Historical Fiction Book Review - "Mary and Elizabeth" by Emily Purdy

I must admit, before picking up this book, I did have mixed feelings. Emily (also known as “Brandy”) wrote “The Tudor Wife”, which was based on Jane Boleyn Lady Rochford’s life and unfortunately, from the bits and pieces of it that I had read, it wasn’t quite my cup of tea, sorry. However, after finally getting to the end of “Mary and Elizabeth”, I have to admit, this was quite good actually. The story foccusses on the events between Henry VIII’s death in 1547 and Elizabeth I’s accession in 1558, though the eyes of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor.

It took me a while to get into it, a bit like eating a tough steak - you just have to keep chewing it. Like “The Tudor Wife”, there was still moments that bordered on comedy and overdramatisation (is that a word? It is now!). I thought Thomas Seymour being portrayed as the “Cakes and Ale Man” was particularly amusing (and did start to become annoying). Did he actually sing this song in real life, over and over and over and over again?

We always think of Mary and Elizabeth as both completely different women and Queens. One had a bloody reign, the other, a Golden age. I thought that the book, however, did very well in showing how actually both half-sisters had a lot more in common than we think and ultimately, one learned from the other's mistakes. The story offered a good possible explanation on why things went very wrong for Mary and extremely well for Elizabeth.

Both fell under the spell of “Mr. Wrong”. There was Elizabeth’s dalliance with Thomas Seymour which nearly put her in the Tower. There was also Mary’s marriage to Phillip of Spain. Fortunately, Elizabeth survived her brush with treason and the story shows very well how this understandably would have affected her for the rest of her life. Mary, however, was not so lucky – Phillip spent all her money, broke her heart and then, just disappeared.

Both were also very religious and felt connected to England. However, they differed in their approach. Mary wanted to make England Catholic again. She wanted to reverse the changes of the previous two decades. The Protestant Elizabeth, however, realised that this was a big mistake for Mary. She tells Mary on her deathbed –

“You cannot compel and force people’s consciences with torture and threats as if they were wild horses in need of breaking. But you tried to do just that, and when you began to burn those you branded heretics, you also began to burn away your people’s love.”

When realising that she was about to become Queen, Elizabeth was determined not to make the same mistake and not make “windows into men’s souls”.

Overall, a very good book. You should give it a chance. I might even go back and read “The Tudor Wife” again properly!