First Line Friday is brought to you by Hoarding Books.
"For over 500 years, one unsolved murder mystery has exerted an unrelenting and undiminishing grip on the imaginations of people around the world."
Most people have at least heard of 'The Princes in the Tower'. If you are like me, you have read countless books about the subject and pondered the fate of the two brothers who hardly knew one another, thus rendering any paintings of them clinging to each other as wholly inaccurate (an interesting point that Lewis also makes and discusses.)
Lewis has crafted some very interesting scenarios as he pieced together bits of information previously unknown to me and has given me a lot to think about. I read the book in a matter of hours, but am still trying to sort some things out in my head.
Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Happy Reading!
Sarah
From what I've read some of the theories are very far fetched, based on supposed secret codes in paintings. Also one review i read of the book suggests that a lot of them are based o n misunderstanding people's motives. For instance it's claimed that Jane Grey was put on the throne and married to Guilford Dudley because his father was in fact Edward V. Seemingly Totally ignoring that King Edward VI nam named her as heir on his deathbed.
ReplyDeleteThere are many theories, some more far-fetched than others. One presented in this book was the supposed secret meanings in the reproduction of Holbein's lost painting of the More family.
DeleteAs for Jane Grey, he did not ignore the fact that she was named the heir by Edward VI and discusses this. The connection made then was that Jane Grey's husband, Guildford Dudley, was the grandson of Edward Guildford/Edward V on his mother's side. Were that the case, then a Yorkist king would be crowned if Jane would consent to it. In theory, were this true, as the grandson of Edward V Guildford had far greater claim to the throne than his wife did.
It is certainly possible to enjoy a book without believing or subscribing to every theory it posits.
True. I do believe Guildford's brother was none other that Robert Dudley, Elizabeth I's favourite. All that scandal over his first wife... and then his second.
DeleteYes, and Robert Dudley was locked in the Tower for quite some time by Mary I, along with another brother. I have a book about the death of Dudley's first wife, but have not gotten around to it yet, Death and the Virgin Queen I believe it is called, by Chris Skidmore. Have you read it?
DeleteNo, haven't read that one. Elizabeth and Leicester is an interesting relationship. I don't believe she would ever have married him myself, not because of some secret about him being a Yorkist heir, but because of all the scandal, and she couldn't because of needing a political match.
DeleteI personally think they were both petulant children when it came to one another, even to their dying days. Elizabeth more so because when he did move on, she had another one of her infamous hissy fits. And I truly doubt she was ever going to get married, even in her early years on the throne. She was shrewd and told her advisers what they wanted to hear, but I think she was playing them all along.
DeleteNice. And a book on a favorite subject that keeps you thinking long afterward is a good thing. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was really good and I enjoyed it. I find some of the theories a bit far-fetched and while I have always maintained that I believe Richard had the boys killed, I am much more open to the idea that perhaps Perkin Warbeck really was Richard, the younger prince.
DeleteHappy Friday!😁
ReplyDeleteMy First Line Fridays comes from a book I'm planning on reading very soon, Shelter In Place by Nora Roberts.
On Friday, July 22, 2005, Simone Knox ordered a large Fanta - orange - to go with her popcorn and Swedish Fish. The choice, her standard night at the movies fare, changed her life, and very likely saved it. Still, she'd never drink Fanta again.
Have a great weekend and happy reading!😎📚📚
Happy Friday to you as well Susan. What a line! Happy Reading :)
DeleteHappy Friday!
ReplyDeleteI’m currently reading (listening to) Formula of Deception by Carrie Stuart Parks. Here’s the first line from Chapter 5:
By the time Murphy finished diagraming, it was raining again, the crowd had thinned to two people, and the bulk of the law enforcement and emergency vehicles were gone.
Have a wonderful weekend.
You as well Suzie, thanks for stopping by. Happy Reading!
DeleteMy first lines this week are:
ReplyDelete"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. 'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone', he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.'"
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Gatsby is one of my favorite books of all time. I've been in love with it since high school.
DeleteMy first line comes from The Counterfeit Heiress by Tasha Alexander
ReplyDeleteI raised the long, curved bow and with two fingers pulled back its string, all the while resisting the urge to remove one of the silver-shafted arrows nestled in the quiver slung over my shoulder.
Happy Reading Caryl, thanks for sharing your line!
DeleteHappy Friday!
ReplyDeleteToday on my blog, I'm sharing the first line from Melanie Dickerson's novel, The Orphan's Wish. I just started it and I'm loving it so much!
Here, I will share the first line from chapter 8 (that's where I'm at currently).
"Aladdin followed Herr Kaufmann around for the first week."
Hope you have a great weekend full of fun reading!!! ❤📚
It is always nice when the first line hooks you, rather than bores you. Glad you are enjoying it, happy reading!
