A young woman caught in the rivalry between Queen Mary and her half sister, Elizabeth, must find her true destiny amid treason, poisonous rivalries, loss of faith, and unrequited love.

It is winter, 1553. Pursued by the Inquisition, Hannah Green, a fourteen-year-old Jewish girl, is forced to flee Spain with her father. But Hannah is no ordinary refugee. Her gift of "Sight," the ability to foresee the future, is priceless in the troubled times of the Tudor court. Hannah is adopted by the glamorous Robert Dudley, the charismatic son of King Edward's protector, who brings her to court as a "holy fool" for Queen Mary and, ultimately, Queen Elizabeth. Hired as a fool but working as a spy; promised in wedlock but in love with her master; endangered by the laws against heresy, treason, and witchcraft, Hannah must choose between the safe life of a commoner and the dangerous intrigues of the royal family that are inextricably bound up in her own yearnings and desires.

Teeming with vibrant period detail and peopled by characters seamlessly woven into the sweeping tapestry of history, The Queen's Fool is another rich and emotionally resonant gem from this wonderful storyteller.

some think that living in interesting times is a curse rather than a blessing and for the narrator of this novel, Hannah Green, the times were far too interesting. As the story opens Hannah is about ten years old but she had already seen her mother burned at the stake by the Inquisition, fled with her father from Spain, through Portugal and France to England smuggled from one community of secret Jews to the next. When Hannah inadvertently reveals her gift of Sight she is placed in the Royal Court officially as a fool to young King Edward but really as a spy for the ambitious Dudley family. Hannah finds herself thrust into the dangerous world of international politics as the throne of England is fought over by Henry VIII's children and others. She finds her loyalties torn between Catholic Mary and Protestant Elizabeth even though she realizes that either would condemn Hannah and her family to the fires as a heretic. In addition her father has arranged a marriage for her to a suitable young man, Daniel, but both Hannah and Daniel have doubts about the match.

This is very like Gregory's better known work, THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL, in that it breathes life into this intriguing period by using a combination of established fact and fictional events and characters. Hannah is a completely fictional character although communities of Jews existed at the time scattered throughout Europe, hiding from persecution. The story of how Hannah manages to carve a place for herself in this inhospitable environment makes for a compelling and enjoyable read but it is not without flaws. Despite being the main character Hannah is not very well drawn. She develops strong attachments to the Dudley family and to bother Mary and Elizabeth even though she is aware that anyone of them would betray her and her family if it suited their interests. Incredibly she attempts to serve all three factions even knowing that they are all in direct opposition. These conflicting loyalties, her ambivalence about her heritage and uncertainty about her personal life all leave Hannah as a shadowy, rather cardboard character.

Overall though this is an interesting tale about a turbulent time. Gregory has managed to introduce new viewpoints into this often visited period of European history. Fans of Gregory's other works or those interested in Tudor England in general would find this an enjoyable novel.

This is one of the most fascinating eras of history for me and I truly enjoy reading Ms. Gregory's accounts of what happened between her long-dead characters. A must-read for any lover of Tudor England.

It took me several starts to get into this book-- I used to love this kind of novel when I was a teenager and would sit curled up in the stacks at my school library, reading during study hall. I'd mark my place at the end of each study hall and put the book back on the shelf to resume reading the next school day. (My high school, at the time, only allowed students to check out 1 novel at a time, figuring no one would read more than that at once. They just didn't understand the ways of serial readers, I guess. I had recently moved to Charleston, and missed my friends from my old home terribly. I found myself in a new and strange world of southern gentility and struggled to understand it and find my place. Getting lost in tales of the Tudors and in English history was a wonderful escape.

Anyhow, thanks to authors like Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert (who you may also know as Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt and Phillipa Carr) and a marvelous history teacher named Martha Morgan my junior year of high school, a lifelong love of history was ignited.

This book reminded me of those days and those books...I found myself not curled up in the stacks at the Ashley Hall library (which now is much more progressive in its check out policy) but curled up in my living room, snug and safe and secure in my world. (It also was a nice break from the more challenging books I am reading at the moment: magical realism, math and a couple of others....)

As to the book itself, it is a nice diversion-- my brain could absorb the story, remember the history and escape a while in a love story. I will probably read another book by this author, just for the warm memories it would evoke.

At first I wasn't sure where this was going, but then I couldn't put it down. I had read "The Other Boleyn Girl", so some of the references were familiar. I'm sure it's not all literal truth, but I feel like I have learned more about English history and it makes me want to know more.

Wonderfully thought out and written is shows the history while being a great novel. You will read this again and again.