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The Virgin's Lover
The Virgin's Lover
The Virgin's Lover
Audiobook16 hours

The Virgin's Lover

Written by Philippa Gregory

Narrated by Perdita Weeks

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and “queen of royal fiction” (USA TODAY) comes a riveting and scandalous love triangle between a young woman on the brink of greatness, a young man whose ambition far exceeds his means, and the wife who cannot forgive them.

In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen, yet one woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, and she knows that Elizabeth’s ambitious leap to the throne will draw her husband back to the center of the glamorous Tudor court, where he was born to be.

Elizabeth’s excited triumph is short-lived. She has inherited a bankrupt country where treason is rampant and foreign war a certainty. Her faithful advisors warns her that she will survive only if she marries a strong prince to govern the rebellious country, but the one man Elizabeth desires is her childhood friend, the ambitious Robert Dudley. As the young couple falls back in love, a question hangs in the air: can he really set aside his wife and marry the queen? When Amy is found dead, Elizabeth and Dudley are suddenly plunged into a struggle for survival.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 28, 2019
ISBN9781508292784
Author

Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned author of historical novels. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. Works that have been adapted for television include A Respectable Trade, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool. The Other Boleyn Girl is now a major film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana. Philippa Gregory lives in the North of England with her family.

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Reviews for The Virgin's Lover

