Book Review: A Dangerous Inheritance

On Friday, I officially completed my first book of the new year!  Only 19 more to go!

I kicked off 2014 by reading A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir.

 

 

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com:

 

England's Tower of London was the terrifying last stop for generations of English political prisoners. A Dangerous Inheritance weaves together the lives and fates of four of its youngest and most blameless: Lady Katherine Grey, Lady Jane's younger sister; Kate Plantagenet, an English princess who lived nearly a century before her; and Edward and Richard, the boy princes imprisoned by their ruthless uncle, Richard III, never to be heard from again. Across the years, these four young royals shared the same small rooms in their dark prison, as all four shared the unfortunate role of being perceived as threats to the reigning monarch.

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. As you all know, I love historical fiction, and I really love historical fiction based on these time periods in England! At first, I found it a bit confusing because the book switches back and forth between two characters in completely different time periods....who both have the same name: Katherine Plantagenet and Lady Katherine Grey. The former is referred to as Kate. It was also interesting that Lady Katherine Grey's story is told in the first person, and Kate's is in third person. 

At first, I wasn't convinced that these stories really went together, but as the book went on, I began to see how they were relevant to each other.

Of course, I did find myself wishing that the courses of history could change within the story, as I always do! I love what Alison Weir does with the stories of these women, despite many lacking historical documents about them.

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You can also check out my books to read and books I've read so far on my Reading List page here on Rebekann's Random Thoughts.



Book Review: Between Shades of Gray

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Do you know what I really love about teaching 6th grade?  I can have intelligent conversations with my students.  They can share their excitement about books they're reading, and we can exchange books.  I seriously just love teaching these older kids.

During our Open House night the first week of September, I was talking with a student and her parents.  This girl is great for a lots of reasons: 1) We share a first name. ;) 2) I taught her in first grade.  3) She genuinely missed me for the last 6 years, and she was SO excited to have me again.  4) She LOVES to read.  Somehow in our conversation, I mentioned that my favorite genre is historical fiction.  Her dad encouraged her to tell me about this book that she read over the summer.  I said the book sounded great, and she to my surprise, she brought it to me the next day.

That is the story of how I came to read Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. 

Here's the summary from goodreads.com:

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

I really loved this book.  Again, I do love historical fiction, so I had no problem getting into this story.  This was something that I honestly don't think I knew about history, and it was horrifying and incredibly interesting to read about this time under the rule of Stalin. 

If you are interested in the World War II time period, or if you just enjoy historical fiction like I do, I highly recommend this book.

P.S. I did return the favor.  During our conversation, the student's father asked her if she was familiar with Anne Frank.  She said she wasn't.  So I did the right thing as a teacher and lent her my copy of The Diary of Anne Frank.  She returned it shortly thereafter, having truly enjoyed it.  :)

Book Review: The King Maker's Daughter

The 4th book I've read this year was The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory.

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Here is the book synopsis from Amazon.com:

SPIES, POISON, AND CURSES SURROUND HER. . . . IS THERE ANYONE SHE CAN TRUST?
The Kingmaker’s Daughter—Philippa Gregory’s first sister story since The Other Boleyn Girl—is the gripping tale of the daughters of the man known as the Kingmaker, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick: the most powerful magnate in fifteenth-century England. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters, Anne and Isabel, as pawns in his political games, and they grow up to be influential players in their own right. At the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne grows from a delightful child to become ever more fearful and desperate when her father makes war on his former friends. Married at age fourteen, she is soon left widowed and fatherless, her mother in sanctuary and her sister married to the enemy. Anne manages her own escape by marrying Richard, Duke of Gloucester, but her choice will set her on a collision course with the overwhelming power of the royal family.

Philippa Gregory can do no wrong in my eyes.  Every single book that I have read, I have loved.  To me, few things are as fascinating as these historical tales of England.  Her books are based on historical research, but she weaves in amazing story lines to fill in details that cannot be found.  This book is part of The Cousins' War (also known as the War of the Roses) series.  These novels focus on the time period in which the House of Lancaster and the House of York were fighting for the rights to the throne of England.  The first book in the series is The White Queen.  The Red Queen is next, followed by The Lady of the Rivers, which is actually a prequel to The White Queen because it tells about Elizabeth Woodville's mother, Jacquetta.  The Kingmaker's Daughter is fourth in the series.

I found this particularly interesting since I've read the other three books in the series.  Though it has been awhile since I've read The White Queen, I was able to recall some of the events told now through Anne Neville's eyes.

What I truly love about Philippa Gregory is that you are always rooting for the protagonist of her novels...even when you found yourself rooting against that same character in a previous novel.  In The White Queen, I desperately wanted things to work out for Elizabeth Woodville.  In The Kingmaker's Daughter, I was rooting for Anne and feeling, like her, that Elizabeth Woodville was the enemy.

Maybe I'm just fickle.

OR maybe that's the beauty of these books.  Unlike real life, you actually get a chance to experience events from another person's perspective.  It really makes you see both sides of the story.

If you like historical fiction, English history, Philippa Gregory, Kings, Queens, love, drama, triumph, etc., I say, grab this book and read it!