Poor Queen Mary

After I got used to the new style of writing by Philippa Gregory, I thoroughly loved the latest novel. Written through the eyes of three characters; Mary, Queen of Scots, George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and his wife, Bess of Hardwick. Alternating chapters gave us their story. Queen Mary flees to England from Scotland with Queen Elizabeth's promise of sanctuary and finds herself imprisoned as the "guest" of George and Bess. They are a newly married (though it is her 4th and his 2nd) and think that by serving Elizabeth in this capacity it will give them even more fame and riches. Instead it throws them into bankruptcy in their attempt to keep the imprisoned queen in her extravagant lifestyle. She is weaving a web of treachery and treason which is uncovered by the countries spymaster, William Cecil who is Elizabeth's right hand man. The treason causes the deaths of many great and powerful men. The strongest woman eventually won! I have to say, I did enjoy Bess the most. She went from poverty to being a very rich wife in a time when a woman's husband owned everything. All of her husbands increased her wealth and her fame and ended up leaving her with their entire fortunes instead of the typical sytle of passing it all to the oldest son. She learned the things necessary to run the farms, coal mines, etc. efficently and increased her lands and fortune only to see it squandered by her new husband on the care and keeping of Queen Mary. She managed to get part of her lands away from him in a legal agreement and they parted leaving him to take care of the Queen on his own. In the end she restored her loses while he went down in ruin. If you're a history buff, then this is the book to read.

Adventures for the weekend include a little real estate and then topped off with a big family reunion to be held at my daughter's home on Sunday. Lots of shopping to do for that. Our family is known to pack in the food. It will be great to see everyone. These are the cousins from my mother's side of the family and all of us are within 10 years of age. We are lucky to have some of our off spring coming, in addition to our last surviving Uncle and his wife, and the widow of another Uncle.