Book Description
One powerful king. Two tragic queens.
In the court of Henry VIII, it was dangerous for a woman to catch the king’s eye. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were cousins. Both were beautiful women, though very different in temperament. They each learned that Henry’s passion was all-consuming–and fickle.
Sophisticated Anne Boleyn, raised in the decadent court of France, was in love with another man when King Henry claimed her as his own. Being his mistress gave her a position of power; being his queen put her life in jeopardy. Her younger cousin, Catherine Howard, was only fifteen when she was swept into the circle of King Henry. Her innocence attracted him, but a past mistake was destined to haunt her.
Painted in the rich colors of Tudor England, Murder Most Royal is a page-turning journey into the lives of two of the wives of the tempestuous Henry VIII.
Look for the Reading Group Guide at the back of this book.
Also available as an ebook.
Download Description
Jean Plaidy is the pen name of Eleanor Hibbert; she was also known as Victoria Holt. More than fourteen million copies of her books have been sold worldwide. Visit maidenscrown.com for a list of other historical novels available from this prolific author.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous Historical Novel!.......2006-11-16
I have read many Plaidy novels, but this delves deeper than the others and represents, in my opinion, absolutely the best of Plaidy, and probably the best on the period. What I don't like about modern historicals is the way they play with history. Plaidy sticks to the facts as they are known and provides insights and details that make the story come alive. The characters are real people, and the facts can't be disputed. In this book, she gives a fairly graphic portrayal of the torture used to extract the false confessions of Henry VIII's hapless victims, and after reading it, I found Plaidy gave me a new understanding of what this era in history, and this dynasty in particular, stood for, and it is even more horrific than I ever imagined. Plaidy's Henry VIII goes about his grotesque and bloody deeds with a good conscience, patting himself on the back for being such a fine and righteous fellow, which makes him even more appalling to our civilized mind. It is a look into the black mind of a serial killer, and a gripping read. Once you pick up the book, you can't put it down again until you're done. Despite the graphic parts, I recommend this novel even for teens, because they won't get a twisted view of history, and besides, Catherine was only a child when this ogre chose her for his queen, so this book would appeal to them. I think everyone who reads it will probably pause and give thanks for being born at a time in history when a monster like this can't roam the highest echelons of power stuffing his bloody mouth with the flesh of saints and sinners alike. That is the beauty of a great historical novel. It makes us understand the past, and appreciate our present even more.
My Favorite Wives.......2006-06-02
I was drawn to this book in the bookstore because the title said that it featured two of my favorite wives of Bluff King Hal, aka Henry VIII: Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. It tells their sad stories and is a pretty good book.
Reads like a bestseller........2006-03-01
I loved this book. Very easy to read and difficult to put down. The story of Anne and Catherine from what may have been their point of view. Tragic and fascinating.
Evocative and moving.......2006-01-28
I first read this novel when I was thirteen and I found it utterly evocative of the Tudor period and it began a long love of all historical novels. I have devoured every book I could find about Anne Boleyn since and this is still the best. Plaidy created a spirited, proud, desirable Anne and the scenes in the novel really bring her to life. The way she weaves the lives of the two cousins together is very clever and I think it is a very well written piece of fiction.
Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.......2004-02-29
I really love Jean Plaidy's books, but this one wasn't the best. I am a huge fan of Anne Boleyn so I was excited to read this book. I was a little disappointed in it though.
I have to agree with Lady Jane Grey's opinion. It would have been way better if Anne hadn't of slept with Henry in the book as in real history she didn't. How could someone like Henry keep interestest in them by giving in? Maybe they could, but he certainly wouldn't go as far as to make them Queen of England.
I also think that how she discribed Jane Seymour was a little harsh. Calling her mousy and stuff. I think that she must have been a very brace woman to marry Henry.
I think that Jean Plaidy does a wonderful job portraying Catherine Howard though. She had everything accurate with the room and the people pressuring her into intercourse. I also like how she shows Henry. One of the best things was at the beginning it something like "If all of the patterns of merciless tyranny were lost to the world you could find them in this prince."
Still it was an interesting book. It kept me interested despite its faults.
