As a historian I have poor view of historical novels, although there are exceptions -Anya Seton's Katherine would be one example, and there is the supreme exception of Maurice Druon's marvellous series The Accursed Kings (if you have not read them, make a point to do so) . Basically it is a genre I tend to avoid. However today whilst spending some idle time in Waterstones here in Oxford I glanced at Philippa Gregory's The Red Queen, which was in the sale at half price.
The novel, by an author who boasts a Ph.D, is supposed to be about the life of Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, in the years leading up to his victory at Bosworth in 1485. It is quite awful, and lookd as if it took all of a weekend to write. It is banal and cringe-inducing and should be avioided at all (or most) costs. The author has written a number of best-selling historical novels, but on the basis of this I would flee from them in academic horror. You have been warned. If you want to know about the great LadyMargaret, read a proper biography.
