Legacy: The Acclaimed Novel of Elizabeth, England's Most Passionate Queen -- And the Three Men Who Loved Her in Sweeping Sagas

Oct 10, 2008 Misfit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-and-keep-for-a-reread, historical-fiction, favorites

I'd give it 10 stars if I could!! AWESOME! An absolutely brilliant portrayal of Elizabeth I. The only thing I've ever seen come close to capturing Elizabeth so clearly and brilliantly is the old Masterpiece Theatre series on PBS done back in 70's or 80's with Glenda Jackson. All the charaterizations in the book are incredibly well drawn and detailed, particulary Elizabeth, Dudley and Cecil.

The author also has a wonderful way of describing the times, the scenes, the clothes, etc. The author's op ...more

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Oct 22, 2010 Moppet rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, tudor, blockbuster, chunkster-challenge, 16th-century

Legacy, for me, was historical fiction gold: a book I loved as a teenager which was just as wonderful second time around. It's a cradle-to-grave retelling of the life of Elizabeth I, and it's 647 pages of class.

The prologue introduces Elizabeth as a troubled young princess, imprisoned in the Tower of London by her sister Mary and facing possible execution as a traitor:

She sat on a low stone window-seat, wrapped in a cloak against the creeping cold and, like the solitary stone pillar that support

Legacy, for me, was historical fiction gold: a book I loved as a teenager which was just as wonderful second time around. It's a cradle-to-grave retelling of the life of Elizabeth I, and it's 647 pages of class.

The prologue introduces Elizabeth as a troubled young princess, imprisoned in the Tower of London by her sister Mary and facing possible execution as a traitor:

She sat on a low stone window-seat, wrapped in a cloak against the creeping cold and, like the solitary stone pillar that supported the roof, she might have been carved in that pose out of stone. She sat staring out of the window into the courtyard below, straining her eyes to see the yawning cavern that was the Tower's main gateway.

The gate was her lodestone. Night and day it drew her to the stone-hooded window, and there was a starkly simple reason for her obsession. She had not entered beneath that archway and had even less hope of leaving by it. Through Traitor's Gate she had come to this 'very narrow place', a grim fortress which had swallowed up so many lives - one of them, her mother's.

The story then backtracks to the meeting of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and follows Elizabeth through her turbulent childhood. If you know the story of these years, you know there's enough material here for several books, and as a result, a good deal of the first hundred pages is narrative. But we get more of Elizabeth's point of view (the book is multiple/omniscient third-person) as she gets old enough to start making her own decisions.

Constantly under pressure to declare her loyalties, frequently faced with the choice of sacrificing either her life or a future as Queen of England, Elizabeth develops the political skills of avoidance and prevarication which will serve her so well during her lengthy reign. Susan Kay weaves a compelling narrative out of a welter of political history while never losing sight of her theme. Anne Boleyn's legacy to Elizabeth is twofold: the charisma which wins her followers and the dark past Elizabeth never truly escapes. Kay's Elizabeth is flirtatious, wayward, feminine, intelligent, manipulative and imbued with the steeliest of determination. But we also see her more vulnerable side: her illnesses, doubts and fears, which get a stronger grip on her as her reign draws to its close. Her relationships with the men in her life (Thomas Seymour, Robert Dudley and the Earl of Essex) and her close political partnership with William Cecil are fully explored, and while Elizabeth is shown to be a deeply emotional woman, realism is blended with romanticism.

Legacy is the story of one of history's most fascinating women, told with passion and authority - a true classic. ...more

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Aug 03, 2010 Rebecca Huston rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: tudors, royals, england, 16th-century, historical-fiction

A book that I was very happy to see come back into print last year. Smart, well-written account of Queen Elizabeth I from the cradle to the grave, and the various personalities, plots and achievements in her life. I think this one is my favourite of all the various fictional accounts of Elizabeth, both because of the dialog, which is very believable, the characters, whom the author does not short, and Elizabeth herself, depicted with her jealousy, temper tantrums and ability to connive intact. A ...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Marg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Awesome book!

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Jan 01, 2010 Tara Chevrestt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, women-that-really-existed-fiction, england

Thanks to Mandy, I will be reading this next weekend! I am waiting till next weekend cause it a good thick one and the hubby will be out of town. What better thing to do than curl up with a long book about Elizabeth?

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