Rating: 3.501270072142252 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

1,181 ratings50 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great follow up to my first ever Phillipa Gregory novel, the Queen’s Fool. I am hooked!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    By far, this is my favorite Philippa Gregory novel! Young queen Elizabeth, new to her throne and her long time " friend" Robert Dudley navigate their sordid and at times dangerous relationship. All the while, poor suffering wife of Dudley, Amy is tossed aside (and possibly murdered) by the husband who gaslights her at every turn. Great book!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If this is an indication of history, then they were a nasty lot back then. Power hungry. Mean. Self centered. I don't think it's like that today, but then again, maybe I lead a sheltered life.Robert Dudley turns his back on his wife, because he sees fame and fortune if he can hook up with the Queen. He uses the fact that they were childhood friends to worm his way in. I didn't read "love" in this story anywhere. He was motivated by self interest.The Queen isn't sure what to do. Does she love him? I don't think so. She never truly trusts him. How could she? Many reviewers state she was unable to make a decision, but she made a clear decision. She knew what she was doing. She knew the end result.And Amy Dudley? She loved her husband, but she didn't fight for him. She let him plot and scheme and was thrown away like a bit of old rag. But she didn't deserve the treatment she received.Without giving away the ending, I believe the ending was right for Dudley and the Queen.Regardless if the historic facts are right or not, I enjoyed the storyline. The characters were not likable, but that seems right for the rotten roles they played. But the writing of such characters was done well, in my opinion.This wasn't the best of Gregory's books, but it was still a well written book that tells a good, if twisted, story.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The Virgin’s Lover, as you might guess, is a story based on one of the most renown love triangles during the Tudor period. The red headed Queen Elizabeth I came to power after the death of her half-sister; Queen Mary (referred to as Bloody Mary in popular culture). Already considered a spinster despite being twenty-five years old, her marriage was a considerable issue since the beginning of her reign. Many were ready to marry this protestant queen and possibly extend their power, although no one succeeded in their attempts at the end. But according to historians one suitor came very close, and that person was none-other than Robert Dudley.Robert Dudley descended from one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in England. However, he was a fallen noble with both his father and grandfather charged and executed for treason. Even with generations of duplicitous family history looming on the background, the dashing Robert Dudley was determined to rise again and his time came when his childhood friend became Queen of England. His charms made him Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite in court, but what good could come of it for him with a wife stashed in countryside? He had married Amy Robsart when he was a young lad and, even though she was a nice, loving woman, she didn’t share an iota of Robert Dudley’s ambitions causing him much frustration. Rumors began to spread of the budding romance between the queen and Robert Dudley and not long after Amy Robsart was found dead at the foot of a flight of stairs at the Cumnor Place. Her death resulted in quite the scandal at the time, and through her fiction; The Virgin’s Lover, Philippa Gregory tells us her theory on what caused Amy Robsart’s death, which remains a mystery to this date due to its peculiar nature.Although I have read a few of Philippa Gregory’s books, I never had much appreciation for her writing skills. Sometimes things get repetitive with her to a level it starts irritating! For instance, in The Virgin’s Lover, the facts that Cecil; chief adviser to Queen Elizabeth I never signs his letters and keeps spies have been repeated on multiple occasions. Unless someone starts reading the book midway, which no one would, I can not seem to comprehend the point in her repetition!:-/And then we come to the portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I… Even though I am aware The Virgin’s Lover is purely a work of fiction and I should not be expecting it to be historically accurate, I was a little bummed to see Queen Elizabeth I depicted as a weak and indecisive ruler, when history tells us she was anything but. One might call her naive due to her folly with Robert Dudley, but I find it hard to believe she was the kind who would have taken orders from him on the issues of governing England, no matter how hard she loved him.The only plus for me in The Virgin’s Lover is William Cecil. Albeit being a secondary character in the novel, what he says and does is sensible which I believe remains true to his character. Having said that, I must add this will not be the last of Philippa Gregory’s I read. For some season I seem to developed a blind spot for soap opera type historical novels!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I always enjoy novels about Elizabeth I and this was one of the better reads.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Maybe the best of the series, and left me with the need to find out what happened, historically.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This wasn't one of my more favorite novels. I really disliked Elizabeth and Robert. I don't think I was meant to dislike Elizabeth but I dislike her more now than I did in The Queen's Fool.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Loved this book! Gregory is a fantastic writer.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is a Historical fiction of Queen Elizabeth I and her lover. I find that in historical fictions the names of the people get in the way. I think that this is the case with this book the beginning of this book dragged a bit while everyone was being introduced. The ending was good however and worth the read.This audio book was from a free bin at a local book store
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoy her historical fiction. I think she does a great job of combining historically accurate information with great storytelling. One of my favorite authors of this genre.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Philippa Gregory always makes our historical characters come alive and this novel is not disappointing. You actually feel part of the young queen's court and see many of her enemies. Truly skillful pro and con listings of available husbands, for Queen Elizabeth, with a unique murder mystery twist involving the young queen's true love interest. Long after the final page, one wonders if young Queen Elizabeth murdered the spouse of her lover?