stability to England. But her marriage to a Spaniard was not popular among the English. Rafael was commissioned by Philip to create a sundial for the Queen and was supposed to be in England, away from his wife and son, for six weeks. But the months drag by, and due to lack of funds and direction, the sundial project does not really get underway. Rafael and the rest of the Spaniards, are stuck in London, resented foreigners idly passing the time until their return to Spain. Billeted in the home of a merchant, Rafael gets to know the seamstress Cecily and her young son Nicholas. We also learn something of his life in Seville. The book was filled with interesting details of Tudor life and the counter-reformation, but I would have liked more about the Queen and her life at court. Seen through the eyes of Rafael, one felt some sympathy for Mary, but he seemed incredibly naïve at times. The ending was much more dramatic than I expected. I enjoyed the additional sections at the back of the book, “Reign of Error”, “Rafael’s London”, and the Q&A with the author. It’s interesting to know that there have never been any national monuments to Queen Mary.
March 20, 2016
Hmm, well, to be perfectly honest this was a bit of a let down. It's a perfectly good story for what it is, but it isn't anything that I was expecting, or what it was suggesting to be. Had I known it was going to be a lukewarm historical romance where the characters spend a lot of time doing nothing and just simper after each other, I wouldn't have bothered with it.
This is set during the reign of Mary Tudor, her phantom pregnancy and the persecution of the non-Catholic heretics. I thought it was going to be about her, and if not directly following her, then at least someone in her court. But she barely features in this book. The main character is a Spaniard called Rafael, who has come over to make a sundial, as a present from the prince to his queen. Except it never gets made because of funding, blah blah blah, so you don't hear anything of the art of sundials, courtly gardens or whatever. And this guy ends up spending a year in London just hanging around. And there's generally a negative picture of London - it's always raining, it's always cold, people always have colds and the food is crap.I have a couple of her other books to read and I hope they are better. I hold out, because I've seen some reviews where people have read a few of her books and they thought the others were much better than this one.
This is set during the reign of Mary Tudor, her phantom pregnancy and the persecution of the non-Catholic heretics. I thought it was going to be about her, and if not directly following her, then at least someone in her court. But she barely features in this book. The main character is a Spaniard called Rafael, who has come over to make a sundial, as a present from the prince to his queen. Except it never gets made because of funding, blah blah blah, so you don't hear anything of the art of sundials, courtly gardens or whatever. And this guy ends up spending a year in London just hanging around. And there's generally a negative picture of London - it's always raining, it's always cold, people always have colds and the food is crap.I have a couple of her other books to read and I hope they are better. I hold out, because I've seen some reviews where people have read a few of her books and they thought the others were much better than this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2015
Review - I wasn't very impressed by this novel. I really liked The Lady of Misrule: A Novel by Dunn, but didn't like The Sixth Wife or The Confession of Katherine Howard, so I didn't know what to expect of this one really. I think I always hope that her books will improve, but maybe I should stop hoping and then I won't be disappointed. It didn't feel as if it was really about Mary I, but about Spaniards in London in her reign. It also didn't feel particularly historical or period, like it could have happened at any time.
Genre/s - Historical / Drama
Characters - Mary I / Philip II of Spain / Elizabeth I / Rafael de Prado / Cecily
Setting - London (England)
Series - N/A
Recommend? - No
Rating - 9/20
Genre/s - Historical / Drama
Characters - Mary I / Philip II of Spain / Elizabeth I / Rafael de Prado / Cecily
Setting - London (England)
Series - N/A
Recommend? - No
Rating - 9/20
May 8, 2014
First of all, this book is NOTHING like the description on the back (this is the first time I have been betrayed by a book). Mary is seen 3 times in the novel, the rest of the novel is about Rafael, a sundial maker from Spain. This book was a huge disappointment and I am glad its finished. I wish there was more about Mary and less about Rafael. While you do see a glimpse of Mary's turmoil, you don't get to experience it fully if the book were completely about her. I understand the author was trying to tell her story through another's perspective however I think the character she chose was a poor one. Rafael is obnoxious and at times whiny. He falls in and out of love constantly and is a very unsympathetic character. A character like Mrs. Dormer, a lady in waiting to the queen, would have been a much better choice of protagonist in order to accomplish telling the story through another's eyes. I do not recommend this book to anyone. Its a wonder I even finished it.
December 2, 2013
The book, while a welcome new perspective to the Tudors, is also extremely modern. A man having an affair with his co-worker because his wife just doesn’t understand him (and cheated on him first) and the woman he has the affair with is mad her husband chose work over family has an extremely 21st century feel to it.
The language, as well, reads as too modern. Despite the fact that because the characters would, in reality, be speaking 16th century English and Spanish, so there is already layers of translating going on, it goes a little too far into modern parlance, jolting eh reader out of the story.
It’s a gloomy story throughout, between the doomed relationships, never ending rain, famines, poverty, judicial murders, and the general curtailing of civil liberties, but urgh, the ending just pulls out all the stops and punches you in the gut.
January 7, 2012
I purchased this book because it sounded like it would be about the Royal Court. Instead, it was about a home a short trip away from the Royalty. Told from the perspective of Rafael the story starts out very, very slow. I probably would have put this one down if not for trying to reach my year-end books read goal. I kept trudging through, and towards the halfway mark it got more enjoyable. A romance began to bud, which kept me intrigued and the violence in the country began to increase creating a tense atmosphere.
Just when the story was moving from a two stars to a three star book the ending happened. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I didn’t get it. Like, I really don’t understand what happened – the text is written so that the reader reads between the lines, but I just.don’t.get.it. If I did half stars, this would probably be a 1.5 star book.
Just when the story was moving from a two stars to a three star book the ending happened. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I didn’t get it. Like, I really don’t understand what happened – the text is written so that the reader reads between the lines, but I just.don’t.get.it. If I did half stars, this would probably be a 1.5 star book.
May 28, 2016
Well, this was an odd little book. I almost gave it one star. From the cover and the blurb on the back, I expected a story where Mary Tudor is a prominent person-and that was what I wanted. What I got was the story of a horny Spanish sundial maker who forgets about his wife as soon as he lands in England, recounts his sexual experiences growing up and, oh by the way, meets the queen a few times to reassure her during her "pregnancy" (like that is realistic-an unknown man being summoned to the queen's birthing chamber to give advice). *SPOILER* And this sundial maker, Rafael, was absolutely stupid. In the midst of the burnings, he thinks that the queen will be sympathetic to his feelings for a priest's wife so he tells Queen Mary exactly where to find this "heretic" whom he loves. Idiot.
December 13, 2016
As with all the others who have reviewed this book, thought it was going to be about Mary Tudor. Sadly, they used her to draw you in to a story that rambled endlessly inside the main character's head. I got so tired of reading the assumptions he made about every thing others were saying to him in a language he didn't understand. Not to mention his paranoid commentary. He also seems to have ways of rationalizing bad behavior. To say this was also a love story is a stretch too. It happened in the last 30 or so pages. The only character that I found endearing was Nicholas. Definitely don't recommend this book.
I love historical fiction and the Tudor time period is a favorite of mine. This one does nothing for history buffs.
I love historical fiction and the Tudor time period is a favorite of mine. This one does nothing for history buffs.
December 18, 2014
Get over that it's not all about Mary Tudor, people, and appreciate it for what it is. Sure the cover and synopsis are misleading, but it's a nice, fast read that properly depicts England during this turbulent time, led by a deluded queen. Titles don't have to be literal--the "queens sorrow" overshadows the entire story and, therefore, is an appropriate title. Nothing is worse than whiny reviewers--not every book is going to be Pulitzer-worthy.
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