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    The Queen's Sorrow: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Queen's Sorrow: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Queen's Sorrow: A Novel
    Ebook321 pages5 hours

    The Queen's Sorrow: A Novel

    By Suzannah Dunn

    3/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Plain and dutiful and a passionate Catholic, Mary Tudor is overjoyed when she becomes Queen of England. After the misery of her childhood, when her father, Henry VIII, rejected her and her mother, Mary feels at last that she is achieving her destiny. And when she marries Philip of Spain, her happiness is complete.

    But Mary's delight quickly turns sour as she realizes that her husband does not love her—indeed, that he finds her devotion irritating. Desperate for a baby, she begins to believe that God is punishing her. Her people are horrified at the severity of the measures she takes and begin to to turn against their queen, who is lonely, frightened, and desperate for love.

    Rafael, a member of Philip of Spain's entourage, reluctantly witnesses the tragedy that unfolds as the once-feted queen tightens her cruel hold on the nation. As Rafael becomes closer to Mary, his life—and newfound love—are caught up in the terrible chaos.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 15, 2011
    ISBN9780062047229
    Unavailable
    The Queen's Sorrow: A Novel
    Author

    Suzannah Dunn

    Suzannah Dunn is the author of eight previous books of fiction: Darker Days Than Usual, Blood Sugar, Past Caring, Quite Contrary, Venus Flaring, Tenterhooks, Commencing Our Descent and most recently Queen of Subtleties. She lives in Shropshire.

    Read more from Suzannah Dunn

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    Reviews for The Queen's Sorrow

    3/5

    47 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      It wasn't quite what I expected, but I enjoyed it and that's what matters to me. The story of life in London was interesting, especially from a Spaniards perspective. Seeing the transformation of devotion to doubt in the character's internal analysis of their relationships was intriguing...and realistic. Absence does not always make the heart grow fonder!
    • 2/5
      This book was okay but I've read much better ones about Mary Tudor. I found most of the characters insipid and uninspiring and I rarely felt any empathy with the main character, Rafael. Could have been so much better!
    • 2/5
       This has potential, but I'm not quite sure it worked.Rafael is a Spanish sundial maker who comes to England in the entourage of Phillip of Spain (Mary Tudor's bridegroom). By chance (and with a surprising lack of formality) he happens to meet the Queen in the garden that the sundial is due to be errected in. She is recently pregnant and (at 38) is concerned. Rafael's wife also had her first child late in life, and his story of her cheers Mary. They have a later encounter after Mary begins her confinement at Hampton court - and this I didn't really buy into. And then a third when he requests a favour - which probably goes horribly wrong.In the meantime, he is lodged with a merchant's family and stays in the house with the housekeeper & small staff after the famiy return to the country. He develops a relationship with the housekeeper and at the same time you discover more about his life and wife. Somehow he is a very unconvincing man. His love life is all a bit naieve and two of his partners are described in ways that make you wonder if he has all his marbles - such tacit acceptance of an affair strikes me as distinctly atypical male. The story ends very sddenly and, frankly, he runs away from the chain of events his request to the queen has set in motion. I can't imagine it ends at all well. But, at the same time, you never hear anything about how he rebuilds his life bac in Spain with a wife he realises he doesn;t love and a son that's not his. The relationship between Cecily & Rafael I could accept, and her situation, but he just seemed a bit too pathetic. And the ending was unsatisfactory from both of their points of view. Just not convinced, I'm afraid.
    • 2/5
      The title and back text leads you to believe that the story is about Mary and Philip but all the scenes where Mary is are abou one page totally. The story is told by man who comes with Philip to England.
    • 3/5
      Even for historical fiction this is a bit on the light side but still an enjoyable read.
    • 1/5
      I was very disappointed with this book. I thought it should have been more about queen Mary's drama for a start, seeing as is it is called "the queen's sorrow". I did find myself reading it a lot but more because I was convinced something HAD to happen soon because nothing had really happened before and then about 30 pages from the end Rafael and Cecily FINALLY get together, to then quickly separate another couple of pages in... very frustrating as that was the only thing I was reading for! well, aside from the fact that this book has very little of the troubled queen in it, the fact that the book is held together by a romance that never amounts to anything and the main character actually having not got that much going on in the book, just as things get interesting with Rafael’s character finally blooming and him and Cecily getting together... it all goes back to being dull and lifeless... but more then anything, the most disappointing thing of it all was the ending! it wasn’t an ending. the book had been dull however slightly readable... but the ending was confusing and frustrating and seemed rushed, cut short. it might not sound it but I’m usually quite happy with most books but this one really let me down. I read through the whole thing with the hope it was leading to something good, all for it to get good then go back to being boring and then end without explanation.
    • 4/5
      I received this book to review and although I enjoyed it I think this book has the wrong title because it hardly mentions the Queen, Mary Tudor,it's mainly about Rafael,a sundial maker from Spain,he was only supposed to be in England for 6 weeks but was made to stay considerably longer and gets involved with Cecily who has a child called Nicholas. The fate of Cecily is sealed when he tells the Queen who the father of Nicholas is,he tells this quite innocently and then is told he is going home.Good story,wrong title !
    • 4/5
      My first book by Dunn. Enjoyed it enough to seek out her other novels. Thought the ending was abrupt and left me questioning myself..did I miss something? Each of Suzannah's novel have been different. I will continue to read her to see what the next quirk she has up her sleeve.
    • 4/5
      The front cover and the back cover blurb, give the impression that Queen Mary I will be a major figure in this book. But curiously she is not, and only makes a few appearances. Rafael is the main character here. He is a member of the Spanish entourage that accompanied Philip to England for his marriage to Mary. Rafael is a sundial maker. We see London through his eyes, and see his reflections on his home life back in Spain. He tells of the troubles that the Spanish in London face from the hostile Londoners, and on a more personal level, we see his troubles in settling into a household were he doesn't speak the language. It really does feel as though you are walking in Rafael's shoes.