Rival to the Queen

August 16, 2010
The Virgin Queen Elizabeth I and her heart’s consort, Lord Robert Dudley, the earl of Leicester, continue to exert a seductive hold on the imagination as fodder for fiction. Now Erickson examines a rival for Lord Dudley’s affections, Leticia “Lettie” Knollys, a Boleyn relative who, along with her sister, served in Elizabeth’s court and eventually became Lady Leicester. Erickson (The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots) paints Elizabeth as an enormously selfish, envious monster, and Dudley as a handsome rake who’s devoted to his own agenda and to his queen. But due at least in part to politics, his relationship with Elizabeth doesn’t end in the marriage he’s longed for, and the marriage he does have, to Lady Amy, ends with her untimely death, a possible suicide. Dudley’s marriage to Lettie produces a son who later dies, and a liaison with Lady Douglass Sheffield produces a bastard, or “base son.” Erickson writes gracefully, but his Elizabeth is too cartoonish, and Lettie, his narrator, reveals her history with a stereotypical dispassionate air that fails to engage the reader emotionally.

September 1, 2010

The Virgin Queen has competition for the affections of dashing Robert Dudley in the form of her cousin, lovely Lettie Knollys.

Erickson (The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots, 2009, etc.) charts the 16th-century Knollys siblings' affairs of the heart. While Cecelia makes a loveless marriage of convenience and Frank regrets an opportunity for love missed, fair Lettie ends up with the man she desires, Elizabeth I's reputed lover Dudley, later Lord Leicester. Because the Knollys are descended from Henry VIII's lover Mary Boleyn and Lettie's father is a royal councilor, the sisters serve at court, where Lettie encounters Dudley, whom she finds far more attractive than the husband selected for her. Although Lettie marries dutifully and bears four children, she later takes Dudley as her lover and, when widowed, marries him, incurring the queen's lasting displeasure. Yet Robert remains loyal to Elizabeth and fights for her against the Spanish. Meanwhile, Frank rediscovers his old love and Lettie is charmed by a younger man whom she marries when Robert dies. Finally she is permitted to return to court, where her son's fatal ambitions to the throne revive the enmity between the queen and her rival.

Uncomplicated characters joust predictably for love and power in a capable but unexceptional historical.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 15, 2010

In her sixth historical novel, Erickson (The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots; The Last Wife of Henry VIII) again displays her remarkable ability to paint an exquisitely realistic portrait of Tudor England. Opening during the reign of Queen Mary Tudor, the book follows Lettie Knollys (1543-1634), the future Queen Elizabeth's cousin, from her exile in Frankfurt to her daring--and successful--outmaneuvering of Elizabeth for Robert Dudley's heart. While her boldness enables Lettie to find true love, it also subjects her to disastrous consequences. This is much more than a historical romance; Erickson's attention to historical detail and the depiction of Elizabeth's struggle to maintain her control over her kingdom make for compelling reading. Fans might also be interested in one or more of Erickson's four Tudor biographies. VERDICT Historical fiction fans can't get enough of the Tudors; this engaging story is a worthy addition to the genre. [Library marketing.]--Audrey Johnson, Arlington, VA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.