Daydream Believer

I just finished reading Philippa Gregory’s The Constant Princess, an historic novel about Katherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and first wife of Henry VIII.  This is the third book of Gregory’s that I’ve read; I really enjoy them because I get to enjoy a well written story but I also get to learn more about historical figures that have interested me ever since I was 11 years old.  She roots her novels very deeply in archival and secondary research – I know she sticks to the facts when possible and I trust her interpretations when she has no evidence to fill in the holes of the stories she tells.

The thing is, and maybe this is where I’m a nerd, the part I often look forward to most is the Author’s Note at the end, because she usually tells you a bit about her research to give her interpretation of history more explanation.  I just wish they were longer, god dammit!  Seriously, I want more detail, references to specific documents – I want to know just how she got the information she did, and why.  In my ideal world, she’d put out an edition of her books that had point-for-point references running thoughout the novel’s text, like footnotes, or a detailed Author’s Note after each chapter.  Because even though I trust her interpretation, I am still hungry for information on where the facts stop and the interpretation begins.  This kind of book would take twice as long to read, but I’d relish it.

I definitely recommend this book, as well as The Other Boleyn Girl.  The Queen’s Fool is also good.  My next one will be The Boleyn Inheritance.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 10:07 pm, and is filed under Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.