Book Description
In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen. One woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, and she knows that Elizabeth's ambitious leap to the throne will pull her husband back to the very center of the glamorous Tudor court, where he was born to be. Amy had hoped that the merciless ambitions of the Dudley family had died on Tower Green when Robert's father was beheaded and his sons shamed; but the peal of bells she hears is his summons once more to power, intrigue, and a passionate love affair with the young queen. Can Amy's steadfast faith in him, her constant love, and the home she wants to make for them in the heart of the English countryside compete with the allure of the new queen?
Elizabeth's excited triumph is short-lived. She has inherited a bankrupt country, riven by enmity, where treason is normal and foreign war a certainty. Her faithful advisor William Cecil warns her that she will survive only if she marries a strong prince to govern the rebellious country, but the one man Elizabeth desires is her childhood friend, the irresistible, ambitious Robert Dudley.
Robert revels in the opportunities of the new reign. The son of an aristocratic family brought up in palaces as the equal of his royal playmates, Robert knows he can reclaim his destiny at Elizabeth's side. Elizabeth cannot resist his courtship, and as the young couple slowly falls in love, Robert starts to think the impossible: can he set aside his wife and marry the young queen?
Philippa Gregory's The Virgin's Lover answers the question about an unsolved crime that has fascinated detectives and historians for centuries. Philippa Gregory uses documents and evidence from the Tudor era and, with almost magical insight into the desires of Robert Dudley and his lovers, paints a picture of a country on the brink of greatness, a young woman grasping at her power, a young man whose ambition is greater than his means, and the wife who cannot forgive them.
Download Description
"In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen. One woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, and she knows that Elizabeth's ambitious leap to the throne will pull her husband back to the very center of the glamorous Tudor court, where he was born to be. Amy had hoped that the merciless ambitions of the Dudley family had died on Tower Green when Robert's father was beheaded and his sons shamed; but the peal of bells she hears is his summons once more to power, intrigue, and a passionate love affair with the young queen. Can Amy's steadfast faith in him, her constant love, and the home she wants to make for them in the heart of the English countryside compete with the allure of the new queen? Elizabeth's excited triumph is short-lived. She has inherited a bankrupt country, riven by enmity, where treason is normal and foreign war a certainty. Her faithful advisor William Cecil warns her that she will survive only if she marries a strong prince to govern the rebellious country, but the one man Elizabeth desires is her childhood friend, the irresistible, ambitious Robert Dudley. Robert revels in the opportunities of the new reign. The son of an aristocratic family brought up in palaces as the equal of his royal playmates, Robert knows he can reclaim his destiny at Elizabeth's side. Elizabeth cannot resist his courtship, and as the young couple slowly falls in love, Robert starts to think the impossible: can he set aside his wife and marry the young queen? Philippa Gregory's The Virgin's Lover answers the question about an unsolved crime that has fascinated detectives and historians for centuries. Philippa Gregory uses documents and evidence from the Tudor era and, with almost magical insight into the desires of Robert Dudley and his lovers, paints a picture of a country on the brink of greatness, a young woman grasping at her power, a young man whose ambition is greater than his means, and the wife who cannot forgive them. "
Customer Reviews:
somewhat boring.......2007-09-29
I have read all the books in this series re: Henry 8th and enjoyed all of them except this one. In spite of the history during this period of time, the reign of Elizabeth I, this book concentrates far too much on the sexual relationship between Elizabeth and Robert Dudley as well as his whining wife, Amy. In terms of a synopsis, other reviewers have gone into depth but, again, the book is somewhat devoid of historical value. Gregory's theory about how Amy died is somewhat interesting but so much more could have been done with this time period. I actually came to despise the characters Dudley and Elizabeth. She is being portrayed as weak, Dudley obsessed, dumb and easily manipulated. As one of the greatest rulers in England, I found this characterization of her unbelievable and annoying.
Falls flat.......2007-09-23
This was not at all like Philippa Gregory's other novels that I have read. Instead it was just filled with boring war talk and it made Queen Elizabeth seem weak, confused, and not a good leader whatsoever. Once I got over that fact, the book was just okay.
This story discusses Elizabeth's first few years on the throne. Her 'lover' is Robert Dudley (who also appeared in Gregory's novel The Queens Fool) and the book is central to him, his wife, and his affair with Elizabeth.
At first I sympathized with Elizabeth and I was naïve to even sympathize with Dudley himself for a short time in the beginning, but quickly I was repulsed by his devious and selfish behavior. As the book went on (and let me tell you it dragged on and on... not a fast read AT ALL...) I was quickly on the side of Amy Dudley and I felt horrible for the way she was treated and disrespected by her husband and the Queen.
