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Book Review - the Reluctant Queen by Jean Plaidy
In 15th century England, Lady Anne Neville is the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, a wealthy, ambition man with the influence to determine kingship. The War of the Roses, a war between the houses of Lancaster and York for the throne of England has ended. The Lancastrians demand to reinstate the elderly and insane King Henry VI lost. Anne’s father’s support won the throne for the young, charismatic King Edward IV, a man the Earl of Warwick is confident he can influence.
To secure his power over King Edward, Warwick marries his eldest daughter Isabel to King Edward’s brother, George, the Duke of Clarence. When King Edward’s younger, more serious brother, Richard, is sent to Middleham, Warwick’s family home, to train, Anne falls in love with him and he with her.
King Edward is an independent man and he proves to be uncontrollable by the wily Warwick. The entire country is aghast when Edward marries Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner and widow with two young children. Rumours abound that Elizabeth bewitched the king in a wood. As queen, she is anxious to raise the status of her family and ambitiously arranges political marriages and secures positions and estates for them. Before long, the Woodvilles are in power, not King Edward and certainly not the Earl of Warwick.
Angered, Warwick shifts his loyalties to the Lancastrians and betroths his youngest daughter Anne to the son of the insane Henry VI, also named Edward. Anne, who has only ever known the Lancastrians as the enemy is now sent to France with her future mother-in-law, Henry's wife, the strident and voracious Margaret. Together, the two women wait as Warwick and the Lancastrians battle to overcome King Edward and reinstate Anne’s betrothed as the rightful king.
The Lancastrian’s lose the battle and Anne’s betrothed is killed. King Edward places her under the guardianship of her brother-in-law, Clarence, and she is returned to England.
Misfortune strikes again however. Clarence is ruthless and has always wanted to usurp the crown from his elder brother, King Edward. Anne and Richard are reunited and they pledge their hearts to each other and await approval for marriage. Clarence is determined to keep his hands on Isabel’s and Anne's fortune and does not wish Anne to marry Richard. He is behind a treacherous plot that not only rips the two lovers from each, but removes Anne from all that she has known and loved. Poor Anne, all she wants from life is to live quietly with her family. Instead, circumstance after circumstance plunge her into turmoil until ultimately she is adorned as queen, a position she never desired.
Jean Plaidy has successfully recreated a highly complex period in English history. The author did an excellent job of explaining the complicated inter-relationships between the characters which made the story easy to follow. She made it easy to understand how the Lancastrians came to be enemies of the house of York and how their different claims came about.
Jean Plaidy manages to keep readers' interest throughout while bringing this rich story to life. The novel highlights a very critical era in English history and Jean Plaidy made it fun to learn.
About the Author
Books are one of Mirella Patzer's obsessions, especially those that pertain to medieval eras and with Italy as a backdrop. To fulfill a life long dream, she began writing several years ago and has never looked back. Since then she has published several short stories and completed two novels with several more novels in various stages of completion.
Her fascination for women of history and Italy is often reflected in her work, blogs, and website. When she's not immersed in research or writing or blogging, Mirella works as an editor for Enspiren Press.
She writes from her home in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada, surrounded by her husband, two college-bound daughters, and a rambunctious little grandson who frequently interrupts her work with a variety of unanticipated, yet humorous calamities and interruptions. For her, life couldn't get any better.
Children's Book Reviewer Jobs
Jonathan Safan Foer: 2010 National Book Festival
Cradle to Cradle-summarized book review; a contemplative reflection on environmental imprints
Cradle to Cradle
The Book
I really enjoyed the book. That is, the feel, the texture, even the weight of it. At first I wasn't quite sure about it because the binding seemed stiffer than most books but as I got deeper into it seemed to loosen up. I also enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to worry about eating while I was reading because I could easily wipe any mishaps right off the pages. I know that there has been comment about them trying to work on the weight of these types of books. I don't think for a book of this size it is necessarily an issue, but for larger, thicker books it would definitely pose a problem. Especially for books of the size and weight of my Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. You would probably need a cherry picker (engine hoist) or a crane to move the book around. I think that more books should be available like this. It's great idea for children's books, as they already usually have thicker pages and are heavier in weight. People also don't typically save children's books, so they have a shorter use life and would be more readily upcycled instead of thrown away. I think it would be a great addition to the transition of the cradle to cradle movement to do such a thing. It would also be a huge market to get into. So industrially it would become very appealing.
I did have a few issues with the way that the book was written. I was under the impression that this was a book to educate and encourage the average person to be more aware and supportive of a revolution. I thought this book was supposed to plant a seed of awareness, and propagate the average consumer to downsize, minimize, and convert to a lifestyle indicative of cradle to cradle production and consumerism. I thought it was supposed to just be a book that would communicate to all.
Instead, I found a book that was written by a chemist and an architect to people of possibly an equal base educational level. I didn't see how at all ‘the average person' would be able to filter through all of the, what would seem like, Harvard mumbo jumbo. I think it would seem intimidating and possibly technical or confusing.