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was an excellent read. Queen Elizabeth is in love with another woman's husband. Robert Dudley married Amy dudkey when they were both young. Robert and Elizabeth have been friends since they were both children.Robert and Elizabeth fall in love but they both know that their love is wrong. Neither can openly admit that they love eachother, however, the whole world seems to already know. When Amy Dudley hears the rumors that her husband is in love with the queen, she tries to ignore them in hopes that they are false. Later in the book, Robert tells her that the rumors are true and he requests that she accept getting a divorce. She however, isn't too keen on the idea. When Amy mysteriously dies, Robert is suspected as the murderer. Robert eventually realizes who is behind this horrible deed..............but can he continue to love the woman who killed his wife? And what becomes of his reputation? To find out, read The Virgin's Lover. You will feel closely connected to the characters and you wont feel like putting the book down.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An interesting read but a tragic tale which I don't intend to re-read often.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good read. Makes the reader to look further into historical facts to backup or refute the story.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out for joy with the news that Elizabeth I is the new queen. But in the country Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert Dudley knows that Elizabeth's ambitious leap to the throne will draw her husband back to his former life at the glamourous Tudor courts where he was born & his childhood friend. This book presents a queen on the brink of greatness, a young man whose ambition exceeds his means, & the wife who cannot forgive them & is then murdered by her husband.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Recounts the supposed affair between a young Elizabeth I and her Master of the Horse, Robert Dudley. Dudley is a master manipulator who is seeking his way to the top. His wife, Amy, dies mysteriously and suspicion falls to him. Another great tale by Phillippa Gregory. Believable and relatable account of a historical tale. The reader really feels that they know these famous characters.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I really enjoyed the series. But this one fell flat to me. It was about Queen Elizabeth, whom in the previous book showed a lot of courage and leadership, but in this one she fell flat, she let others tell her how to lead. We didn't get a good look into her rule as Queen. And the end of the books was very disappointing, it just ended after a plot was found out, we have no idea how the main characters were to resolve it.Still enjoying the history in this series, the end had a great author's note, unsolved mysteries, the author book a Great spin on things :)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Virgin's Lover is the 5th Tudor Court novel of Phillippa Gregory. The pace of the writing has slowed since her earlier novels, but she certainly keeps up with the teachery and duplicity of court life with extraordinary sharpness of wit. I wanted to see Elizabeth as she has been portrayed by so many: formidable, fearless and resolutely single minded in her ambitions for her country and for the crown. In the Virgin's Lover she is utterly in thrall to Dudley and at his beck and call. She can do nothing without him at her side. She is nervous and weakened without his counsel and struggles to make important decisions of state without his guidance. At first I felt rather short-changed at this rendering of a supposedly strong woman, however, I ended up rather enjoying seeing a different portrayal of Elizabeth, as she no doubt would have been in the early days of her reign. This fictional account of her has certainly whet my appetite to learn more about the monarch, based on historical research. For me, the real star of the show is William Cecil. He is truly masterful in his cold handed way of double dealing and balancing the many conflicting interests at court. Gregory has created a masterpiece in him. I would certainly like to know more about him in life.The Virgin's Lover must be taken for what it is, a gripping and enthralling insight into Tudor court life, and the humanity behind the legends and figures in history. I would heartily recommend this to anyone wanting a little intelligent escapism.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Liked it, I learned a lot. Not my favorite in the series.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The Virgin's Lover is a historical novel that focuses on the early years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It tells the tale of the young queen, her lover Robert Dudley, and his wife Amy. Despite being married, Robert Dudley seeks to court the queen and thus gain the crown for himself.I noticed that there was a significant discrepancy between the writing around the story and the story itself with regards to the focus of the tale. The author's note seemed a strange note to end on because it left me with the impression that the book should have been some great mystery or at any rate that it was in some way Amy's story. This was backed up by the blurb and the fact that the opening chapter was written with a focus on Amy. However, Amy herself gets very little stage time and the title gives a better indication of the focus of the story--Robert Dudley. Perhaps this could have been made clearer from the beginning.I was pleased to see that Gregory got rid of the irritating first person perspective she used in The Queen's Fool, however there was plenty else to irritate me in its place. The opening paragraph was particularly annoying and all the more so for being repeated in the next chapter--the metaphor seemed forced the first time and the repetition did it little favour.The characters were, again, thoroughly unlikeable people, with the possible exception of Cecil. The female characters in particular were incredibly weak. Elizabeth's situation did remind me of an abusive relationship at one point, but overall her vacillation and her arrogance did very little to endear her.Though Amy wasn't quite the raving lunatic she was at times in The Queen's Fool she is nevertheless deluded to the point of absolute stupidity. She manages to redeem herself a little after the first 250 pages (during which she still gets very little stage time), but slides back again with the way she grasps onto anything that even remotely resembles hope. I felt like shaking her and telling her to have some self respect.The book does have a few things to recommend it, however. It gets points from me for sharing continuity with The Queen's Fool. It also illustrates very clearly what it means to be pariah in the closing stages of Amy's story when not even her family will shelter her and the doctor refuses to treat her. A sad highlight indeed.Overall, I'm left to conclude that Gregory's work is not really for me
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I adore Tudor England, and found this book tedious. Totally tedious. The plot plods, Elizabeth is under-developed (if you can imagine such a thing), and the language/style is awkward.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I found this book quite heavy going, it bored me in places and I only really got into it about half way through. Still the historical side of it was interesting and I will probably try The Other Boleyn Girl which I've heard good things about.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A Historical protrayal of Queen Elizabeth 1 and her court. This novel held me captive from the first page to the last
