I finished The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, which was interesting enough, although it wasn't exactly a work of art. The excerpt here basically says it all: this, like the last Gregory novel I read, The Other Boleyn Girl, is basically a fluffy semi-bodice-ripper with enough educational stuff in it that you don't feel like you've totally wasted your time. At least, it's educational to me, since I was never really taught much about English history (ah, the joys of being shuffled from homeschooling to private school to public school and back again).
Hannah is a Jewish girl with The Sight who's on the run from the Spanish Inquisition; she is brought to court to be a Holy Fool, and she gets caught up in court intrigue. Along the way, there's lot of longing for the man who brought her into court, and lusting for the eighth cousin (something like that) to whom she's betrothed. Hannah's torn between loyalty for Queen Mary and interest in Princess Elizabeth, and I've got to say, although Elizabeth seemed like more fun, she was also kind of a bitch. But then, Mary burned Protestants, so it's kind of a lose/lose situation. All in all, an entertaining story told well enough that I finished it in two days (always a good sign).
Gregory's books always make me want to read some of Alison Weir's stuff, but I never seem to get around to it. One day, my pretties.
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