Review: The King’s Daughter by Sandra Worth. It was a good historian novel that I sometimes felt there was some non-fiction among the words. I think the author slipped in a few true facts of our historian background and ancestry of our past King’s and Queens. I enjoyed the book but the environment and dialog was dark and gloomy throughout the novel. Yet, it still held my interest.

This novel was about a family struggling through generation to gain power over all family members and including far extended family from different areas. Always devoted to her father and King, Elizabeth of York trust that her dying father’s wishes left England in the hands of a deserving ruler, Elizabeth’s uncle Richard of Gloucester. A family member that her mother did not approve of, yet Elizabeth had faith in her father’s last words.

It wasn’t much long before Elizabeth feared that her own faith was misplaced. He wasn’t the ruler she thought he would be. He put anyone that got in his way of becoming King either in the tower’s prison or sent them away to battle other kings knowing they would not come back. In the future one of Elizabeth brother’s was to become King. He was young and was just learning the skills he needed to become that King. However, Uncle Richard had other ideas…..

One night she finally understands the core of her future and leads her to question all of her choices. Through the eyes of the ailing Queen, Elizabeth tries to see a man worthy of respect and undying adoration. His dedication to his people inspires a forbidden love and ultimately gives her the courage to accept her destiny. She didn’t look back…Her heart forever belonged to England……
( )

I quite liked parts of this book, overall though I thought the author could have done better. Some characters were well developed, others where so two-dimensional that it was almost comical. It was a good enough story, by I expected a bit more. As I don't agree with most of her characterizations and conclusions, I didn't really enjoy the book.

The author's note was mostly written to support the author's point of view and was in places incorrect, something that I find frustrating and unnecessary. ( )

We need more of such a quiet, prepossessing heroine. ( )

The book is about Elizabeth of York, mother of Henry VIII.
I was really hoping it would get better towards the end but not really. Always when I thought it got better, then it went down again. I did not like how young Henry VIII and Henry VII was portrayed or Rickhard III. Henrys were just too bad and Rickhard too good. ( )

Elizabeth of York is the daughter of Edward IV, niece of Richard III, sister to Richard V and wife to Henry VII. With a tree of kings in her family you would think that Elizabeth would have been a strong, confident woman. Not so. Elizabeth was a very meek, subservient woman, which frustrated me at times. She deferred to all the men in her life to make her choices and lets her husband’s overbearing mother rule the roost. As you can tell from this passage on page 174:

“Mother, don’t you understand? We are captives, you and I. Though you may roam more freely than I, we are both watched by Tudor spies, and they report back on everything we say or do. I cannot take back the reins of the household from Henry’s mother. I have no influence on him. He hates the House of York. ‘Tis only his mother and Morten he trusts. Their advice has been to give me honorable captivity, but tighter than what Henry received in Brittany, for in the end he escaped. I am not even permitted to write letters—though whom I would write to is a matter for consideration. Everyone I would write to is dead”

We see Elizabeth grow from a young girl in love with Sir Thomas Stafford, one of the guards, to taking her father’s advice and becoming the queen that he knew she would be by logically marrying Henry VI. Her only joy in life was the birth of her kind, sweet son, Prince Arthur. Elizabeth was much loved by her people and was the only reason that Henry VI was tolerated. We also have a glimpse into young Henry VIII’s early life. Elizabeth knew right away that young Henry would not be a good, kind leader that Arthur would be and feared that he would be cruel to his people. If you know anything about this history and know what happens.

I enjoyed reading The King’s Daughter. It blended fiction with historical facts seamlessly and without overburdening the reader. Ms. Worth’s description of places, people and things bring you right into the folds of the late 1400’s. ( )