Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: The King's Daughter
Author: Christie Dickason
Publisher: Harper
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-197627-8
Release Date: November 2010
Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Fiction
Year/Setting: 1600’s/England
Overall Rating: 4.5
Sexual Content Rating: None/Subtle
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None/Mild
Violent Content Rating: Minimal/Moderate
Christie's Website/Blog: www.christiedickason.com
Dear Readers:
This is a non-typical, interesting tale of Elizabeth and Henry – daughter and son of James I of Scotland. The author pulls us right in; when we first meet young Elizabeth, she’s still playing unaware in the fields and forests until a man appears. He is a kind man – he doesn’t want to hurt her – but he’s stuck in a situation that has brought him into the woods to kidnap Elizabeth because someone is planning to take the throne from her father. She, literally, talks him out of doing such a thing and swears that she will never tell on him no matter what, if he will just leave her be.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth is so frightened that this type of plot could also happen to her beloved older brother Henry, that she writes a secret letter warning him to be very, very careful. She’s scared beyond belief, because if anyone intercepts the letter she, as well as the kidnapper, could be accused of treason. Elizabeth is already upset. She and Henry had a good life in Scotland with their family, but they were dragged to England by their father. The people adore Henry and Elizabeth. In fact, they are referred to as the golden pair by the English people, who very much want Henry on the throne, and want his father gone as soon as possible.
James I is already paranoid and extremely jealous, and becomes even more so when he begins to believe that his own son and daughter are working behind his back to take over the throne. And when the kidnapper that Elizabeth met in the woods is captured, James I brings Elizabeth to the Court because he truly believes that she is in cahoots with the people who want him out.
Elizabeth tries desperately to see her mother, but when she does, Anne of Denmark seems to be completely off-kilter. She has just lost a baby, and the only time she really even thinks of Elizabeth is when she sends a slave by the name of Tallie to be her lady-in-waiting. Tallie and Elizabeth form a strange, slightly awkward friendship, yet they both are definitely slaves in a different way. Tallie’s story is extremely interesting, whereas James I dresses up Elizabeth and parades her in front of would-be suitors in order to marry her off to the highest bidder. Even though Tallie is in rags and Elizabeth dazzles in a pearl-crusted blue satin gown, they are both only prizes that must serve their masters or mistresses.
Add to this two men – Robert Cecil, who is James I’s chief advisor and seems to be the go-to man for the King, and Robert’s cousin, Sir Francis Bacon, who truly wants to be the Attorney General and get James I’s "ear" away from his cousin, and you have a plot of mammoth proportions that will upset a kingdom.
I have studied Sir Francis Bacon for quite a while, being as that he’s part of an adventure novel I am putting together – so it was good to see him in another well-told tale. For people who don’t know, Francis Bacon was a writer and actually edited the Bible for King James – a man he truly didn’t like. There are also rumors that Bacon was the actual William Shakespeare and not the Bard, himself.
From the Papist plots, where Parliament was supposed to be blown sky high with James and Henry in the midst of it; to the romance between Elizabeth and Frederick – the Elector Palatine – that James I was completely against, this story keeps readers entranced with the fight for the English throne. Enjoy!
Until next time,
Amy
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