I have adored the handful of Philippa Gregory novel's that I have read so far (The Other Boleyn Girl, The Boleyn Inheritance, The Constant Princess, and The Queens Fool) and I usually love biographical stories; therefore I was certain that I would enjoy this book as well. However, it was long, boring, and not filled with spice. If this is your first taste of Philippa Gregory, don't start with this book. Start with The Other Boleyn Girl; it is much better and much more fun.
An enjoyable read of historical fiction.......2007-08-07
This was my first Philippa Gregory book. It was a very enjoyable read, and I especially liked how she integrated historical events into the narrative. If you enjoy Elizabethan era history and movies like "Shakespeare in Love" you will enjoy this book.
The weak side of Elizabeth, not a full view.......2007-08-07
Elizabeth I may be the greatest most interesting ruler ever and I love Philippa Gregory, so what happened here? I know Elizabeth relied heavily on Robert Dudley but this book ONLY focused on the vigins "lover" so the other more compelling strengths of Elizabeth are just not mentioned. This book provides a distorted, narrow view of Elizabeth. I have learned more about Elizabeth I's strengths through other books and also the HBO movie "Elizabeth I" with Helen Mirren which was excellent. I suggest other sources for Elizabeth stories - keep looking.
Queen Elizabeth Fans Beware.......2007-07-25
While I have enjoyed several of Gregory's other works, including The Constant Princess, The Queen's Fool, and The Other Boleyn Girl, I couldn't even make it through this book. I am an avid reader of historical fiction and non-fiction and never have I been so disgusted with a portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I. Gregory writes about an immature, one-dimensional girl unable to make the simplest decisions without her lover, more focused on lust and adolescent games than running a country. Despite the fact that Queen Elizabeth I was fluent in English, Latin, Greek and had studied War, Science, Mathematics and was a model pupil throughout her schooling, Gregory expects you to view the Virgin Queen as little more than a village idiot who has the crown thrust upon her. While Gregory's works are on the whole fulfilling this left me completely dissatisfied and unimpressed with her writing.
Average customer rating:
- Still relevant today
- A Feminist Play Ahead of its Time.
- Heartrending and crushing
- Great show of American expressionism!
- The Single Best Play Ever Written
|
Machinal (Royal National Theatre)
Sophie Treadwell
Manufacturer: Nick Hern Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 United States
| Drama
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Drama
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Theater
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Arts & Photography
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Literature & Fiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Other Shore
-
The Actor and the Text (Applause Acting Series)
-
Notes on Directing
-
Out of the Fringe
-
The Love Of The Nightingale
ASIN: 1854592114 |
Customer Reviews:
Still relevant today.......2007-01-05
Sophie Treadwell's seminal play, whilst set in the late 1920s, continues to have relevance today. In following the plight of a girl who, through circumstances largely beyond her control, ends up in the electric chair, Treadwell reminds us of inequities that still exist in society: the differences between the Haves and the Have-Nots, the continuing struggle for women to be recognised in both an economic and social sense, and the constant battle of love versus convenience. Dramatically, her work offers a range of options for interpretation, and a multitude of challenges for daring actors. Grim, powerful and ultimately unforgettable.
A Feminist Play Ahead of its Time........2005-12-31
Having worked in the theatre, though I think more than that, being a fan of theatre and a student of literature, my take on reading plays is kind of odd. I usually dislike it. I have always felt that plays are meant to be seen and experienced. More to the point, the beauty of plays is the marriage of the playwright's vision with that of the director's and then watching this new product -- hey, let's go with the metaphor - this "baby" come into its own through the actors. Of course, when I do read a good play, I get to direct in my head and it's a totally different, yet enjoyable, experience in and of itself. I think this was a good play and I very much enjoyed reading it. This play, in particular, I found easy to read and while depressing, entertaining. It features some incredible insight to the nature and status of not only women in the 1920's, but the whole of the human condition. The main character, Helen or YOUNG WOMAN, is such a little mouse that it's a stretch to imagine her becoming so crazy with desperation that she'd jump from quivering wreck into an affair and then into murder. Young Woman's inner monologues, however, are fantastic and bridge the divide between who this character really is and whom she is forced to be. As far as reading the play, I would recommend it to anyone interested in expressionism or feminism.
