What I'm reading now: The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor

Luckily, just before the libraries closed, I managed to get hold of a book I have wanted to read for a very long time. And right now, the lockdown list has arrived at 'The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor', by Elizabeth Norton. I've only just dipped into it but already I like what I see.

I've had this on the must read list for its focus on one of the most overlooked incidents of Elizabeth I's life - her relationship with Thomas Seymour. The details and psychological impact of this unhealthy link often get subsumed, for me anyway, in the wider telling of her story. The plucky princess who talked her way to safety and went on to become an illustrious queen is interesting. But I have always wanted to try and find out more about whether her teenage experiences at the hands, quite literally, of Thomas Seymour partly set her on the path to the famous image of the Virgin Queen.

Which is why this book appeals. Elizabeth Norton takes that as her central theme and examines what went on between the two as well as the stories that swirled around them in the years that followed. I'm just starting and did what I always try not to do with books - skimmed through to a part that I really wanted to read. The tense recounting of stories about a midwife delivering a baby in secret had me hooked as did the discussion about how and why such tales sprang up. I'm already looking forward to reading it in the context of the whole book then re-reading to examine why it's linked to Elizabeth I's story.

I'll post a review once I'm done but in the meantime, if you have read it and want to share your thoughts, I'd love to hear from you!.