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    First things first. I recommend you read The Queen's Fool before reading this one. It contains a bit background information and a bit of a foundation to carry you over to The Virgin's Lover. It's not necessary but it's nice to have that extra bit of info in the small moments where the book makes a reference to the past. Besides, The Queen's Fool was a good book so why would you not want to read it? :)There's plenty of intrigue and double crossing in here, so if you're really into that this is the book for you. I love that stuff. I love seeing characters you don't like get the axe because they were too careless and got double crossed. It's just so satisfying. Which brings me to this other point. I hate Robert Dudley. Everything about him made me want to grind my teeth, made me want to jump into the book and punch him in the gonads, or made me want to run a lance into him. I just can't stand the guy. He oozes sliminess and his ambition is just way over the top it made you want to roll your eyes and slap him across the head with a sledgehammer. His arrogance made me want to scream. He was all right at first but once you saw past his true colors you just wanted to curl your lip in disgust at the guy. Either I need serious help, or Ms. Gregory just did a wonderful job at character development and creation here. :P I have never hated a character so much until I came across Robert Dudley. Amy (Dudley's wife) made you want to cringe because she was everything you didn't want her to be. She was the epitome of submissive wife. There were moments where she finally grew a backbone (and you had to cheer for her during those times) but you just can't help but pity the poor woman. Of all the characters in the book I sympathized with Amy the most. It was just painful to see her pain and suffering and the way she fawned at Dudley made you want to pity her, but at the same time be quite disgusted with her. She admirable though. She put up with a lot of issues and crap for that time. It's hard to decide how I feel about Elizabeth. She's whiny. She's NEEDY. She's clingy. She nearly made me want to jab something in my eye. However there were moments where I thought "Heeeey..she's not so stupid after all!" so it's very hard to see Elizabeth in a different view than what you usually see (usually as a very strong character who defied the Spanish Armada). So I thought it was difficult to like her in this novel. I was on the fence with her. Overall, I thought it was a good read. There are romantic parts but not that explicit and quickly done and over with. So to me, they were tolerable. No battle scenes here which was unfortunate but wasn't really the main part of the subject anyway (this book rather focuses on Dudley and Elizabeth). The intrigue of court life was here as usual (all of Gregory's novels have it) so that was good to see. I just really enjoyed the character development and creation in this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I loved this book, it is my favourite of Gregory's Tudor series that I have read do far, I find the relationship between Elizabeth and Robert believable bearing in mind the Royal upbringing and the regular infatuations her father went through.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have long been interested in the Tudors. Actually, one of my fascinations has been Jane Grey (not a Tudor but close enough). I saw Lady Jane when I was in high school and it has been one of my favorite movies since. I know an awful lot of useless things and one of them is the life of Jane Grey. She was a tragic figure. I read a wonderful book of historical fiction on her life about a year or so ago called Innocent Traitor, by Alison Weir.Anyway, The Virgin's Lover is another book of historical fiction about the romance between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley (not coincidentally, the brother of Jane Grey's husband, their father was terribly ambitious). I really enjoyed this book. I was constantly on the edge of my seat as if I didn't already know what was going to happen! The only criticism I have is that I really didn't like Queen Elizabeth in this book. I've always thought of her as a strong woman who did not need to lean on men to rule. She was painted very differently in this book; fairly weak. Although, she stood up for herself in the end, throughout the book I kept thinking: "Why are you so weak and stupid?"
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Elizabeth is made queen, and her long time friend Robert Dudley, is at her side day and night. Lord Robert has risen from scandal and now wants nothing more than to be part of the Queen's court. He leaves his own wife, Amy, with relatives, while he seduces the Queen. Elizabeth cannot resist Robert, and the two begin a scandalous love affair. This book had me hooked from page one. I found it hard to put down. This is the book I was up late at night reading, gladly losing sleep just to get one more page read. Philippa Gregory writes historical fiction like nobody's business. I've also read The Constant Princess and enjoyed that one too. I've read some mixed reviews about this one, but as for myself, I really liked it. This won't be my last Philippa Gregory novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Philippa Gregory is unable to reach the success of The Other Boleyn Girl with The Virgin’s Lover. While I still enjoyed the The Virgin’s Lover I was far from impressed because I know what Gregory is capable of producing.The writing was still beautiful, as always, but the story line, though taken from history and elaborated upon, was lacking. This time the story was not told from one person’s perspective, but several. I think it gave the story less dimension because you found yourself unable to figure out who you wanted to root for and she usually has such engaging, sympathetic characters that you get attached to them almost immediately like Mary Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl.The ending was a bit sudden, so much that I thought I had at least twenty more pages to go and next thing I know I’m reading that author’s note. And I’m still scratching my head over the ending.The body of the novel was good. A little jumpy in the beginning but it begins to smooth itself out.I loved seeing a different side of Elizabeth. We are usually presented with her as a tough-as-nails queen, unwavering and unyielding. Here she is shown as an outcast at first, ruthless in her rise to power, blinded by love/lust, and manipulative as she grows into her place as a queen.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    As always, Philippa Gregory's writing is fabulous. What I typically love about her books is that she takes on a different perspective from what we've all learned in the history books (and Hollywood). However, the subject of Elizabeth and Dudely has been done so many times that I actually surprised that Philippa decided to do it as well.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Frankly, although I've enjoyed some of Gregory's Tudor novels, I could only stomach 2/3 of this one before I stopped reading it. It was little more than a bodice-ripper. Other readers have complained about the way she portrays Elizabeth, and I have to agree: she's depicted here as a slut and a wimp. The only thing more irritatingly wimpy in the book is Dudley's wife, Amy. I couldn't wait for her to get pushed down the stairs and break her wimpy little neck. I didn't get that far, but I know that, historically, she was either pushed or fell. After reading 2/3 of this book, I'd be willing to give her a shove myself.