Three Sisters, Three Queens

Usually the “errors” I've found in Gregory's books have been matters of interpretation or opinion. Not so with this one.

First, Lady Catherine Gordon (Katherine Huntley, former wife of Perkin Warbeck), was never a lady in waiting to Margaret Tudor and she never returned to Scotland. (We know she never returned to Scotland because she needed permission to leave England, which she once obtained to live in Wales with a later husband.) I suspect this error was deliberately perpetrated for the purpose of dramatic irony.

Second, and most egregiously and inexplicably to me because it's such a basic factual error, Coldstream Abbey is and was in Scotland, not England. When Margaret fled from Scotland, she was turned away in England and had to return to Scotland to find safe harbor in Coldstream.

It's truly bizarre. I read Gregory's novels because I like fanfic. Whether it's Star Trek fanfic or history fanfic, I appreciate when an author attempts to forge fragmentary and nonsensical “canon” into a coherent and logical story with consistent characters. But it aggravates me to no end when authors ignore established facts as Gregory has done here.

Three girls, two countries, one purpose. Bring countries closer together, and build allies. Three sisters, three queens, but only one will come out on top.


Margaret Tudor is sent to Scotland, to be its queen, and to bring a peace to England and Scotland that will hopefully endure.
During her time there, she learns that her sisters, Queen Katherine of England and Dowager Queen Mary of France, are united, and most of the time, she feels as though they are against her. Katherine is responsible for the army that kills Margaret's husband and the bitterness inside her begins to build. As the years move forward, the bitterness comes and goes, but she never forgets that they are sisters, they are queens, and therefore, they must try and remain united. Through the trials that her second husband puts her through, and the rise and fall of her fortunes, Margaret never forgets her place or who she is. She is determined to remain on top and hold on to power no matter what she has to do.

The rise and fall of these three women is told mainly through Margaret, who is rather petty and very shallow when it comes to her outlook on life. A pampered upbringing and very sheltered existance does not prepare her for what she will face when she reaches Scotland and the many trials that she will endure there. I loved and hated this book. I felt that it was rather unfair to all three ladies at some points, but then it would turn and redeem itself. It was a rather interesting read and did not take me long to get through, although I had to set it down and walk away for a bit when I had enough of the attitude that Margaret held throughout the book.