I did, however, also find some very interesting facts in the book. I thought it interesting, and horrifying both that the chromium extraction factory only employed persons over the age of 55 because it was almost guaranteed to get cancer after 20 years of exposure. I have mixed feelings of this. I think it's great that the job opportunity is available for persons of that age group. Most people I know around that age are starting to feel as if their employment opportunities are limited. That is the people I know that aren't enveloped into a career. On the other hand it is horrifying that we actually continue use of products that have such devastating results and have manipulated the workforce just to suit the needs of the market. It is tragic.
The Rooftop
I was really intrigued about the story of the growing matrix rooftop. It's ingenious. I have always loved the rooftops of urbanites that are covered in park like settings. I think that the idea of a ‘light layer of soil, a growing matrix, covered with plants' that maintains a stable temperature, shields from destructive UV rays, and extending the life span of the roof is amazing.
The mention of materials in our children's swim wings that are carcinogenic agents or possibly causing I think it was potential malfunctions of organs such as the liver, is very disheartening. I would've been interested in knowing what the name of this agent was as to avoid it if listed on other items, and make my sister aware of such things. As she is a mother of three. It amazes me that at the level of technological advancement that we have acquired, that we are still dumping money and funding research into things that we essential already know. Study after study on different elements. Instead, as a nation, and global nation we should be uniting to fund studies to reclaim our place as part of this planet instead of merely pests or inhabitants leaching off of its r sources. Sucking the very life out of it like a tick on a dog. It's a graphic and disgusting analogy, but so is the state of our environment.
I really keep going back to the first week of class I think it was when you said that maybe we need to place billboards of drowning polar bears throughout the nation to wake people up. I think that it will come to that. However, there has been a huge push in the media as of late to give small snippets of knowledge to people of things they can do. I picked up a little local magazine called the OC Squeeze today because it had an article in it about ‘green' life. I haven't read it as of yet as I am still dealing with finals. I am hoping that it will include some information about what the average person can do now to make them feel as if they are able to play an active role in protecting the environment and helping to reverse the damage that has been going on for such a long time.
Even though there has been such a push in the media, I have also been increasingly aware of the shortcomings that the average person might experience due to my anthropology class that I took this quarter. It has become abundantly clear to me that the average American is living at basically slave wages and can barely afford to eat. I remember those days, but they were when I was much younger. I am definitely more deficient financially than I was before I went back to school, but I am far from poor as it is truly experienced. I am broke to me, but still reserve the indulgences of going out to dinner when I have time and if I have a good month can go shopping. Just not at the same stores I used to.
That by no means is poor. I do however look at things from a different perspective. I have begun to view all of these requested changes in participating in a movement to reverse global warming from the point of view of someone that must eat at Taco Bell for survival. Possibly even skipping meals to pay rent. I want to see information passed out for people of that social standing. They are often pushed aside, and as they do occupy a higher percentage of housing than the person who will remodel at least three times in their lifecycle, it is important for them to participate.
I think it is here where we can start to change the cycle of what the book calls ‘intergenerational remote tyranny'.
I think it was in the section about the Industrial Revolution where they had the bullet point ad requesting a detailed plan of destruction of the environment. That was very effective. If we could turn back time and show people a film of what were to happen with a copy of that in print, it might change our situation. Unfortunately we can't.
I can't believe that there are actually people that refuse to acknowledge global warming. It is abundantly clear to me that the weather patterns alone have dramatically changed since I was a child. Almost always living in California, it's easy for me to notice.
The cherry tree is very important to the authors. It was mentioned so often throughout the book it actually became distracting to me. I found it a little too repetitive. With the level of education and intellect that the book was written it is confusing to me that they would fixate on the one example. There are many plants that are just as, if not more, beneficial to the sustenance of the environment. Also, to be most productive, cherry trees must be maintained by people.
Being Less Bad
I think that the section on ‘Why Being Less Bad is No Good' is good to an extent. After all, isn't one small act, or one small step for man…… so and so forth? Isn't it better than nothing? Especially if it's only a start. Maybe it takes a series of small steps to build up enough momentum for that giant leap.
As designers we are very lucky. We have the power, the ability, and the education to be able to make a huge difference. The media is a strong tool for us. Since they have taken the initiative to start pushing green design, environmental change, etc. they are opening the door for us. If they educate our clients, it's easier for us to do the job. The more that this is pushed in the media it will become mainstream, and eventually a way of life. As the book states it will take a lot. Especially for Cradle to Cradle, instead of Cradle to Grave.
I think that the breakdown of the eco-effectiveness is really good. I think that in the movie An Inconvenient Truth they spent so much time talking about AL Gore and setting up Global Warming and such little time educating us with ways to change that this book has far surpassed that. This is where the scientific information is helpful. Categories and lists. It is much more informative to me than, ‘go to this website', and buy better light bulbs. I was almost angry that I had sat through all of the personal tragedy stories to find out that the best they could come up with was what seemed like a five minute summation and visit a website. I felt like I should have been given a warning at the beginning of the film that I was going to have to write this down at the end. Maybe they should've passed out the 3rd grade pencil with a small piece of scratch paper to write down the web address. Maybe I'm judging too much.
I do however feel like I should be buying up the lot of these books tough and passing them out at Christmas. I think that every person I know that I would buy a gift for is getting one. It overall very informative, well laid out, and a pretty easy read.
Cradle to Cradle
By William McDonough & Michael Braungart
North Point Press, 2002
About the Author
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