Heartrending and crushing.......2004-07-08
Less a 'feminist' play than a play about the human condition as a whole, Treadwell's 'Machinal' recalls the work of Ionesco, Strindberg and Pinter: the human being as pawn in a senseless and hellish society. The ending, in which Helen rebels against the abstract prayers of the jail's priest, recalls the conclusion of "The Stranger", although I would consider this a far superior work. By the conclusion we cannot help but feel for Helen, a shy but passionate woman rejected and imprisoned, essentially, by her dull husband, her needy mother, and her contemporaries. I can't say this is the most uplifting play I have ever read, but it is one of the most intense.
Great show of American expressionism!.......2003-02-06
Having taught this play a number of times at the college level, I find it one of the most accessable examples of expressionism available in print. It's great to read while watching a film like Metropolis (Fritz Lang's expressionist masterpiece). In reference to an earlier review, the play may seem simple and mundane, but when read in its historical context (and when seen in a brave production) it's what theatre is all about... engaging, moving, and socially/politically active. The fact that it's by a woman and about a woman, in a period dominated by the male perspective, simply makes it more fascinating.
The Single Best Play Ever Written.......2001-09-21
If only the Adding Machine did not overshadow this masterpiece, similar to Goodfellas overshadowing the much more deserving Miller's Crossing. No theatre library is complete without this evocative, fascinating play.
Book Description
On the evening of June 1, 2001, during an intimate gathering of Nepal's royal family, Crown Prince Dipendra opened fire with automatic weapons inside Kathmandu's royal palace, killing his parents -- the king and queen -- his siblings, five other close relatives, and ultimately himself. It was the bloodiest, most complete massacre of any royal family ever recorded and the most horrifying event in the history of the Shah Dynasty, which had ruled Nepal over 10 generations. The Shah Dynasty continues to rule Nepal -- the Crown Prince's uncle now wears the king's plumed crown -- but Dipendra's violent act has put the tiny mountain nation into a precarious position, where ancient customs and traditions contend with steadily encroaching modernity and Maoist insurgents threaten full-blown civil war.
What led privileged young man like Dipendra to an act of such senseless and terrible violence? Drawing on exclusive interviews with the late King Birenda and surviving members of the Shah family, and with unparalleled access to the royal palace, journalist Jonathan Gregson pulls back a veil of secrecy and intrigue to expose a family struggling to bridge the gulf between ancient family traditions and contemporary mores, between the mysteries of a feudal past and the dark pressures of the modern world.
Chronicling both the blood-soaked history of Nepal's royal family and its explosive present, Massacre at the Palace offers a rare and comprehensive examination of the inner workings of a family apparently doomed from its beginning to tragedy and loss. Skillfully merging the epic turbulence of Nepal's past with an intimate knowledge of the current state of the court, Gregson offers a riveting account of the birth of the Kingdom of Nepal, and the role of its semi-divine monarchy, and what this means to ordinary Nepalese people. All of these, Gregson writes, had a direct bearing on what was to happen on that fateful night: a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions played out on a modern stage.
Customer Reviews:
Book is from Gayendra's Perspective.......2007-06-15
The book implicitly seems to think that the son killed their parents over what appears to be a minor disagreement. The only beneficiary was King Gayendra. There is a book on that - Raktakunda.
Not sure who is right but assuming that King Gayendra's version as history is ridiculous.
Doomed is not being too critical.......2002-10-06
Drug use warning: The religious context of this book is Nepal, and the author, Jonathan Gregson, is likely to describe the Hindu temple attendants in Kathmandu as being stoned, a stunning departure from purity in a book about a curse that is described as: "It is also about ritual purity and, strange to say, the symbiotic relationship between cows and kings." (p. 6).
I might have given up on this book, already, but it is difficult to decide. The most modern aspect of our global situation faced in this book is the enormously destructive power of modern weapons, but the psychological potential to find something beyond mere entertainment in the use of such tools of sudden destruction keeps being thwarted by shock. What was really great might already be lost. A lot of intellectual activity seems most meaningful when it still creates the impression that it is going someplace. It might be unsettling to readers and shoppers searching for modern consumer items, contemplating momentary enjoyment of the best that this market has to offer, that the best items available should be evaluated as historical artifacts, more meaningful as a memory in a lifetime that has already registered these deaths as part of the problems encountered in going with the flow. Could anything be worse than now, when shoppers merely contemplate them as objects that might be produced by prospective expenditures? This ought to make at least as much sense as page 16 of the New Republic of October 7, 2002, which quotes Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, telling my U.S. Senator, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, "What's different is three thousand people were killed!" Would this particular consumer item be worth less, if the only people who had ever been killed in Kathmandu's royal palace one day were Nepal's royal family?
