The Virgin's Lover

Book #11 of the year is The Virgin's Lover, by Philippa Gregory. It's the story of Elizabeth I of England and Robert Dudley.

The challenge of a book like this is to make suspenseful something that is part of historical record. I've read several versions of the story - it's really irresistible to a novelist, since the characters are so vivid and the plot twists more exciting than anything you can make up - so I know exactly how it's going to turn out.

Yet this book held my interest right until the last page. Yes, it still happened the way history tells us it did, but Gregory is fabulous at showing us all the quirks and mixed-up motivations of the three-dimensional people she writes about, so that you feel for every single one. Elizabeth and Dudley are stars, of course, but Amy (Robert's neglected wife) is unbearably poignant as well. Gregory has her own version of the mystery - what happened to Amy - and explains in an afterword that she did research in contemporary sources to come to her conclusion.

I'm looking forward to reading more of Philippa Gregory.