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Aileen Armitage

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Melisende
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Aileen Armitage

Post by Melisende » Sat August 30th, 2008, 7:48 am

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]Who wrote that ? Fiction or non?[/quote]

"The Tudor Sisters" by Aileen Armitage is the (fictional) story of Mary and Anne Boleyn. It begins with the death of their mother and finishes with Henry's impending marriage to Anne. For me, however, it is more the story of Mary. In this book, the author places Mary as the elder of the two sisters who went to France in the entourage of Mary Tudor when she married the King of France.

The book itself is barely 200 pages - and its easy to read, whether the Tudor period of English history takes your fancy or not. Though, not a fan of the abundance of Tudor fiction about, I did enjoy the book.

I think the story of Mary Boleyn is becoming more popular than that of her sister (and rival) Anne. Mary, at least, survived her entanglement with Henry VIII!.
"For my part, I adhere to the maxim of antiquity: The throne is a glorious sepulchre."

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Sat August 30th, 2008, 5:02 pm

Aileen Armitage seems to write very quickly - she published 3 novels in 2001 alone!
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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Post by Ariadne » Sat August 30th, 2008, 5:17 pm

I think most if not all of them are reprints. She wrote a bunch of novels in the 1970s as Aileen Quigley, and many were recently re-released under the name Aileen Armitage, when royalty fiction became popular again.

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Sat August 30th, 2008, 5:33 pm

Thanks, Ariadne. I found her website (it's http://www.AileenArmitage.com, but for some reason it's easier to find by googling Aileen Quigley). A few of her books are reprints, but she is indeed very prolific! She says she's taking her time over her current book.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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Post by Ariadne » Sat August 30th, 2008, 5:49 pm

Thanks for pointing out her website, Margaret! I hadn't seen it before. This is getting far afield of PG's books, but The Brackenroyd Inheritance was a favorite when I was growing up. I wish Armitage's website stated more directly which books were reprints (The Tudor Sisters is the same as Court Cadenza, from 1974). There are a bunch of others, but you have to read the plotlines of each and match them up.

Getting back to PG, it seems clear that several authors told the story of Mary Boleyn before she did, but their versions didn't get nearly as much attention.

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Sun August 31st, 2008, 11:23 pm

Aha - thanks for your excellent sleuthing, Ariadne. I've added several Armitage novels to http://www.HistoricalNovels.info, with notes on original titles and years of publication. This makes me more favorably disposed toward Armitage's work. One always wonders how good a novel can be if it seems to have been written in a matter of 6 months or less - in this case, the apparent publication dates are misleading.
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Post by Ariadne » Mon September 1st, 2008, 12:00 am

Thanks, mods, for moving the relevant parts of the thread over to a new category!

Margaret, I learned the hard way on Armitage's novels - buying a book that I didn't realize I already owned, because the title was different. And her novels weren't exactly cheap :)

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Post by boswellbaxter » Mon September 1st, 2008, 12:06 am

Thanks for the information! I've seen The Tudor Sisters on eBay, I believe; always wondered how it was.
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Ellie
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Post by Ellie » Sat October 25th, 2008, 1:23 am

I read Mallory Keep and The Radley Curse a fair while ago and remember I enjoyed them. I just purchased them as an omnibus so I'm going to have to re read them when I get time.

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