Product Description from Amazon
Growing up in the shadow of her dead mother, the infamous Anne Boleyn, young Princess Elizabeth has learnt to be continuously on the watch for the political games played out around her. It is never certain when one might rise, or precariously fall, out of royal favor. When her distant father, Henry VIII, dies, the future brightens for Elizabeth. She is able to set up a home with Henry's last wife, Katherine Parr who now has a new husband, Tom Seymour. Tom, however, is playing a risky game. Marrying a widowed queen is one thing, flirting with the King's daughter and second in line to the throne is another. As the adolescent Elizabeth finds herself dangerously attracted to him, danger encroaches upon herself and the kingdom...
Young Bess is the story of Elizabeth Tudor,the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. After the King had Anne executed,he declared Elizabeth illegitimate,thus losing her place in line to the throne, and removed her from his presence, to Hatfield House. After King Henry dies his last wife Catherine Parr has Elizabeth live with her and her new husband Tom Seymour. Thomas Seymour (known as Lord High Admiral) has an older brother Edward, who becomes The Lord Protector.
So begins the story of court intrique and royal whims that Elizabeth finds herself in. The Seymours gained power when their sister, Jane married King Henry VIII and produced a son and heir, Edward who is Elizabeths brother. Tom Seymour was jealous of his brothers power and pursues a relationship with Elizabeth, sometimes very intimate, with their bedroom antics. Tom would go into "the Lady Elizabeth's chamber before she was ready, and sometimes before she did rise; and if she were up he would bid her good morrow and ask how she did, and strike her upon the back or on the buttocks familiarly...." Kat Ashley, Elizabeths governess and friend tries to tell Elizabeth that these antics need to stop and after awhile Catherine Parr realizes that she needs to get Elizabeth away from Tom so to try to save Elizabeth's reputation she sends her away to the house of Anthony Denny in Hertfordshire. However, when Catherine dies in childbirth in August 1548, Thomas renewed his attentions to the Princess.
In his determination for power Thomas then devises a plan to kidnap the King. He breaks into the Kings apartments at Hampton Court, but was subsequently caught and arrested for treason in his plot to seize the throne from her half-brother, Edward VI. The Privy Council charged him with thirty-three counts of treason, one of which was,that they believed he had had a sexual relationship with Elizabeth and that she was with child, which we know now was not true.
I really enjoyed reading this book about Elizabeth and to learn a little more about her years under the age of 20. Ms. Irwin's writing was pleasurable and easy to understand. If I didn't know that this book had been previously published in 1944, I would feel like it was recently written. Thouroughly researched and beautifully told, Young Bess is a novel that anyone interested in the Tudor court after King Henry VIII, the early years of Elizabeth and even about King Edward VI,would enjoy. I highly recommend this book.
I received Young Bess by Margaret Irwin courtesy from Danielle at Sourcebooks for read and review and was not monetarily compensated for my honest review.
Did you know that Young Bess by Margaret Irwin was the basis for the movie? You do now!!
"Young Bess is a 1953 biographical film made by MGM about the early career of Queen Elizabeth I of England, focusing primarily on her romance with Thomas Seymour. The film starred Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger, with Charles Laughton as Henry VIII, a part he had played twenty years before in The Private Life of Henry VIII. The film was directed by George Sidney and produced by Sidney Franklin, from a screenplay by Jan Lustig and Arthur Wimperis based on the novel by Margaret Irwin."