There is no index in this book, but it is unlikely that an index would have listed all the entries for cows, anyway. The first chapter is called "Of Cows and Kings," and the religious background for this book includes a curse on Prithvi Narayan Shah, the first king of the Royal family, which has ruled Nepal since 1769. "According to a legend that is as old as the Kingdom of Nepal," (p. 4) Gorakhnath was a Hindu sage, "and he lived only on milk, butter, and curd, the product of Hinduism's sacred cows." (p. 5). The story reminds me of a joke about cows which was fully explained by Calvin Trillin in a column called "Uncivil Liberties" (The Nation, 11/21/1988, p. 518). During the Iowa primary campaign, Trillin tried to suggest how the contest was overly sensitive to agricultural issues, and he later had to eat his words. "I would like to say in the most direct way possible that Michael Dukakis was never under the impression that you have to kill a cow to get the cheese. George Bush never said that the life of dairy farmers is particularly hard because they're often required to milk right through the cocktail hour." In response to his critics, Trillin wrote, "For those of you whose letters indicate that you see nothing at all strange about the proposition that you have to kill a cow to get the cheese, all I can say is that you ought to think about getting out a little more." This history of the doomed royal dynasty of Nepal applies that thinking to just about anyone who can't decide how much they should care about cows. High-caste Hindus in the Himalayas "had chosen to go into exile rather than live under beef-eating Muslims" (MASSACRE AT THE PALACE, p. 7) in India, but the army with which it had originally conquered Nepal included many warrior tribes, including beef-eaters. When there was gunfire in the Royal Palace of Nepal, it was usually "the crown prince practicing on one of the firing ranges, or blasting off at cats, bats, rats, crows, or just about anything else that moved." (p. ix). Stories about deer hunters who shoot a cow are usually about a mistake, or some kind of joke, and this book searches through history as if there must be some other possible explanation.
For the royal family, modern times brought an inability to tell what mattered. "The king had to walk a fine line between his own liberal views and the minimum requirements of a Hindu monarch. He had little time for caste divisions nor, for that matter, the issue of cow slaughter, which is firmly linked with the Gorakhnath cult and is still a live issue today." (p. 113). It was not obvious what path would be best for the future, and the royal family was becoming too interested in personal fulfillment to offer realistic alternatives for Nepal or even for history. This is a serious book. Once you start reading it, you ought to be thinking about why it matters.
Royal Mass Murder.......2002-06-13
Though it failed to generate a huge amount of interest in the U.S., the killing of the entire royal family of Nepal by the country's Crown Prince is an incredible story. Had he not been a Royal, Crown Prince Dipendra would still have to go down as one of the most diabolical mass murderers in history. In all, he managed to kill his entire immediate family and five other close relatives in quick succession before turning his gun on himself.
Author Jonathan Gregson sets the table by recounting the entire history of Nepal's royal family, which stretches back to the mid eighteenth century. To say that the dynasty has had an unhappy history is an understatement, and after awhile the numerous accounts of Royal bloodletting become monotonous. Nevertheless, this history is vital to the story.
Flash forward to June 1, 2001. The Crown Prince is an unhappy man of thirty. An alcoholic and a drug addict, he has been denied permission to marry the woman he loves by his domineering mother and threatened with being removed from the line of succession to the throne. Gregson sets all of this up well and then recounts the bloody events as they happened. The secrective nature of Nepal's royal family and the god-like awe to which the king is still held there seems to have smewhat stunted Gregson's narrative. Still, he does a fine job with what he was able to decipher. Along the way, he paints a vivid portrait of a fiercely proud third world country that is forever wrestling with the conflict between traditionalism and modernism.
Overall, "Massacre at the Palace" is an enlightening book that is full of surprises.
