Three Sisters, Three Queens

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.

This novel definitely tested my love of all things Tudor. I sense that Margaret of Scotland has less source material about her life available than the rest of the rowdy clan, because the author seemed to give her the same thoughts over and over again, and unfortunately for the reader, those thoughts tended to the whiny and self-absorbed. Gregory really wanted her readers to believe that Margaret was highly beloved, by her two sister-queens, and by the procession of handsome, accomplished men she called husband. Unfortunately, she didn't give us much reason to believe that, instead portraying a women whose obsession with place and precedence was nearly all she ever thought about.

All that said, while this is certainly not my favorite of Gregory's Tudor novels, it did have all the juicy, gossipy pseudo-soap opera-y relationship shenanigans that make Gregory one of my main comfort read authors. Don't read this thinking you will fall in love with the main character - do read it for the insanity of the royal life that you just can't get enough of. It wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't the worst thing I've ever read either.