I, Elizabeth

by Rosalind Miles
Queen Elizabeth is one of my favorite historical figures. An unmarried woman, pale skin, red hair, promoter of plays, what's not to like? But despite the intriguing subject matter it took me forever and a day to finish the book. The beginning was great, good period detail, Elizabeth's rise to the throne is frought with political intrigue. Unfortunately I had the problem I usually have with all historical royal subject matter. (Fiction or Non) Keeping the names straight, and figuring out who is related to who. Fortunately there is a character index in the back and a family tree in the front to help sort things out. Miles blows full steam ahead through Elizabeth's formative years and the first half of her reign, but she really runs out of gas towards the end.
The novelization is primarily focused on Elizabeth's private life and the handful of men named Robert she falls in love with. (OK-they aren't all named Robert-but it seems like it.) The love of her life being Robert Dudley Lord of Leicester. The lust of her life being Robert Devereaux Earl of Essex. (Stepson of Robert Dudley) Elizabeth did not marry either man for a variety of reasons, mainly because they were already married to others. In the case of Robert Earl of Essex he was half her age. What's sad is in this novelization the Earl dupes the Queen with his flirtations in his own quest for power and the throne, and she pretty much falls for it. (An amorous relationship between the two was never proven but highly specualted.)
Confused? Me too.
The writing get's pretty sloppy as Elizabeth ages. Which I suppose could be intentional. That all the Roberts are running together in the old Queen's mind as well as in the narrative. I had to do a lot of flipping back and forth to the trees and lists to figure out what was going on. It breaks up the flow of reading and I don't care for that. I had high hopes for this book I confess myself disappointed in Elizabeth's character being bamboozled by a pretty young thing. Overall a great beginning ended with a lousy finish. But I did come away with a great quote on being a smart woman:

... those of us whom God has made to think and feel, who are strung out like harps along the wires of our own nature, why, we are rarer music and must content ourselves with smaller audiences.