Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Queen Isabella by Alison Weir

Title: Queen Isabella
Author: Alison Weir
Genre: Nonfiction

Other books I've read by this author: Innocent Traitor

Synopsis: Princess Isabella of France marries Edward II of England and becomes queen. Edward is more interested in young men at court and allows his favorites to rule through him and mistreat and neglect Isabella. Isabella uses her influence and the King's waning popularity to fight back. This biography works to debunk some of the myths associated with Isabella's personality and character and make her a more real and relatable figure from history. 


My Thoughts

Since I read Innocent Traitor, a historical fiction novel by this author, I thought that this book would be fiction as well. When I received it as a birthday gift I realized this is, in fact, a biography of Queen Isabella.
For the first few chapters, I was pretty incredulous about this book being called Queen Isabella, because it was pretty much all about Edward II; what he was doing, who he was consorting with, life in England during his reign. Just when I was about to give up on any real information about Isabella other than her relationship to her husband, where she was moving about the country, what she was ordering for her court, about 200 pages in things started to get good. 
Now, this is not a biography that reads like fiction, as I have said about some other works, this one firmly reads like nonfiction. Nonetheless, it gets interesting when the Queen really becomes part of the story. Isabella decided to take her life into her own hands and not let King Edward continue to use her badly. History then starts to record more about her actions when she goes against her traditional roles as wife and queen. 
If you love monarch biographies, like me, then you should check this one out! 

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!




To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above