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| The Lady Elizabeth | 
 enlarge | Author: Alison Weir
Publisher: Hutchinson
Category: Book
List Price: £12.99
Buy Used: £5.42
You Save: £7.57 (58%)
New (23) from £6.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 579
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.7
ISBN: 0091796725
EAN: 9780091796723
ASIN: 0091796725
Publication Date: April 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Not recommended. November 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have read several of Alison Weir's non-fiction work, and also her first novel, Innocent Traitor. I thought Innocent Traitor was OK, and hoped that her second would be better.
Unfortunately, I feel it was worse. I found it quite difficult to read through to the end. The characters are quite wooden, and I didn't find the dialogue believable, particularly at the beginning. Elizabeth as a toddler certainly doesn't act or sound like a toddler! I know she is supposed to be intelligent, but I just couldn't find it believable. The dialogue could also have been a little bit more historically accurate at times (less modern colloquial terms).
There are also inaccuracies, which I found disappointing for a historian - Anne Boleyn's necklace was a 'B', not an 'A'. She also did not have a sixth finger; if she had, there is no way that she would have been allowed to (let alone popular at!) the French and English courts.
And, sometimes, she is perhaps too accurate - name-dropping titles of books that Elizabeth is reading. Maybe this was to 'set the scene' a litte, but I found it irritating, and felt like the author was showing off her historical knowledge of the period, rather than developing the description or story further. I've not read any other books that do this.
Personally, I feel that the subject, for a second novel, was a poor choice, especially as popular Tudor fiction author Philippa Gregory has had one published recently. (And does it better too, in my opinion!) Overall this is quite a clunky, wooden and slow read, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it. I will be avoiding any of Weir's future fiction works.
Not as good as Innocent Traitor October 9, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Incredibly I picked this book out of my bookcase and couldn't remember whether I'd read it or not!!! I had to check the last few pages! Not good...
This book wasn't a patch on Innocent Traitor by the same author which was incredibly moving. Maybe it's just that there have been too many books written about the young Elizabeth, I don't know...
 Wooden October 9, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was so disappointed by The Lady Elizabeth. Alison Weir is a reputed historian who has written a number of books about the Tudors. However this fictionalized story of the life of Elizabeth 1 before she became Queen is wooden, clunky and tedious. It's so wordy that it gets bogged down, rather than carrying the reader along. Here's an example: "As more worrisome days passed, ominous with a dearth of news, Elizabeth's condition did not improve; however, the malaise in her body was as nothing to the fever of anxiety in her heart". Weir's dialogue is written in what is probably a reasonably historically accurate idiom (unlike other historical novelists such as Philippa Gregory), but as a result it always keeps the reader at a distance.
There's a school of thought that a good writer will show the reader what characters are feeling rather than telling them, but Weir spells out every thought for us throughout.
I was also surprised and disappointed that she included a significant plot twist that she freely admits in the epilogue is something that as a biographer she doesn't believe ever took place. At this point I moved from being bored with the book to actively disliking it. There's non-fiction and there's good fiction. This book is clearly well researched (and some of the details about Elizabeth's life are very interesting), but ultimately it falls somewhere between the two, achieving neither.
Worth reading, not worth re-reading September 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read "Innocent Traitor" and adored it, from the entertaining, engaging story-telling to the passion and beauty of an old tale told anew, in such a fresh way. I waited for "The Lady Elizabeth" with hot anticipation but was very disappointed to find my enthusiasm cooled within the first few chapters. Although it's worth a read, especially if (like me) you are a die-hard fan of tudor fiction and/or Alison Weir's tremendous non-fiction works. But it feels rather two dimensional. Not a single character sprang to life from the pages as in her previous fiction book and I was left feeling rather indifferent to most of the hardship and suffering of the principal players. This book is simply a rather clinical telling of the story which left me feeling I would rather tuck into a non-fiction book if the author was going to avoid stirring up a single emotion whilst telling the tale. Interesting but not at all engaging.
 A fantastic read August 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are interest in Elizabeth I in any capacity, then this is the book for you. I stumbled across Alison Weir's book on Lady Jane Grey, and was transfixed, so was delighted when The Lady Elizabeth came out. The book takes you through Elizabeth's childhood, her teenage years, until the moment that she becomes queen. It is both fascinating and compelling and I would recommend it to anyone who has any interest in this period, but more importantly for bringing to life Elizabeth I's amazing and intriguing personality. A fantastic, higly recommended read!
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