The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory

The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory 

Review by Jem11 

Following on from other books that cover the same subject such as Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott and A Favourite of the Queen's by Jean Plaidy the novel centres on the death of Amy Robsart, wife of Lord Robert Dudley, later Earl of Leister, and favourite 'lover' of England's illustrious Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. The love affair between the famous pair provides the back drop to Amy's fall and destruction and the subsequent political scandal that threatened to end Elizabeth's reign before it had really begun. It presents an interesting and plausible theory of Amy's death, more original than the other two books I've mentioned here. Elizabeth is shown as weak, love sick, vacillating and duplicitous. Not an attractive picture. Dudley is portrayed as what he probably was - vain, ambitious and self interested.