Philippa Gregory: The Queen's Fool

Reviewed by MARGIE THOMSON

Gregory is both historian and storyteller, and her unusual take on shenanigans during the reign of Henry VIII, where she chose obscure Mary Boleyn as her heroine at the expense of "arrogant" Anne Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl was a huge hit in New Zealand - we bought over 25,000 copies.

The Queen's Fool is even more enjoyable, with some agreeable similarities to its predecessor.

We're still in the Renaissance, but around 20 years later. Following the death of sickly King Edward, his sisters Mary and Elizabeth are fierce rivals for England's throne. Typically, we are on the side of Mary who, Gregory suggests, was not the bloody villainess we have been led to believe. She is instead courageous, noble and compassionate, and the excesses of her reign are more to do with bad luck and Elizabeth's scheming.

We see the story through the eyes of a female "fool" and seer, young Hannah Green, a Jewish girl who fled the Spanish Inquisition with her father. In love with political machinator Robert Dudley, she is placed in Mary's household as a spy.

Despite the irritation of Hannah's implausible feminist canon, it's all absolutely delightful - historical romance at its vivid, moreish best.

HarperCollins, $31.99