Average customer rating:
|
Love & Death in Kathmandu: A Strange Tale of Royal Murder
Amy Willesee , and
Mark Whittaker
Manufacturer: Rider
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Royalty
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
India
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| Ancient
Nepal
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Murder & Mayhem
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
True Crime
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Essays & Travelogues
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| India
| Asia
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1844135586
Release Date: 2004-07-13 |
Book Description
The authors, two award-winning journalists, interview Maoist guerrillas and members of the royal family, gaining insight into the reality of this Himalayan kingdom, as well as the events behind the June, 2001 massacre of the Royal Family.
Average customer rating:
- Absolute Rubbish
- Not this again
- startling information presented in biased light
- The best book on Jack The Ripper!
|
Ripper And The Royals (Duckbacks)
Melvyn Fairlough
Manufacturer: Duckworth Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Ancient
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Criminology
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Murder & Mayhem
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
True Crime
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution
-
![From Hell [Blu-ray]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000JSI7B2.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
From Hell [Blu-ray]
-
The Complete History of Jack the Ripper
ASIN: 0715631810 |
Book Description
Who was â€~Jack the Ripper’? Was he some lone maniac â€~down on whores’? Or were the Ripper murders, as this book shows, the joint enterprise of a group of high-ranking desperadoes acting to protect the Prince of Wales’s heir, the Duke of Clarence, from blackmail? Many hitherto unknown facts are presented in this authoritative book, which was first published in 1991 and includes a foreword by Joseph Sickert. Melvyn Fairclough skillfully unravels the nexus of intrigue that has threatened the Royal family for three generations.
Customer Reviews:
Absolute Rubbish.......2006-10-05
It is interesting how the author, probably to protect the name of his ancestor, cites Walter Sickert so often. I would highly recommend Patricia Cornwell's Jack the Ripper Portrait of a Killer - Case closed, which establishes beyond the shadow of a doubt that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. She matches Sickerts mitochondrial DNA to the stamps on the Ripper Letters, matches Sickerts rare and expensive stationary to the stationary of the Ripper letters, analyzes the red ink of the letters and establishes that it is in fact expensive artist's etching ground, even shows elements of the Ripper crimes in the artwork. The head of Scotland Yard even said that if the Ripper were alive today, there would be enough evidence to bring the case to court. This book is a sham and a waste of money.
Not this again.......2005-07-11
Not a good account at all. For some reason people really like conspiracy theories. The truth is more interesting. According to the "Casebook: Jack the Ripper" website, even the author of "The Ripper and the Royals" has disavowed it.
Read Sugden's "Complete History of Jack the Ripper" or Begg's new one, "Jack the Ripper: The Facts" (the 2004 edition, not the earlier one).
startling information presented in biased light.......2004-11-21
This is an amazing book with a lot of research and information revealed that had been previously - supposedly - withheld or suppressed. But one should go into the book "reading between the lines". The forward from Joseph Sickert sounds the warning. He endorsed this book. Sickert had clear cut aims in seeing the view of this book slanted in one direction, precisely the same determination that saw the falling out between Stephen Knight (author of Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution) and Joseph Sickert in the 1980's. Stephan Knight remained convinced of Walter Sickert's involvement in the case - what Joseph Sickert desperately wanted to counter. That tells you up front Joseph Sickert had an agenda, and while he offered "facts" to support his claim, they are offered with the single intent of removing the blood of the Ripper, a stain on his family's heritage. If you did not accept his take on this case, you did not get the information.
Sorry, that taints the whole objective of his "repeated" tales and the removes "unbias" from the writer's effort. Sickert had a "natural reluctance" to reveal all the information he held. Why finally reveal it to Melvyn Fairclough? Because he finally found the one person to tell the story how he wanted it. Walter Sickert was supposedly possessed of an extraordinarily retentative memory, which Joseph, again supposedly inherited. Quoting the author "Joseph has inherited this faculty and remembers everything his mother and father told him." Such a sweeping statement shows immediately the author accepts every word as total verbatim, as fact. I possess a similar talent for memory, but I would NEVER say I remember everything. No one can! Time, attention and perception all play a role in what we can recall, how we recall.
While I don't agree with Cornwell's "case closed" book sighting Sickert as the Ripper, I do hold the opinion that Sickert was involved deeply in the White Chapel murders. Some of the tales he related were of things no one but someone there would be able to say in such details. One only has to look at Walter's paintings to see his closeness to the case. The very titles of his paintings are clues that should not be ignored. Walter Sickert unloaded these facts to his family. Do you seriously believe he would admit his own involvement? Or would he rather do as he actually did, present the knowledge as "second hand"?
