the red queen's daughter

Last week when I browsed the library's online catalog I stumbled across this book while searching for an adult mystery series set in Elizabethan England. As it was a YA book, a new release and had a wonderful cover....yep, I put it on my list to check out the next day.

Here is where I let you in on one of my foibles. I read the back of the book first. I love to read author's notes etc before I read the story itself. When I learned that the heroine was inspired by Katherine Parr's daughter who died when she was only two, I was hooked. Parr was Henry VIII last queen and she was one of the women who helped to raise Elizabeth. The future queen looked kindly upon Parr's surrogate mothering. Parr's husband after Henry's death was a Seymour...who eventually lost his head for treason.

"The Red Queen's Daughter" by Jacqueline Kosolov is a revisionist historical fiction story blended with just the right amount of magic to make it firmly straddle the fantasy/history genre.

Mary Seymour is a delightful character whose destiny is to serve as a white witch and help restore balance to the land via Elizabeth's reign. Her trusty guide is a white Borzoi hound named Perseus and her mentor is a woman named Lady Strange. Of course once Mary arrives at court a variety of obstacles interfere with her 'job' including a cousin who manages to capture her heart even though his purpose at court is dark in nature. Assorted other historical characters dot the novel including Lord Dudley and Elizabeth herself.

When I read these YA stories that blend history and fiction, with a larger dose of fiction, I always hope that they might inspire the reader to investigate the actual history behind the novel.