DeleteHappy Friday! The book I'm featuring on my blog is "My Sister's Intended" by Rachael Anderson. It's been on my TBR list for quite some time now, but I finally read it and am so glad I did. Truly an enjoyable read. I will share the first line from Chapter Eleven here. ""Would you care to go for a stroll with me in the gardens, Miss Gifford?" Brand asked, not sure whether or not he wanted her to accept."
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday to you as well Anneliese, thanks for sharing your line!
DeleteHappy Friday!
ReplyDeleteLooks like an interesting book!
I’m reading The Dear Reader by Mary O'Connell right now, so here’s the first line: “Miss Sweeney disappeared on the first day of March, an icy Thursday morning of gloves and boots and veneers of diamondy frost on the windows of Sacred Heart High School.”
Hallie @ Book by Book
Happy Friday to you as well Hallie, thanks for coming by. The book was very interesting and pointed out some things I had not paid much attention to before. Happy Reading!
DeleteI remember them talking about this when I visited the Tower of London years ago. So sad. Happy reading Sarah!
ReplyDeleteSo sad indeed, Heather!! I am still inclined to believe first that Richard had them killed, whether it was by a direct order, or poor choice of words. But after reading this, I am a bit more open to the idea at least that perhaps Perkin Warbeck really was not a pretender after all, but possibly Richard, the younger prince.
DeleteThat sounds really interesting! Today, I'm sharing the first line from a book recommended by my daughter: Matched by Ally Condie. "Now that I’ve found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night?" I don't think I'm going to read that one, but she sure liked it :)
ReplyDeleteHappy reading!
Isn't it lovely when our children love to read too? Mine just turned five on Tuesday and she loves to read and be read to. She is a beginning reader and has been for a couple months, but loves all kinds of books - including chapter books! She is really into this fairy series right now and loves it, though I am getting a wee bit tired. But I'll keep reading them as long as she keeps wanting to hear them. Happy Reading!
DeleteHappy Friday! My first line is from La Risposta: The Answer (A Tuscan Legacy book 9) by Autumn Macarthur:
ReplyDeletePrologue: “Instead of returning to her vegetable garden, Teresa Pellegrini rushed into the farmhouse.”
I've heard quite a bit about this series, thanks for sharing your line Becky!
DeleteLooks like this one would be an interesting read!
ReplyDeleteThe book I shared on my blog this week is Her Place in Time by Stephenia H McGee but my next book is going to be The Baker's secret by Stephen P Kiernan so I'll share that first line here: "All through those years of war, the bread tasted of humiliation." Hope you have happy weekend with plenty of reading! :)
It was a great read, even if I did not buy into every theory. I love historical events like this, but I also struggle with them because in all likelihood we will never know what happened. Happy Reading!
DeleteVery interesting! I've been aware of them for so long, but somehow I never knew they didn't know each other well.
ReplyDeleteI'm sharing from a book that will be out early next month ( won an uncorrected proof on GoodReads) on my blog today, The Daisy Children by Sofia Grant, so here is the second line:
"It wasn't the fault of the trousers, of course, but it was tempting to blame them nonetheless."
Happy Reading!
It was something I never considered either. But of course it makes sense, seeing as how Edward would have been given his own household at a young age and would not have been with the family very often. Richard, on the other hand, was still with his mother and spent most of his life in London. This also makes for an interesting discussion about the pretenders in later years claiming to be Edward and Richard - the people of London would likely have remembered Richard far better than Edward. It was an interesting read, lots to think about!
DeleteI know, I know its Sunday. I included a non-fiction history book on FLF this week as well. It was not intentional: its because it was a book I read in paperback a while back, and I wanted the Kindle edition so much: and then got an alert to tell me it was on sale. So of course I purchased it :)
ReplyDeleteIts called 'The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great by Bejamin Merkle'. First Line is from Chapter Four "In 871, Alfred received a heavy crown, weighted with the responsibility of protecting a Kingdom on the brink of conquest, the last Anglo-Saxon nation to remain standing against the Viking invasion.
YES! I have had this one on my Kindle since last year and still have not gotten to it - Alfred is probably my favorite king to read about and now that you have posted the first line, I will have to go through my pages and pages of books to find it.
DeleteThose sale alerts are so dangerous! I have had to stop looking at BookBub for a while, because when I find a book on sale that interests me, inevitably I also find plenty of others also on sale in the 'Suggestions'.
This sounds intriguing! I haven't read any on this subject yet, but I want to look into it now!!
ReplyDeleteHope you have a great week!
I hope you do, it is one of the great mysteries we will probably never solve. Most likely the boys died in the Tower, but there are also some really good theories out there about other outcomes. Happy Reading!
Delete