Juana of Castile never expected to be queen, with an older brother and sister ahead of her. As a daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and thus a Spanish Infanta, she is married to Philip of Flanders, with whom she quickly falls in love. Juana does not trust her husband’s advisor, and within reason, for when Juana’s brother and sister die, he persuades Philip to seize the Spanish throne for himself. When everyone around her deserts her, Juana keeps fighting through her despair and her determination is creatively interpreted as madness by all those who have greater designs on her throne and no interest in the woman who should hold it.
I have never really known much about Juana. She is just outside my time period and just outside my geographical sphere of knowledge. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have read this novel. Juana is a fiery character and I knew little about her quirks. I love how she grows from girl to woman over the course of this book. Her voice is strong and believable and to be honest, I can hardly believe a man wrote this book! Since I didn’t know what happened, I had a rare opportunity to let the plot of a historical novel really take over and I can say that this book doesn’t fail at all in that respect either. It was wonderful and I think it still would have been even if I’d known how it ended.
Knowing full well the ways in which medieval and early modern figures manipulated heirs to make their way to a throne, I had no trouble at all imagining that Juana’s madness was a convenient foil. It would be nothing new. I found the way the author used known events and cast them in a different light to be extremely creative and appealing, like her reasoning for staying outside for several days in winter and taking her husband’s coffin with her well beyond when he should have been buried. So many people let Juana down, most notably her father and her husband. She was determined to secure the throne for her son, Charles, and did not back down even when these men did their best. Is it any surprise that they attempted to cast her aside?
I’ve never been to Spain, but I could almost picture it in this book. I want to go now and I want to learn more. That, more than anything, is the mark of a great historical fiction novel for me. This is an extremely enjoyable book and one that I would certainly recommend.
The Last Queen is available from Amazon and Amazon UK. You can also check out C.W. Gortner’s website, blog, and tour stops.
I have a copy of this and am REALLY looking forward to reading it – glad to hear that it is so good!
Heather J.’s last blog post..Friday Finds 05/15/09 (& Kiddo Update)
I love historical fiction and this sounds like a good one. I ‘m not very familiar with Spain. Sometime if I’m reading historical fiction and the story is really goo I will go and see what happened irl. I can’t help it! I figure that theoretically I could have know how it ended anyway.
Nicole’s last blog post..New in Paperback: Conscience Point, by Erica Abeel & A Giveaway
Excellent review for an excellent book! CW Gortner is on tour for May, you can see his Gues post and the list of Tour stops at The Burton Review.
Marie Burton’s last blog post..Friday Fill-In
All the blogs I read that feature historical fiction on a fairly regular basis like this book, so it must be a winner!
Kathy’s last blog post..Review: Secret Daughter
wow…i haven’t really read any historical fiction, but your review is so good–you make this book sound like a can’t miss. i’m also intrigued by a male author writing with such a convincing voice for a female. thanks for tipping me off on this one!
nat @ book, line, and sinker’s last blog post..Review: Reunion by Therese Fowler
I loved this book so much! It’s the book of the month for my Facebook book club in July. I can’t wait for that. The author is so nice, too.
Literate Housewife’s last blog post..#163 ~ The Story of a Marriage
sounds wonderful, i’ve heard great things about this one.
bookworm’s last blog post..Poe Friday: The Black Cat
I have yet to see a negative review of this book. I can’t wait to read it.
Anna’s last blog post..Giveaway: THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING by Joshilyn Jackson
This really does sound perfect for me.
Beth F’s last blog post..A Look at Mount TBR
I agree! I Loved this book!
Amy @ My Friend Amy’s last blog post..Faith ‘n Fiction Saturday: Good Clean Reads
Thank you so much for this terrific review and for hosting me on my virtual blog tour. I’m having so much fun meeting readers and I look forward to visiting again soon!
I totally adored this book when I reviewed it last year. I completely agree that I sort of forgot that it was written by a man, since Gortner gets in Juana’s head so well.
Jen – Devourer of Books’s last blog post..The Nonesuch – Book Review
I loved this novel as well. Great review!
S. Krishna’s last blog post..Hello Goodbye – Emily Chenoweth
I am so excited to read this book! I have heard such good things about it, and the time period and characters are ones that I find extremely interesting. I am really glad you liked this book, great review!
Zibilee’s last blog post..Spiced: A Pastry Chef’s True Story of Trials by Fire, After-Hours Exploits, and What Really Goes On in the Kitchen by Dalia Jurgensen – 288 pgs
[…] though I really enjoyed C.W. Gortner’s last work, The Last Queen, I was worried how I was going to react to this one. I’ve mentioned my recent disaffection […]