Author: Alison Weir
First Published: April 2008
Publisher: Ballantine Books
512 pages (trade paperback)
The Lady Elizabeth is a novel about Elizabeth I’s life from toddlerhood to when she is declared the new Queen of England. It’s a pretty straightforward book, almost like a biography that is written narratively. The book is split into three sections: The King’s Daughter, The King’s Sister and The Queen’s Sister. Each section details her life when she was in each role. Throughout the novel, this novel tries to give perspective into why Elizabeth I became the famous Virgin Queen she is known to be today.
If you already know the general story of Elizabeth before she became Queen, then there are not going to be very many surprises in this book for you. When I first got this book, I actually was more interested in Queen Elizabeth’s reign and didn’t realize this book had nothing much to do with her actual reign. It has everything about Elizabeth up to the moment Queen Mary I dies. So, this wasn’t exactly what I was looking for and I suppose my opinion of this novel is a bit coloured by that. However, I guess it’s my own fault for thinking it was going to include her reign even though it did not really give any hints that it would.
Overall, I liked this book but it did not feel as thrilling or irresistible a read as Alison Weir’s other two books I’ve read. I am already kind of familiar with Elizabeth’s pre-queen life, a large chunk of which I read about in Alison Weir’s other historical novel, Innocent Traitor. The overlap of that time period that Jane (from Innocent Traitor) and Elizabeth shared felt like a rerun of an episode to me since the same author wrote both books. However, I think if you never read an Alison Weir book, or you never read anything about Elizabeth before, you will likely find this book a lot more exciting. I really like Alison Weir’s historical novels because she is a historian herself and she tries to stick to the facts, and only makes things up to fill in unknown gaps in history. I also particularly like that she tries to include as much of the actual known dialogues/quotes that characters have spoken.
There are some new fictional bits in this book you may not encounter in other books — mainly, they are plots to explain certain gaps in our present understanding of Elizabeth’s life. For example, the rumors about Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour. Nobody really knows what went on between them, historically. This book gives one possible guess (I mean, that’s the great thing about historical fiction: you can fill in the gaps of historical knowledge for fun with no repercussions). I enjoy the speculation as well, and I like reading the little author’s note at the end of Weir’s books where she explains why she thought it could have happened this way or that way.
Overall, this was a solid novel. I think my very slight disappointment with it is due more to my own expectations and familiarity with the author’s perspective on Elizabeth than the quality of the novel itself. Like I said, if you don’t know anything about Elizabeth or you never read a Weir book before, I think you would enjoy it more.
My Rating: 3/5
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