I first got into historical fiction back toward the end of middle school, with Ann Rinaldi's books, which would commonly take a significant historic event and look at it through the eyes of a teenage girl from that time. They were addictive. I still have one of them: A Break with Charity, I believe.
Philippa Gregory's books, I think, are my grown-up Ann Rinaldi novels. They are enjoyable to read, easy to get into, interesting and based in fact enough that they don't feel like total fluff, and as a bonus, they make me want to learn more about the history they cover.
The Virgin's Lover, which I just finished, is Gregory's latest contribution to the genre. It follows her other novels: The Other Boleyn Girl was basically about Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII's affair, The Queen's Fool about Queen Mary's rise and fall, and The Virgin's Lover about Queen Elizabeth's reign and affair with Robert Dudley (who was also a key player in The Queen's Fool).
Dudley's wife, Amy, was also a major character in this novel, and while she was painted as kind of an insane shrew in The Queen's Fool, in The Virgin's Lover, Gregory paints her as a most sympathetic betrayed woman. That was the only issue I had with the novel, although I'm sure there's a lot of playing fast and loose with facts going on in there. I don't know enough of the history to know for sure yet, and I don't mind that, because Gregory's novels always lead me to read more factual accounts. That, for me personally, is the mark of good historical fiction.
I'm tempted to read Gregory's Wideacre trilogy, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. I'll have to look into that. In the meantime, I'm looking for good books about Mary's and/or Elizabeth's England.
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