This book is exciting, but should not be accepted as the "final solution". It is evidence presented by a writer influenced by his source's own drive to see his family's reputation restored, who likely did not get the whole truth handed down from Walter Sickert to begin with.
So read the book for the evidence, but leave the conclusions - when balanced with other works and evidence - to someone less admiring of their subject, a person determined to see this book written from one point of view.
The best book on Jack The Ripper!.......2002-11-26
Melvyn Fairclough's book 'The Ripper And The Royals' is the very best book written on the mysterious case of Jack The Ripper, next to Donald Rumbelow's 'Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook'.
Readers will find Fairclough's well-researched book 'The Ripper And The Royals' to be an astonishing and page-turning who-done-it! I've read this book twice and Fairclough, based on hard evidence, makes a first-rate, but often chilling case on the deep involvement of the British Royal family in the Ripper murder case. In fact, Fairclough clear's up a mystery behind a Scottish legend, that is also tied in with Jack The Ripper! Fairclough also documents that the behavior of the Royal family well into the 20th century, is based on their legacy from Jack The Ripper.
More importantly Melvyn Fairclough's 'The Ripper And The Royal's brings the reader back to 1888 London's East End, with it's gaslights, horsedrawn carriages, and cobblestone streets! The reader can join Scotland Yard's Inspector Abberline on the hunt for Jack The Ripper!
Customer Reviews:
fascinating view.......2001-08-24
This book is far more interesting for its mise en scene and political statements than for the actual details of the crimes. The seamless blend of historical and fictional people makes it fascinating. Today the Duke and Duchess of Windsor have been largely sentimentalized and their political views have been swept into the background. For people who are interested in the conflicting views preceding the entry of the U.S. into WWII, this book offers an insider's insight.
Book Description
n June 1, 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal donned military fatigues, armed himself with automatic weapons, walked in on a quiet family gathering, and, without a word, mowed his family down before turning a gun on himself. Dipendra's apparent motive was his family's opposition to his marrying a woman of whom they did not approve. Amy Willesee and Mark Whittaker set out to understand what could have led to a tragedy that fascinated and appalled the entire world. They conducted interviews with everyone from Maoist guerrillas to members and friends of the royal family for this book, revealing a country struggling to bridge the gap between feudalism and modernity. Their portrait of Nepal culminates in a detailed and chilling reconstruction of the fatal day itself. Love and Death in Kathmandu is an enlightening and com-pel-ling picture of a place that is a world apart and a love triangle that ended in a bloodbath.
Customer Reviews:
Cut off at the pass.......2002-10-21
This is part of an interesting series, "Romancing the Crown." Stone sets up the plot in the fictional country of Montebello, and the story starts off well with a promising supense story line, and interesting characters. The story rolls along with appearances by characters in the royal family, and seems to be working well until the ending. Stone adds a relationship twist in the last chapter that is resolved unsatifactorally, in my opinion, since the rest of the romantic problems are developed quite well. Even though this is part of a continuing series, the ending felt as though it had been rushed, or the last 2 chapters had been condensed into a page or two. I prefered the texture and depth of the book 2 months earlier, "Her Lord Protector." That book had enough description to make me feel as if I were on a mini vacation. Having said this, the series as a whole is entertaining, as well as the short story Sillohette published last winter which previewed the miniseries. I intend to read more from this line.
Book Description
LoveInfidelityand Revenge Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales, was just an ordinary young woman when she was selected to be the Princes bride and future queen. Her wedding was a world-wide sensation. But she was deceived and betrayed before the honeymoon was over. Five months after a fairy tale wedding, pregnant with the heir to the throne, she threw herself down a flight of stairs. Suicide attempts, illicit affairs, and paranoid beliefs that there were plots by the Royals to kill her became the norm as the fairy tale turned to a horror story. After suffering degradation and humiliation at the hands of her husband, the Princess took the ultimate revenge. Afraid that her own attorneys may be lying to her, the princess reaches across the Atlantic and hires Marlowe James, a woman who doesnt put a price on loyalty. Marlow has been dubbed the burning bed lawyer by the news media because of her successful defense of women who kill their abusive husbands. In defending the Princess, Marlow not only has to come to do battle in the Old Bailey with barristers loyal to the Crown, she has to come to grips with her own feelings about a woman who was handed everything any woman would desire. The explosive tale that will be exposed in the courtroom is one of jealous rage and unfulfilled desire, of sexual deceit by one of the most powerful men on earthand of bloody revenge enacted by a woman scorned.
