The Last Queen by C. W. GortnerI first saw this book and knew it would be the type I would enjoy. After all its about a European queen, something I never grow tired of reading. Except The Last Queen told the story of Queen Juana of Spain. While I read tons of books on English queens, and a few on French queens, this was my first on a Spanish queen. This made the book even more interesting to me, since I don't have a big background on Spanish history everything was new.
The book tells the Queen Juana of Spain, the last Spanish queen to actual inherit her country's throne. She's the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and her younger sister was Katherine of Aragon, wife to Henry VIII. History calls her Juana the Mad, but the author's interpretation of this isn't that she was crazy. Instead it was more of a way for her conspirators to discredit her, in order to keep her away from power.
I did really enjoy this book, and actually put off reading the last few chapters because I didn't want the book to end. I'd recommend the book especially if you enjoy historical fiction, like me. As I said earlier, you don't really need to know much of anything about Spain or even this time period to actually enjoy reading this. Definitely a book that I not only enjoy, but I learned quite a bit by reading.
~Shoshanah
Oooh! I love, love, love reading about European queens! I'm definitely going to have to pick this one up! Thanks for the recommendation!
ReplyDeleteHow do you go about choosing your books? You always seem to have a wide selection. Do you just browse book store or use websites or other sources to search before hitting the store? :)
ReplyDeleteI must get this book!!!!
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