Customer Reviews:
Above average piece.......2007-02-27
This is a work of fiction based on real facts about the Princess of Wales and her turbulent marriage to the heir of the British throne. Its a tale of what if the princess murdered the prince in an act of provocation and revenge. Quite an interesting narrative, although the end is a bit fast and an expected conclusion that does not really pull the whole story together.
"Blood Royal" is surprisingly good, but not flawless.......2007-01-09
The latest Robbins book I read was "Descent from Xanadu" (1984), which was one of the worst books I've read in a long time. "Blood Royal" is Robbins' sixth, or so, posthumous novel and my guess it that co-writer Podrug deserves most of the credit.
The main story is about the American lawyer who's hired to defend the princess of "ales who has killed her husband, the prince. There are a number of subplots, a mystery about frozen bodies turning up in Westminster Abeby, and the flashback story of Marlowe's life. True to Robbins's style, there's also lots of gratuitous sex "You must be a knight, you have a long lance"). While some of the subplots - especially the mystery - are not fully developed, they kept my interest. When there were about 20 pages left, I was wondering how the book would be able to tie tie it all together so quickly, but the ending was a nice surprise.
The book does have its flaws. Some dialogue should have been polished and some obvious mistakes should have been discovered by the editor, most notably one chapter where the narrative suddenly switches from first person to third person, and back to first person again. But the flaws aren't big enough to destroy the book, and I found "Blood Royal" to be a surprisingly enjoyable read.
Read it if you can.......2005-10-31
Following the life of Marlowe Jamees, she was a very strong willed teenager that became a strong and accomplished woman in the legal world. Becoming a lawyer and to be called upon to defend the Princess of Wales, that would be the ultimate. She was what many a woman would like to become. If you get the chance read this book.
Rachel Whitfield
AN ADULT FAIRY-TALE.......2005-10-28
Not to many fairy-tales are written for adults these days. Blood Royal is one that I highly recommend.
I found this book very entertaining and it held my attention to the very end.
I myself am looking forward to the next Robbins/Podrug book.
This book is a very good read.
In a word? BLECCH........2005-10-05
Spectacularly unfunny, bland, stupid and opportunistic piece of drivel masquerading as a work of "fiction".
Whilst alive, Robbins was a mediocre writer who made millions with potboilers that catered to the ignorant. Now, in death, his "work" is taken to (if such thing is possible) a new level of degradation and abysmal cheapness.
This is a waste of money and time.
Ugh!
Books:
- Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Rethinking the History, Science, and Meaning of Auditory Hallucination
- Ohne Heim - Ohne Grab: Die Geschichte Der Roma Und Sinti; [Mit Tabellen] (Atv)
- One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander (Bluejacket Books Series)
- One Hundred Years of Solitude (Oprah's Book Club)
- Phoenix: The Lonely Empress: Elizabeth of Austria
- Reincarnation: The Missing Link in Christianity
- Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome)
- Sensationalizing the Jewish Question: Anti-semitic Trials and the Press in the Early German Empire (Studies in Central European Histories, V. 39) (Studies in Central European Histories, V. 39)
- Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry: From the Golden Age of Spain to Modern Times
- Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Offshore Nation: Strategies for Success in Global Outsourcing and Offshoring
- Making Rustic Furniture: The Tradition, Spirit, and Technique with Dozens of Project Ideas
- More Than Once in a Blue Moon: Multiple Jobholdings by American Artists
- Language, Proof and Logic
- My First Book of Classical Music: 29 Themes by Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Other Great Composers i
- Shameless Shortcuts: 1,027 Tips and Techniques That Help You Save Time, Save Money, and Save Work Ev
- Mitosis Cytokinesis
- Personal Umbrella Coverage Guide - Interpretation and Analysis: Interpretation and Analysis
- Essentials of Auditing and Assurance Services: An Integrated Approach
- Fox's Who's Who Among South Dakotans. A biographical directory of citizens who are prominent in prof
The Lady in the Tower: The Wives of Henry VIII
The Rose Without a Thorn: The Wives of Henry VIII
The Thistle and the Rose: The Tudor Princesses
Queen of This Realm: The Tudor Queens
The Sixth Wife: The Wives of Henry VIII
